So, it's finally here. After a few weeks of waiting (since I found out that it was "coming soon") and visiting the site daily, CDC finally published the Sexual Violence brief for their upcoming newest version of the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey last Friday I believe. That is significant because, to my and for sure other non-UScels' annoyance, it seems that the US is the only country currently willing to publish something that irritates feminist ideologues to this extent, and has been for a long time. No EU, or European country in general does so, as far as I'm aware, while the US had been publishing those stats for well over a decade by now.
www.cdc.gov
So, what has the CDC graced us with? Well, the most important thing is that, for this report, they've changed the methodology used to classify the gathered data, which they note and because of which they specifically warn against comparing this most recent survey to the previous ones.
So, of course, that is exactly what I've done, because damn, is there a lot, or at least something, going on. I don't know if it's just normal data fluctuation or whether this is the effect of the change in methodology (the reduced repetitiveness could cause behaviour that is less likely to be reported in the first place, such as men being forcibly made to penetrate women, to stay hidden instead of being mined out by repeated questions), but there's something really interesting going on in those tables, which are the only tables we have so far from 2023/2024. Compared to the previous report, the rates of sexual violence involving women in any way has fallen, while men being forcibly penetrated is the only thing that has increased
.
For context, this report divides sexual violence into four distinct categories. "Rape" is defined as the victim being forcibly penetrated, this being either because of physical force used on the victim or the victim being drugged or drunk and unable to defend themselves. "Sexual coercion" means someone being forced into sex by enticement, somebody wering them down, somebody using their position of authority over them, and so on. It results in sex and, if the 2016/2017 report is to be believed, pregnancy as well, as often as rape does. The difference between those two categories is only the method. After that, there's "Unwanted sexual contact" which is unwanted and nonconsensual stuff that doesn't result in sex. Being kissed, groped, and so on.
Both genders are asked about all three of those, but men are also asked about being "made to penetrate". That is the counterpart of rape, being forced to penetrate someone by them using physical force to make you do so or you being too drunk or drugged to resist. Those acts are assessed for both their lifetime and past-12-months frequency, with the one I'm talking about being the lifetime, as there often isn't enough data for the latter, especially for male victims.
We don't have the current data for perpetrators by gender and category yet, but in the previous surveys, it was consistently found that for all categories, most perpetrators are of the opposite gender, with the sole exception of men reporting rape, who are mostly raped by other men. That is exactly why it's interesting what is happening in those tables, since it is this one category, the only category where same-sex acts dominate, that had grown between those two surveys, as can be seen in the image above. Everything else, everything that includes women as victims or tends to involve them as perpetrators, had fallen, it is only the one thing that tends to be male-on-male that had seen an increase in the percentages.
The biggest decreases were in the categories where men are the victims and women most of the perpetrators. Between the two reports, all types of "made-to-penetrate" saw a decrease of at least 50%. Sexual coercion and unwated sexual contact experienced by men both fell by over 40%, while verbal sexual harassment in public saw an almost 35% decline.
Compare that to acts reported by women. Now, there were a few notable decreases, with attempted perpetration and drugs/alcohol-fuelled perpetration declining by over 40% and over 30%, respectively, which I guess means that rapists are getting more successful and physical force-only. The other categories declined by much less. Completed forced penetration, for example, went from 16.3% to 16.1%, declining by not even 2%. However, and this is a big however, those are lifetime estimates, and unlike for men, the 2023/2024 report has past 12 months estimates for all victimization reported by women, and there we do see large declines. Completed or attempted penetration fell by 44%, completed penetration by 27%, sexual coercion by 24%, attempted penetration by 63%, and so on.
And then, there's rape of men. The one predominantly homosexual form of victimization tracked by this survey, and the only one that saw increases in the newest report. I'd really love to know what's going on there, but there's only so much we can guess with just the rawest, broad numbers we have so far. We'll have to wait for the full report to come out to see gender breakdowns for the perpetrators of these acts, like the previous reports had. Either more acts that would've been classified as MTP are being classified as rape, and thus we should see an increase of female perpetrators of rape of men, or the percentages won't change and there truly is just, for some reason, more self-reported instances of homos raping men while every other type of sexual violence is decreasing.
Reports and Publications
View publications showing the latest intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and stalking data.
www.cdc.gov
So, what has the CDC graced us with? Well, the most important thing is that, for this report, they've changed the methodology used to classify the gathered data, which they note and because of which they specifically warn against comparing this most recent survey to the previous ones.
