Causes of Sexual Violence

Sexual violence is a form of abuse, assault or harassment that includes any type of unwanted physical contact or sexual penetration. It can be perpetrated by someone you know or even trust. Sexual violence can also be committed without touching you and it can happen to people of all ages.

The most common victims of sexual assault are women and children. Sexual violence is also targeted at gender-diverse individuals, particularly those who identify as transgender or non-binary; these attacks are known as corrective rapes and seek to conform an individual to more accepted notions of behaviour for their perceived gender (CDC 2021). Men and boys can be perpetrators of sexual violence or victims and they are therefore important partners in prevention efforts, but they can also be harmed by the rape culture that pervades our society.

Survivors of sexual assault often struggle to come to terms with what has happened to them. They may experience feelings of numbness or dissociation and they can sometimes develop somatic symptoms such as pain, eating disturbances or anxiety related to areas on the body that have been touched during assault. They can also have flashbacks, generalized anxiety and depression and may feel that they are going crazy or believe that their abuse was somehow their own fault.

The causes of sexual violence vary at different levels: personal, interpersonal, societal and environmental. Factors operating at an individual level include alcohol and drug use, attitudes and beliefs that support sexual violence, impulsive and other antisocial tendencies, preference for impersonal sex, hostility towards women and childhood experiences of physical and emotional victimization. They can lead to an increase in a person’s risk for perpetrating sexual violence. These factors are complex and they often interact with each other; for example, antecedents may influence more proximal explanatory variables that then influence consequences (LeBreton et al, 2009).

At an interpersonal level, a victim’s or survivor’s response to a sexual assault can impact their chances of surviving it. For example, if a victim or survivor is intoxicated or otherwise unable to respond, then the likelihood of their assault being escalated into a rape or other sexual assault increases. For this reason it is essential to always ensure that you are fully in control of your sexual actions and decisions, especially when drinking.

Society-wide influences on sexual violence can be found in laws and policies, societal norms and patterns of family, school and workplace relationships. They can influence the prevalence of violence against women, girls and other marginalised groups. They can also influence the way we think about sex and gender roles, as well as the role that men and boys play in domestic abuse and sexual violence.

There are many ways that you can help prevent sexual violence and all of us can do it. Practicing active bystander intervention – such as giving a friend a safe ride home from a party or distracting someone who is behaving unacceptably – can make all the difference.