Scary Statistics

I was watching Law & Order: Special Victims Unit this evening. Usually it is just passive entertainment. I don't generally go out of my way to watch it... unlike CSI but usually catch it. Now tonight's episode was a repeat but one of the statistics that came up in the episode always gives me a pause. Beck was saying that victims are 7x more likely to be sexually assaulted again. That's just scary. Statistics also say that 1 in 4 women will be sexually assaulted. 1 in 4... 25% doesn't sound so high but it really is. Rates are highest in late teens and early 20s, especially on college campuses.

I can speak from experience that you are more likely to be victimized again. But that made me wonder why that is the case. Theoretically, all things being equal, you should be just as likely as the next person. But I suppose that is really only true if you live in a vacuum. More likely, at least this was the conclusion I came to earlier, certain people are just more likely to be victimized. It is these same vulnerabilities that lead someone to be more likely to be victimized again. Certain behaviours... and personality types... could lead to someone being more likely to be raped. And these same predispositions increase the likelihood of being victimized again.

Both of those statistics are pretty frightening. I'm over it as much as I ever will be. I don't think you ever really get over it. You never forget. I just don't have the same flashbacks or nightmares that I once had. It has shaped who I am... just as any event shapes your life, even in small ways.