equal rights to a man and never have. It's gotten better during my lifetime, but Roe vs Wade was the most fundamental decision that gave me a semblance of equal rights -- it allowed me control and choice over my own body. Well, in theory, at least. The truth is far more complex and socially based than legally based. It's been illegal to beat a woman into a bloody pulp for a long time -- by her husband for a far shorter time. It's been illegal to rape someone for a long time -- but during the past couple of decades only has it been illegal for a husband to rape his wife at will. And, so it goes.
MURDER . Every day four women die in this country as a result of domestic violence, the euphemism for murders and assaults by husbands and boyfriends. That's approximately 1,400 women a year, according to the FBI. The number of women who have been murdered by their intimate partners is greater than the number of soldiers killed in the Vietnam War.
BATTERING . Although only 572,000 reports of assault by intimates are officially reported to federal officials each year, the most conservative estimates indicate two to four million women of all races and classes are battered each year. At least 170,000 of those violent incidents are serious enough to require hospitalization, emergency room care or a doctor's attention.
SEXUAL ASSAULT . Every year approximately 132,000 women report that they have been victims of rape or attempted rape, and more than half of them knew their attackers. It's estimated that two to six times that many women are raped, but do not report it. Every year 1.2 million women are forcibly raped by their current or former male partners, some more than once.
THE TARGETS . Women are 10 times more likely than men to be victimized by an intimate. Young women, women who are separated, divorced or single, low- income women and African-American women are disproportionately victims of assault and rape. Domestic violence rates are five times higher among families below poverty levels, and severe spouse abuse is twice as likely to be committed by unemployed men as by those working full time. Violent attacks on lesbians and gay men have become two to three times more common than they were prior to 1988.
Source:
NOW.org, based on USDOJ statistics -- Office of Violence Against Women
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