silver wolf009 said:
I have always been curious where the number of unreported rapes come from. What do you have to do to count a rape as reported? How do you come to a percentage when, by definition, you don't have information to draw upon since the acts are going unreported?
I'm not sure either. The statistics have always seemed fuzzy. The general consensus is that unreported cases of sexual assault/rape is very high among women and men.
One thing to keep in mind is that the overwhelming number of reported rapes are not the oft publicized "stranger rape", where a masked man jumps from the shadows and assails a passerby. It's almost always a friend, or acquaintance, or even a lover. Which seriously complicates the question of "do I report this". What if it's a parent? Or a coach? Or a priest? There was a very moving set of photos of male rape victims on Imgur the other day, holding up signs about their experiences. A Dad said he'd kill the mother if the kid told. Another said he'd kill his sisters (and told the sisters he'd kill their brother when he was raping them). Others threatened expulsion, or that they'd be a laughing stock if word got out.
I have a female friend who was raped by a co-worker. She refused to say anything about it because he was friends with the boss, and she was a relatively new hire fresh out of school.
For a lot of victims, the act of reporting it and having your sexual history combed through and put up as a defense, or being attacked/demonized by the family and friends of the accused, or sitting through a rape kit and being violated all over again, is worse than just staying silent.
And it's a fucking hard crime to prosecute, and often boils down into a case of conflicting stories.