Despite greater willingness of authorities to protect them, violence against women is widespread. Victims often refuse to testify, sometimes from shame and sometimes from fear. Trafficking remains a major problem, with young women lured with promises of good jobs and then kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery—and according to the CIA, many of them are in small towns throughout the U.S.
Unfortunately, many institutions—from businesses to universities—try to minimize incidents of sexual harassment, sexual assault, & rape. While it is understandable that they would be concerned about their reputation, blaming the victims or trivializing what happened is inexcusable.
Read the article on how colleges & universities trivialize rape.
Additional Resources:
- Amnesty International
- Amnesty International U.S.