One in Four college women have survived rape or attempted rape in their lifetime.

One in four college women have survived either rape or attempted rape in their lifetime. The US Department of Justice published a study in 2006 of over 4,000 college women. In that survey, 3% of those women had survived rape or attempted rape in a 7 month academic year, alone. An additional 21% had survived rape or attempted rape at some point in their lives prior to that academic year. When you take those two figures and add them up - the 3 and the 21 - you get 24%, or roughly one in four.

Tjaden, P. & Thoennes, N. (2006). Prevalence, incidence, and consequences of violence against women: Findings from the national violence against women survey. Research in Brief, Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, US Department of Justice.

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One in four women in the military experience rape or attempted rape during their military service.

Research has shown that throughout the U.S. military, between one quarter and one third of women experience rape or attempted rape during their military service. What is particularly alarming about this statistic, in addition to its magnitude, is that 96% of the perpetrators of this violence are other members of the U.S. military.

Campbell, R. & Raha, S. (2005). The sexual assault and secondary victimization of female veterans: Help-seeking experiences with military and civilian social systems. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 29, 97-106.
Sadler, A.G., Booth, B.M., Doebbeling, B. N. (2005). Gang and multiple rapes during military service: Health consequences and health care. Journal of American Medical Women’s Association, 60(1), 33-41.
Suris, A., & Lind, L. (2008). Military sexual trauma: A review of prevalence and associated health consequences in veterans. Trauma, Violence, and Abuse, 9(4), 250-269.

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Research shows that The Men's Program leads to a 40% decline in sexual assault behavior (and much more).

A study published in the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice showed that high risk men who were treated with The Men’s Program committed 40% fewer sexually coercive acts during their first year of college than a control group who did not see The Men’s Program (TMP). This was statistically significant beyond the 95% level of confidence.

The first chart below shows the difference in number of sexual assault incidences by percentage, showing that 6% of men seeing the program committed some act of sexual assault after seeing the program. This compares to 10% of men who committed some act of sexual assault who did not see the program who committed sexual assault (a 40% difference).

Moreover, the second chart shows that the level of violence involved in the assaults committed by men who saw the men’s program represented in the left bar was 8 times less severe than those untreated. Put another way, when men were treated with the men’s program, if they did commit an act of sexual violence, on average it was 8 times less serious (unwanted sexual contact) than those who were untreated (rape).

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Research shows that The Women's Program leads to increased bystander intervention (and more).

A formal evaluation of the Women’s Program published in the Journal of Community Psychology used quasi-experimental design with a sample of 179 mostly first-year women at a large southern university. The sample was divided into a treatment group and a control group based on class sections in which they were enrolled. Treatment participants saw The Women’s Program. All participants completed measures of rape myth acceptance, bystander efficacy, and bystander willingness to help.

Women who participated in The Women’s Program reported a significant increase in their perceived ability to intervene in a potential sexual assault situation (bystander efficacy) and a significant increase in their willingness to intervene (bystander willingness) in a sexual assault situation. Both of these effects were significantly different from a control group.

In addition, women who saw The Women’s Program experienced a significant decline in their rape myth acceptance. Women in the control group did not. Thus, program participants’ attitudes moved in the desired direction.

Foubert, J.D. & Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J., Brasfield, H., & Hill, B. (2010). Effects of a rape awareness program on college women: Increasing bystander efficacy and willingness to intervene. Journal of Community Psychology, 38, 813-827.

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