Impacts of victimization

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Anger, confusion and frustration the most common emotional responses

Similar to the reactions of those who experienced other forms of violent crime, victims of sexual assault reported feeling a multitude of emotions in response to their victimization. The most common emotional reaction was anger (24%), followed by confusion and frustration (20%), shock and disbelief (16%), annoyance (16%), and fear (15%).

The impact of less severe types of sexual offences on victims' abilities to perform their primary activities was similar to the impact reported by victims of other kinds of violent crimes. In about one-fifth (21%) of sexual assaults involving unwanted sexual touching, victims reported being unable to carry out their main activity for the rest of the day, a proportion similar to that of physical assault victims (22%) and slightly smaller than for victims of robbery (35%). However, incidents involving sexual attacks were more likely to result in victims being unable to carry out their main activity, with about half (51%) of victims reporting that they could not do so.

According to the 2004 GSS, most (93%) sexual assaults resulted in no physical injury to the victim, particularly for victims of sexual touching (96%) compared to sexual attack victims (78%). Police-reported data offer comparable findings. Police-reported data from 2007, indicate that overall, 77% of sexual offences resulted in no physical injury to the victim and that a higher proportion of level 1 sexual assaults resulted in no physical injuries (80%), in comparison to level 2 sexual assaults (40%), and aggravated sexual assaults (7%).

Many sexual assault victims do confide in friends and family

While many victims of sexual assault did not report their victimization to police, still many did turn to other informal sources of support, such as friends (72%), family (41%), co-workers (33%), or doctors or nurses (13%). These findings confirm previous research in the area which suggests that victims of sexual assault are most likely to rely on informal sources for support, with more confiding in friends rather than those who are related to them (Ullman et al., 2006).

Victims of sexual assault felt less safe than those who had not been the victim of a crime. For example, 27% of sexual assault victims said that they felt somewhat to very unsafe when walking alone at night in comparison to 14% of people who had not been criminally victimized. GSS findings also indicate that a higher proportion of sexual assault victims used precautionary measures to protect themselves from crime, relative to those who had not been victimized. One in six (17%) victims of sexual assault indicated that they routinely stay at home at night because they are too afraid to go out alone, compared to 10% who had not been criminally victimized. Similarly, a higher proportion of sexual assault victims (63%) indicated that over the previous 12 months they had changed their routine, activities or avoided certain places, than people who had not been criminally victimized (20%).

Nevertheless, the findings that victims of sexual assault felt less safe and were more apt to use measures to protect themselves from crime than non-victims must be interpreted with caution, since it is not known if these feelings and behaviours are the direct result of their victimization.

Fear and precautionary behaviours similar among victims of sexual assault and robbery

Among victims of violent crime, sexual assault victims resembled robbery victims in their perceptions of safety and use of precautionary measures, but differed somewhat from victims of physical assault. The 2004 GSS found comparable proportions of sexual assault (26%), robbery (25%) and assault (23%) victims felt somewhat to very unsafe when walking alone at night. However, some statistically meaningful differences in the precautionary behaviours of sexual assault victims and victims of physical assault were discovered. Relative to victims of sexual assault, significantly lower proportions of assault victims reported that they routinely stay at home at night for fear of going out alone or that they had changed their routine, activities or avoided certain places to increase their personal safety.