Facts on sexual violence

Ever since I met a girl some twenty years ago, who was an incest victim between the age of 2 and 12, I have been wanting to write about sexual violence. I feel so much compassion with her and other victims, that it sometimes even makes me feel ashamed of being a man. I know this is nonsense, but she told me so many gruesome details, I just get disgusted with it.
Now I am writing an article on sexual violence and I'd like to hear anyone's comment. I have read a number of posts in this forum and noticed that most are about people who are in distress themselves. So I decided to share the first part of the introduction, so the moderator may correct me.
Here it is.

The world is in the under the spell of sexual violence. The abuse by the catholic church of thousands of children from the 1950’s onward has shocked the public. Scientific studies reveal that it is only the top of the iceberg. On the basis of 65 studies in 22 countries the university of Barcelona f.e. concludes that globally one in five women and one in twelve men have been a victim of sexual abuse. This would amount to nearly one billion (!) women and men and these figures may even be an underestimation because of under-reporting and community codes of silence.
Sexual abuse is thus a more serious problem than anyone, including governments, could ever imagine.

History reveals that sexual abuse and rape are the rule rather than the exception. One of the most famous ancient roman writers Ovid f.e. claimed in his ‘Ars Amatoria’ (“The Art of Love”) that ‘forceful seduction accomplishes admiration in the end’. ‘Perhaps she will struggle at first’ he writes ‘yet she will wish to be beaten in the struggle ... You may use force; women like you to use it; they often wish to give unwillingly what they like to give.’

John-

I have a few reactions. First, I am glad the subject is getting serious consideration in many quarters today, and your upcoming article will be part of that.

I am a little uncomfortable with your reference to the Catholic Church, even though I think the Church's record is a reasonable area for you to address. But if you are going to deal with this, you should do so in a responsible manner, and that would include noting that priests who abused children did so in violation of their vow of celibacy. I like to think that reform efforts during my lifetime have resulted in the problem being minimized among Catholic clergy. Nor have Protestants have not been immune to this problem.

A far greater problem today, as I see it, is child sexual abuse in the Muslim world. And there, with the sterling example of the Prophet sticking it to a nine year old Aisha, there is much more theological basis for child sexual abuse. Truly, the stories coming from Muslim communities are heart rendering- yet few have shown any interest in addressing the completely unconscionable situation.

As for Ovid, well it is difficult to put ourselves into the mindset of the ancient world. Taken in isolation, however, I would say your quote marks him as a bit of a scumbag. Why then, I ask myself, do I find myself nodding in agreement with him, that there are times when we "wish to give unwillingly what [we] like to give"? I know I have said "No" even when I didn't really mean it- it can be a way of protecting yourself. While he may have been right in a small minority of situations, it has to generally be accepted that women have every right to control their own bodies as far as sexual activity is concerned.

I am considering, after being here over a year, of posting my own "What's your story" account on the Sexual Abuse forum, even though my situation pales in comparison with some other people who posted their experiences. Small though it may have been compared with others, it has been significant to me.


BTW, I am a non-Catholic Christian.

This is personal opinion, not in my role as moderator.

If you're going to title the piece Facts, you'll need to give cites for the statistics and information you quote. In particular, I'm not sure that History reveals any such thing. That's an enormous topic all by itself, about cultural expectations and norms. Evolution of standards over time. Public behaviour versus private. And evidencing any of that is very difficult. I'd thought of Ovid as a poet, rather than a factual social commentator. I could easily be wrong, again, I'd need some references.

@ pistils and Ada. Thank you for your comments. I have decided to rewrite my introduction and your comments have been very helpful. In due course I will come back to it.