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  • Myth: There is a high rate of false reporting when it comes to rape and sexual violence.
    • Fact: Research and data indicate that false reporting accounts for only 2% to 10% of all reports of sexual assault [1]. It is also important to note that an estimated 63% of sexual assaults go unreported [2]. In reality, there are many factors that result in sexual assault cases being dropped or deemed ‘unfounded’. “Unfounded cases include those that law enforcement believes do not meet the legal criteria for rape. It does not mean that some form of sexual assault may not have occurred…but only that the case does not meet the legal criteria” [3] or there is not enough evidence to proceed.
  • Myth: Men rape women because they cannot control themselves.
    • Fact: Rape is an act of violence committed out of desire for power and control. Many rapes are not impulsive acts, but are planned events.
  • Myth: If a woman is wearing sexy clothing she is partially to blame if she is raped.
    • Fact: The rapist does not care what the person is wearing. The rapist is seeking someone they can isolate and make vulnerable. The most common tool they use to do this is alcohol.
  • Myth: If a victim has been drinking, then they are partially to blame if they are raped.
    • Fact: Alcohol and drugs can render a victim incapable of consent. Drinking doesn’t provide a green light.
  • Myth: If the victim did not put up a fight, then they were not actually raped.
    • Fact: In most cases the victim is unable to fight back do to trauma, impairment, fear, and/or other factors.
  • Myth: Most college aged women are raped by strangers.
    • Fact: 90 percent of college-aged women are raped by someone they know.
  • Myth: Only women are raped.
    • Fact: 1 in 33 men in the United States have experienced sexual assault.

[1][2][3] Retrieved from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center