Reported cases

		2003		2004	2005	2006	2007	2008		2009
Total		80,371		82,835	82,725	83,480	82,000	81,009		81,280
By force		73,483		76,015	75,930	76,773	75,545	74,901		75,720
Attempt		6,888		6,820	6,795	6,707	6,455	6,108		5,560
RATE
Per 100,000 population	33.10		33.10		32.50	32.10	30.80		30.10		29.80
Per 100,000 feamales	54.40		55.60		55.10	55.10	53.60		52.50		52.30

Reason behind my topic.

My question is: Is Sexual assault a problem in the United States?

I ask this question is because I know so many people that have been sexually assaulted including myself. It’s something that I never told anyone, the thing people don’t seem to understand is that it’s not something that you can just tell someone not even someone you are really close to. You don’t talk about it because you don’t want people acting different towards you. Just because someone has had it happen you shouldn’t let that change how you treat them; you should just support them and show them that you care. Most of the time if you have had it happen are more susceptible to have the act occur again because it makes you feel like less of a person and brings so much negative self talk. Another reason I chose this topic is to put more awareness out there of how much sexual assault happens. When something like that happens it is hard to gain back the emotional strength that you had before. There are millions of cases that go unreported because the victim is to afraid to speak up or they do not want anyone knowing that they have had it happen to them. I want to know if people realize how big of an issue this is in the United States.