A survey of survivors of sexual violence in three Canadian cities

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• dissociating during the actual abuse and/or assault incidents themselves, especially those who experienced ongoing abuse and/or assaults

• Many of the offenders were described as intimate partners (33%, n=20), friends (17%, n=10) and acquaintances (17%, n=10).

• Child sexual abuse (CSA) and adult sexual assault (ASA) can have devastating effects on survivors. While these crimes occur across all demographics, females are the most common victims of these crimes, representing 70% of survivors of self-reported sexual assault in 2009 and 87% of survivors of police reported sexual assault in 201

• CSA and ASA can have devastating effects on survivors and unfortunately, in Canada in 2012, there were approximately 21,900 incidents of sexual assault reported to the police, the majority of which (98%) were Level 1 sexual assaults (Perreault 2013)

• ncidents of sexual assault that are reported to the police, however, only reflect a small proportion of the actual incidents that occur.

• the most common age being 18

• orally threatened by the perpetrator and five participants reported that the offender had made such threats about the safety of others

• used force during the commission of the offence, which resulted in injury for 45

• The most common reasons for not reporting the sexual assault were shame and embarrassment; t

• Shame/Embarrassment 18 (36%)

• A larger percentage (65%, n=56) of those who stated they experienced ASA indicated that they had supportive individuals in their lives around the time of the assault in comparison to those who indicated that they experienced CSA

• Participants were asked whether they experienced emotional and/or psychological harm as a result of their experience(s). Every participant who responded to this question stated that she suffered from some form of traumatisation. The participants were also asked to describe, through an open-ended question, the emotional and psychological trauma they experienced.

• ongoing and long-term.

• depression and associated feelings, such as worthlessness, helplessness, powerlessness, sadness, lack of motivation and suicidal ideation.

• feelings of betrayal, devastation, numbness, insecurity and for some who had experienced multiple victimization experiences, re-traumatisation.

• became introverted, timid, isolated and withdrawn after their victimization

• low self-esteem, loss of self-respect and self-identity, and becoming very self-conscious. Many participants described feeling shameful about their bodies and feeling as though their bodies were “bad” in some way. In addition, participants described feelings of betrayal, shock, confusion, disgust and disbelief. It was also very common for participants to describe feelings of guilt, shame, self-blame, humiliation and an overall feeling of degradation.

• experiencing difficulties with trust after their victimization.

• difficulties forming friendships and connections with others. While some participants indicated that they have difficulties trusting others, some stated that they trust too easily, are easily manipulated and have problems with boundaries.

• afraid of making others angry and have difficulty dealing with those who are angry or upset. Survey of Survivo rs 15 For some participants, difficulty with trust was limited to men.11 One participant described her reasons behind this mistrust