While Valentines day is a day of romance, for those looking for love the dating world can be a scary place.
The continued increase in social media and online dating services leaves women vulnerable to dating violence.
Check out these staggering stats:
- Seventy-seven (77)% of completed rapes are committed by non-strangers (Bureau of Justice Statistics). A woman is four times more likely to be date raped than by a stranger (Illinois Coaliltion Against Sexual Assault).
- Date rape is rarely reported to police. Less than 2% of acquaintance rape victims reported the assault whereas 21% of women raped by strangers reported the crime to police (Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault)
- Every year, an estimated one woman in eight in college is raped and in 85% of those assaults the women knew their attacker (Texas Woman's University)
Women and girls of all ages are taking back their power by attending a new female focused self defense class in Scottsdale. Girls Attack Back (GAB) is designed not only to teach self defense but also to unite women and girls of all walks of life. Women don't have to be victims, because women who have even the most basic self-defense skills are less likely to become a target of crime. GAB participants learn simple techniques to help protect themselves. Including using weapons most women have on them, but don't even realize it (keys, rings, purses, lip gloss).
The F.B.I., National Victim Center and Crime Victim Research Treatment Center have reported shocking statistics:
- More than 2 1/2 million women in the US experience violence each year
- Only 16% of rapes are ever reported to police
- One out of seven women will be assaulted by their husbands
- One in four college women have either been assaulted or have suffered attempted rape
- In a survey of college women, 38% reported sexual victimization yet only one out of every 25 reported their assault to police - 78% knew their attackers
- The United States has the highest rape rate of the countries that report such statistics - four times higher than Germany, 13 times higher than England and 20 times higher than Japan.