Sexual violence: The question format was revised to ask whether the participant experienced the behavior (with yes/no response options) instead of asking how many people (ever) committed the behavior against the respondent, as was done in previous survey versions. In addition, four questions were added on technology-facilitated sexual violence (two lifetime questions, two 12-month questions). The rape and made to penetrate sections were restructured to provide more straightforward instructionsa nd better clarity about the types of questions included. The question revisions also aimed to reduce repetitiveness and improve specificity about the perpetrator and behavior combinations. The alcohol/drug-facilitated and physically forced items were presented at once rather than in separate sections (so respondents don’t have the sense that they were receiving the same questions twice). Then, if any rape or made to penetrate behaviors were endorsed, participants were asked follow-up questions to determine the context of the violence (i.e., alcohol/drug-facilitated, physically forced).
These follow-up questions also enable linking of the specific perpetrator category (i.e., relationship category, such as intimate partner, acquaintance) to the specific context in which rape or being made to penetrate was experienced (i.e.,whether it was alcohol/drug-facilitated or physically forced). This format also allows for improved linking of specific sexual violence behaviors to specific perpetrator relationship types, improves data accuracy, and reduces confusion.
These follow-up questions also enable linking of the specific perpetrator category (i.e., relationship category, such as intimate partner, acquaintance) to the specific context in which rape or being made to penetrate was experienced (i.e.,whether it was alcohol/drug-facilitated or physically forced). This format also allows for improved linking of specific sexual violence behaviors to specific perpetrator relationship types, improves data accuracy, and reduces confusion.
So, of course, that is exactly what I've done, because damn, is there a lot, or at least something, going on. I don't know if it's just normal data fluctuation or whether this is the effect of the change in methodology (the reduced repetitiveness could cause behaviour that is less likely to be reported in the first place, such as men being forcibly made to penetrate women, to stay hidden instead of being mined out by repeated questions), but there's something really interesting going on in those tables, which are the only tables we have so far from 2023/2024. Compared to the previous report, the rates of sexual violence involving women in any way has fallen, while men being forcibly penetrated is the only thing that has increased
.For context, this report divides sexual violence into four distinct categories. "Rape" is defined as the victim being forcibly penetrated, this being either because of physical force used on the victim or the victim being drugged or drunk and unable to defend themselves. "Sexual coercion" means someone being forced into sex by enticement, somebody wering them down, somebody using their position of authority over them, and so on. It results in sex and, if the 2016/2017 report is to be believed, pregnancy as well, as often as rape does. The difference between those two categories is only the method. After that, there's "Unwanted sexual contact" which is unwanted and nonconsensual stuff that doesn't result in sex. Being kissed, groped, and so on.
Both genders are asked about all three of those, but men are also asked about being "made to penetrate". That is the counterpart of rape, being forced to penetrate someone by them using physical force to make you do so or you being too drunk or drugged to resist. Those acts are assessed for both their lifetime and past-12-months frequency, with the one I'm talking about being the lifetime, as there often isn't enough data for the latter, especially for male victims.
We don't have the current data for perpetrators by gender and category yet, but in the previous surveys, it was consistently found that for all categories, most perpetrators are of the opposite gender, with the sole exception of men reporting rape, who are mostly raped by other men. That is exactly why it's interesting what is happening in those tables, since it is this one category, the only category where same-sex acts dominate, that had grown between those two surveys, as can be seen in the image above. Everything else, everything that includes women as victims or tends to involve them as perpetrators, had fallen, it is only the one thing that tends to be male-on-male that had seen an increase in the percentages.
The biggest decreases were in the categories where men are the victims and women most of the perpetrators. Between the two reports, all types of "made-to-penetrate" saw a decrease of at least 50%. Sexual coercion and unwated sexual contact experienced by men both fell by over 40%, while verbal sexual harassment in public saw an almost 35% decline.
Compare that to acts reported by women. Now, there were a few notable decreases, with attempted perpetration and drugs/alcohol-fuelled perpetration declining by over 40% and over 30%, respectively, which I guess means that rapists are getting more successful and physical force-only. The other categories declined by much less. Completed forced penetration, for example, went from 16.3% to 16.1%, declining by not even 2%. However, and this is a big however, those are lifetime estimates, and unlike for men, the 2023/2024 report has past 12 months estimates for all victimization reported by women, and there we do see large declines. Completed or attempted penetration fell by 44%, completed penetration by 27%, sexual coercion by 24%, attempted penetration by 63%, and so on.
And then, there's rape of men. The one predominantly homosexual form of victimization tracked by this survey, and the only one that saw increases in the newest report. I'd really love to know what's going on there, but there's only so much we can guess with just the rawest, broad numbers we have so far. We'll have to wait for the full report to come out to see gender breakdowns for the perpetrators of these acts, like the previous reports had. Either more acts that would've been classified as MTP are being classified as rape, and thus we should see an increase of female perpetrators of rape of men, or the percentages won't change and there truly is just, for some reason, more self-reported instances of homos raping men while every other type of sexual violence is decreasing.
