SEXUALT ASSAULT IN RURAL AMERICA

December 26, 2005

The morning after a party hosted in her home by her abusive husband, “Jane” was given the task of driving the male guests home. After dropping one of them off, she was left in the car with her husband’s cousin who offered to show her a shortcut to his house. Tired, and wanting to get rid of him as quickly as possible, Jane agreed. The shortcut did not go to his house but rather to a strip-mining site far from anything else. The man forced Jane into the back seat of the car where he forcibly raped her. Afterward he threw her out of the car and physically assaulted her. On instinct, Jane ran. Being in the middle of nowhere, she ran toward the sound of equipment running. She finally came upon a man driving heavy equipment, approximately one mile from the site of her assault. The man called 911 in an effort to get some help for Jane. Because the site was in such a remote area, the police responding to the call got lost on their way.

Jane now faces the ensuing police investigation and prosecution with little or no support from family and friends. She experiences a legal system that may place the blame for the incident on her, the victim. She lives in a community that does not want to believe “it” happens here – and if it does the woman must have asked for it. Jane is also facing the memory of childhood sexual abuse stirred up by this recent assault. Fortunately for her, however, there is a small rape crisis center that is able to provide her with support and advocacy. The center, which is under-funded, under-staffed and relies heavily on volunteers, will be there for Jane 24-hours a day for as long as it takes. In essence Jane and the center will struggle together in the face of isolation and lack of resources.

——————————————————————————–

Introduction
In this booklet, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) considers sexual assault from a rural perspective, a viewpoint that is rarely presented. Social scientists and researchers who have looked at sexual assault have often considered diverse cultures and populations and asked how these cultures may confound reporting, accountability and service delivery, but they have virtually ignored the fact that rural America may also have deep-seated cultural and geographic characteristics that carry similar difficulties.

Service providers generally view sexual assault victims in rural areas as an underserved population, mostly because of a well-recognized, low rate of reporting and because of the often dispersed nature of services. In a sense, underserved means underreported and not very well understood, if at all. To varying degrees, rural
populations are often marginalized from the mainstream power structure, which holds the opportunities for assistance and services through resources and policy
initiatives.

Many questions come to mind, for example: How prevalent is sexual assault in rural areas of America? Is the rate higher or lower than in urban America? How do rural conditions impact the work of service providers? Which characteristics present the greatest barriers to reporting and services? There are few clear answers to such questions because crime statistics are not very revealing with regard to sexual assault, and especially with regard to rural sexual assault, and few practitioners have written on the topic. This means that we know little about the extent, unique characteristics or predictors of sexual victimization of rural populations.

This booklet considers rural characteristics that deter reporting and helps explain why sexual assaults in rural areas are often unspoken crimes. Importantly, it will also review some of the data on the prevalence of rural sexual assault because although rural sexual victimizations may be unspoken and unreported, it does not mean that they are not occurring. The booklet also reviews many of the difficulties encountered by advocates and offers insight and best practices of rural advocates.

Although this booklet discusses various issues of rural sexual assault for the entire nation, the NSVRC acknowledges the limitations of broad generalizations. In an attempt to be more specific, it examined the situation for rural populations in several states somewhat more closely. The NSVRC conducted phone interviews with some rural advocates. Regretfully, this project could not examine all states with rural populations, but this booklet represents a preliminary foray into the rural perspective. The NSVRC expects that other research and resources will This booklet examines sexual assault from a rural perspective. Its goal is to present service providers with a better sense of the unique characteristics that are so often a part of rural regions. It considers the issue of prevalence of rural sexual assault by examining national data as well as information from several states. In general, it suggests that rural sexual assault may be more prevalent than indicated by national data, and that in order to provide effective services in rural areas we must adopt a culturally sensitive approach. Finally, we offer comments, insights and some best practices as expressed by rural advocates.

The Meaning of Rural
In general, low population density makes an area, county or region rural. Picture approximately 80 percent of the population crowded on 20 percent of the land; this leaves the rest of the population spread across a large area, often in isolated situations. In fact, according to 1997 data, more than 20 percent of the nation’s population lives in non-metropolitan areas (Beale, 1999).

Rural counties account for nearly 75 percent of all counties and 83 percent of the nation’s land. Seventy-four percent of the 3,040 counties in the US have a
population of less than 50,000 and 24 percent have a population of less than 10,000. Poverty levels are generally higher in rural areas. “As a whole, rural areas tend to be more racially homogenous than urban areas. However, there is a great variation between sub-regions of the nation” (Nord, 1997).

Measurements of “rural” vary, often making it difficult to compare data. For example, the US Census demarks rural as “places with less than 2,500 and not in places incorporated or in census designated places or rural portions of extended cities.” The Office of Management and Budget uses county figures as the basis for defining metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas. Researchers often use demarcations that include demographic characteristics.

A wide variety of rural situations means that it is difficult to generalize about rural characteristics or to adopt a universal, concise definition. Rural can mean many things in terms of living configurations. For example, it can mean a single family living on a farm miles from the next building or person, a small dispersed community with limited community services, pockets of families and ethnic groupings, or a small town that has experienced economic and population decline, just to name a few.

Rural also suggests a kind of cultural uniqueness that has led some to see “rurality” as a concept more than a specific region. One researcher suggests “(p)erhaps rurality exists more as a state of mind and attitude than as an area on a map or a ratio of persons per square mile. Rurality may be best defined subjectively” (Sims, 1988).

Others have explained rural areas essentially as a culture. “A rural area is not simply a physical place but a social place as well” (Weisheit, Wells & Falcone, 1994). This idea carries implications for service delivery because it suggests that we may need to adopt an approach that is sensitive to the cultural characteristics of rural
populations.

Various ethnic, racial or religious groups living in rural areas may experience certain reinforcing or mitigating effects to the rural culture’s social and insular characteristics. Later in this text, the discussion of rural Alaska suggests just such an effect among the rural Alaskan Native populations.

In general, low population density makes an area, county or region rural. Beyond that, however, rural cannot be concisely or simply defined. Various organizations and researchers use different demarcations. Low population density means that people living in a rural area have a high degree of familiarity with each other. This has led many observers to speak about rural as a subjective situation, attitude or culture.

Sexual Assault: A Rural Perspective