Chapter 5 infographic image description

The title of the infographic is, Thinking Critically About: Sexual Aggression

The Learning Objective Question reads, What are the effects of sexual aggression? How have cultural values changed, and how can we reduce sexual aggression?

The infographic is divided into two columns.

The heading of the first column reads, Definition of Sexual Aggression.

Under this heading, there are two boxes side-by-side. The box on the left has the heading, Sexual harassment. The text reads, involves making unwanted sexual advances, obscene remarks, or requests for sexual favors. (Footnote 1: McDonald, 2012; U.S.E.E.O.C., 2018.) Under the text is an illustration showing two young men hooting at and ogling two young women, who clearly look uncomfortable.

The box on the right has the heading, Sexual assault. The text reads, is open quotes any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient, close quotes such as unwanted touching, molestation, and attempted or completed rape. (Footnote 2: U.S.D.O.J., 2018.) The illustration shows a man touching a woman’s leg against her will.

Under these two boxes and still in the Definition of Sexual Aggression section is a box entitled, Victims. The text reads, In the U.S., 81 percent of women and 43 percent of men report having experienced sexual aggression in their lifetime. (Footnote 3: Stop Street Harassment, 2018.) Sexual aggression affects people of all ethnic groups. (Footnote 4: Black et al., 2011.) Nearly 70 percent of rape victims are between the ages of 11 and 24. (Footnote 4: Black et al., 2011.) In a National School Climate survey, 8 out of 10 gay or lesbian adolescents reported experiencing sex-related harassment in the prior year. (Footnote 5: GLSEN, 2012.)

Still in the Definition of Sexual Aggression section, another box is entitled, Effects on Well-Being. Text reads, Thanks to human resilience, victims of sexual aggression often recover and lead healthy and meaningful lives. Yet many also suffer serious setbacks, including:

A bulleted list begins.

1. Greater anxiety, depression, and risk for posttraumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder. (Footnote 6: Choudhary et al., 2012; Krahé & Berger, 2017; Snipes et al., 2017; Zanarini et al., 1997.)
2. Disrupted sleep (Footnote 7: Krakow et al., 2001, 2002.)
3. Poor physical health (Footnote 8: Schuyler et al., 2017; Zinzow et al., 2011.)
4. Difficulty trusting new relationship partners (Footnote 9: Muldoon et al., 2016; Starzynski et al., 2017.). The illustration is a young woman’s face showing severe anxiety and sadness.

The heading of the second column reads, Cultural Effects on Our Views.

There are two boxes side-by-side under this column heading. The box on the left has the heading, By Place. The text reads, Some cultures view victims of sexual aggression as guilty of disgracing their families. In India or Pakistan, male family members kill an unknown number of women—one source estimates 1000 annually in each country (Footnote 10: HBVA, 2018)—for open quotes dishonoring their families close quotes.

The heading of the box on the right reads, Over Time. A subtitle reads, Changes in U.S. culture have made it less acceptable to blame victims of sexual aggression. Under the subtitle, there is an illustration of a large downward-facing arrow with the label 1970 at the top, the label 1990 near the middle, and the label 2020 at the bottom (near the arrow point). Directly under the arrow is the text, Blaming the victim becomes less acceptable. There is a textbox pointing to the 1970 label with the text, 1970s The first significant studies of rape victim blaming. There is another textbox pointing right below the 1990 label, with the text, 1991 Landmark U.S. Supreme court nominee Clarence Thomas sexual harassment case. There is a final textbox pointing above the 2020 label that reads, 2017 Tipping point: Many people from different professions (Journalism, politics, academia, sports, entertainment) lost their jobs because of alleged sexual aggression.

A box under the two previous boxes is titled, How to reduce Sexual Aggression. The text reads, Therapy to treat sexual aggressors has not been very effective (Footnote 11: Grønnerød et al., 2015.). However, other, broader-based strategies do work:

• Encourage victims to report their experiences to authority figures (parents, supervisors, law enforcement officials) and to share their experiences publicly.
• Empower victims to take control of their situation and refuse to let their perpetrators dominate or manipulate them. Adjust social norms so that victims feel safe reporting their experiences.
• Educate people about preventive bystander intervention strategies, such as open quotes Green Dot, close quotes which has been shown to reduce sexual aggression in communities by as much as 20 percent. (Footnote 12: Coker et al., 2017.).

The first illustration in this panel is a Time Magazine Person of the Year cover showing five women of diverse ethnicities and ages. The cover title reads, The Silence Breakers 2017. The second illustration is the Indianapolis Star newspaper showing the face of a bearded, bespectacled man in a prison jumpsuit. The headline reads, Disgraced Dr. Nassar…sexual abuse…Over 200 victims testify.