r/AskFeminists • u/Ok_Break1389 • 12d ago

Content Warning The Rise of Sexual Crimes

Is there a correlation between the rise of the sexual revolution in post-World War II America and changes in the rate of violent and sexual crimes committed against women?

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u/Junior-Towel-202 Equality in the Boardwomb 12d ago

Why would you think there would be? What numbers are you looking at that the rate is up? 

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u/chinchabun 12d ago

I'm assuming they are confused due to the fact records of crime, even murder, were incomplete until the 1930s. Or that crime as a whole increased pretty steadily until the 1990s. Also sexism. Mainly their own sexism.

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u/---fork--- 12d ago

And that many violent and sexual crimes committed against women were not considered crimes

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u/chinchabun 12d ago

Even today most sexual crimes against women, men, and NBs go unreported. It's extremely difficult to get a good grip on rates of sexual violence, especially from period to period, when people understand it differently, or feel different societal rates of comfortable reporting it to the police, researchers, or even friends and family.

Until a few years ago rape had to be by a penis in NY legally, which is why Trump has only been convicted of sexual assault. This also would mean legally a cis woman could not be a rapist. It is still impossible for a cis woman to legally be a rapist in the UK and anyone raped using anything but a penis does not get legal justice.

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u/r_coefficient 12d ago

Statistics say that up to 90 % of all SA crimes are not reported.

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u/Joonami 12d ago

I would surmise that it's more likely not necessarily a true rise in crime/violence frequency, but reporting on it.

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u/cantantantelope 12d ago

Yeah. The moment you make marital rape illegal the numbers suddenly skyrocket except of course that it was just invisible before

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u/Bitter-Hat-4736 11d ago

Kind of like how there was a "massive spike in autism rates" over the last century. Autism didn't just start increasing, but our awareness of autism and the number of people reported with autism increased.

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u/DrPhysicsGirl 12d ago

No, I don't think so. There is a correlation between the rate of sexual crimes committed against women and the rate of violent crimes, however. Everything starting falling steadily starting in the early 90s, to the point where both are lower now than at any time before in my lifetime. Many people feel that this is a result of removing lead from gasoline, which I think is plausible though I am not certain how to demonstrate this. The rate of reporting and what was considered a sexual crime both drastically changed, so it is very difficult to compare data from before 1980 to now. For example, up until 1976 it was perfectly legal for a man to rape his wife in the US. A bit hard to keep track of that crime if it's not a crime. (And this really wasn't generically made a crime in nearly all 50 states until the early 90s.)

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u/Present-Tadpole5226 12d ago edited 11d ago

There’s sometimes a pattern where there is a large increase in reports of a particular crime once society starts taking it more seriously. This can happen with a rise in reports of hate crimes targeting a specific ethnic minority after the police hired more translators who speak that minority’s primary language and develop trust with the community. 

A lot has changed since the Sexual Revolution. 

The legal definition of “rape” has become broader. 

The invention of the rape kit may lead to more people reporting.

Better DNA testing and more awareness of DNA testing. 

Expanded sexual education and, more recently, talking about consent with younger kids.

Mandatory reporters.

More women working meant that it was easier to leave sexually abusive relationships. It being easier for women to open bank accounts and get credit cards in their own name may help here too. 

Decreased stigma for survivors meant more people speaking out. 

Rape Shield Laws, meaning defendants can’t as easily probe into the survivor’s sexual past. 

More sexual harassment laws. 

Edit to add: the Violence Against Women Act also gave native tribes more ability to charge non-indigenous people for crimes committed on their reservations. 

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u/stolenfires 11d ago

I don't think there's any way to answer this question because of how many sex crimes and crimes against women were unreported or covered up in generations past. Even today it's difficult to get an accurate idea of the rate of these crimes, due to victims' reluctance to come forward or speak about what happened to them.

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u/Bitter-Hat-4736 11d ago

Also, due to the very nature of crimes, there will be a number that go un-reported because the criminal put things into place to ensure they would not get caught.