Community Organization Advocacy Project
The Rape Crisis Center
Serving Children, Women, and Men Rape is a felony crime in which a person is forced to have sexual intercourse without giving consent. Rape is traumatizing, and has long lasting effect on how victims cope in society. Rape is often motivated by extreme anger toward the victim or a need to overpower the victim. The motive is rarely sexual. Rape is intended to abuse, humiliate, and dehumanize the victim. 50% of all rapists are under the age of 25 and are most frequently with someone the victim already knows. This can be very traumatic and have many effects on the victim (Texas Department, 2012). The effects of rape are both physical and psychological. Some of the physical problems may be bruises, swelling around genital area, bruising around the vagina, sexually transmitted diseases, and/or possible pregnancy. Psychological effects may be guilty feelings, irritability, flashbacks, depression, fear, and difficulty. The physical effects may last from a day to a few months, depending on the extent of the injuries. The mental and emotional effects are less predictable, and may last a lifetime (Texas Department, 2012). You might be asking; why is she providing all this information? Well, the truth is that this is happening to our children right before our eyes and we must find a way to help them in coping with the effects. According to Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje, Social Service Reporter with The San Antonio Express News stated that, “Around 25 percent of the estimated 300,000 American children lured into sex trafficking each year live in Texas — a sobering fact presented at a news conference, where victim advocates sought to lay out the scope of the problem and ways it might be better addressed” (Fletcher-Stoeltje, 2012). When situations like those arise, there should always be a place where one can turn to, a place to feel safe, to be understood, and be counseled, a place like, The Rape Crisis Center.
During the 1970s, community leaders,
Serving Children, Women, and Men Rape is a felony crime in which a person is forced to have sexual intercourse without giving consent. Rape is traumatizing, and has long lasting effect on how victims cope in society. Rape is often motivated by extreme anger toward the victim or a need to overpower the victim. The motive is rarely sexual. Rape is intended to abuse, humiliate, and dehumanize the victim. 50% of all rapists are under the age of 25 and are most frequently with someone the victim already knows. This can be very traumatic and have many effects on the victim (Texas Department, 2012). The effects of rape are both physical and psychological. Some of the physical problems may be bruises, swelling around genital area, bruising around the vagina, sexually transmitted diseases, and/or possible pregnancy. Psychological effects may be guilty feelings, irritability, flashbacks, depression, fear, and difficulty. The physical effects may last from a day to a few months, depending on the extent of the injuries. The mental and emotional effects are less predictable, and may last a lifetime (Texas Department, 2012). You might be asking; why is she providing all this information? Well, the truth is that this is happening to our children right before our eyes and we must find a way to help them in coping with the effects. According to Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje, Social Service Reporter with The San Antonio Express News stated that, “Around 25 percent of the estimated 300,000 American children lured into sex trafficking each year live in Texas — a sobering fact presented at a news conference, where victim advocates sought to lay out the scope of the problem and ways it might be better addressed” (Fletcher-Stoeltje, 2012). When situations like those arise, there should always be a place where one can turn to, a place to feel safe, to be understood, and be counseled, a place like, The Rape Crisis Center.
During the 1970s, community leaders,