Sexual abuse continues to be a form of violence suffered by women from all cultures and societies. Statistically, one in four females in the UK will have suffered a non-consensual sexual act, normally by a person known to them. Immigrants are twice as vulnerable.
Noelia Ceballos Terrén
From Chelsea, London to the middle of a war in the Central African Republic, women are the main victims of sexual violence; an experience shared by 35% of females on a global scale, according to the World Health Organisation.
Sexual abuse can range from non-consensual contact to rape itself, and as indicated by experts, it is the expression of control and domination that men usually exercise over women. “Everything in life is about sex, except sex. Sex is about power,” explains Hayley Bisofsky, a psychologist from the organisation, Lifecentre. The context where the victims suffer these types of attacks are varied, as they take place within the home and are linked to domestic violence, as well as prostitution and human trafficking. “The abuse starts by touching a person when they do not want this, being forced to watch pornographic films or to have sex with other men,” indicates Stephanie Orel, Coordinator of Latin American Women’s Aid.
A report published by the British authorities in 2013 indicated that the UK is no stranger to this problem, with 400,000 victims annually, of which 85,000 were victims of rape, a crime that affects only 0.1% of men.
The outcome is that in a group of four women, it is likely that one will have experienced some form of violence of this nature from the age of 16, and 90% of them will know their attacker.
Bisofsky indicates that “the profile is not of a man in a 
raincoat passing by the school playgrounds. They are like any other everyday person.”
Taboo, but visible
“Awareness has increased,” assures Orel. This appears to be the case, according to the judicial information from the UK, which indicates a 7% increase in the number of reports of sexual violence between 2008 and 2011.
Hayley Bisofsky also believes in the positive influence of the media: “One of the main factors that we have noticed is the revelation of the Jimmy Savile case. We have to commend the media for their coverage as it is rare for the media to side with the victims.”
However, only 15% of victims report the abuse. According to a study by the Home Office, the main reasons for not reporting abuse was due to “embarrassment,” “the victims did not believe that the police could help them” and because the victim felt it was “a private or family matter.” The same study shows that the average time frame between the assault and reporting it is about 296 days and a further 200 days between charging the attacker and receiving the judge’s verdict. It is a long process that ends in the attacker being sentenced in only 6-10% of cases.
Many women do not identify it as abuse if it takes place within a marriage. However, it is one of the most prevalent forms of violent domestic abuse. Latin American Women’s Aid, sees how up to 69% of victims of domestic violence, who contact them, are also victims of sexual violence.
The legal system itself does not favour the victim, reports Orel: “In Court, the woman is often the witness, not the prosecution. The man receives all the support from a lawyer and the woman does not. The legal system has a very macho appearance. The defence lawyers are usually very aggressive.” This is something that discourages many women.
Twice as many victims
If the women come from another country, their situation is more difficult because they have left their country and lack understanding.
Desire and desperation to get to the UK are the first factors which make them fall into various traps. A promise of work as a cleaner, waitress, model or sports person is usually the door to another, very different reality where “there is no work and they are forced into brothels, something which is very common in the UK,” according to Bisofsky.
In other cases the desire to remain in the country leads to sex to becoming a currency. A favourable review of their migration status is carried out in exchange for their bodies. A case of corruption which recently raised alarm bells, due to the reports by four female staff against several staff members at the Immigration Centre, Yarl’s Wood. Two of the staff members were sacked.
Latin Americans are no strangers to this phenomenon. Stephanie Orel’s organisation mainly provides assistance to victims from Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru and Bolivia. The organisation recognises that it is even more difficult to get these women to report the crime if they have an illegal migration status, for fear of the police.
The language barrier is also another of the obstacles which goes against these women, where in some cases, these women are prevented, by their husbands, from learning the language as a way for their husband’s to maintain control of them. Lack of knowledge leads to fear and the absolute confidence in the abuser’s words: “There was a woman who had a British passport for 10 years and did not know about it, and she was told every time that she would be deported if she reported him.”
The outcome is that a woman from an ethnic minority group will take five times longer to leave an abusive relationship, according to information from Latin American Women’s Aid.
Male Chauvinism and Racism
However, there is even greater discouragement to go to the police. The head off Latin American women’s Aid has been able to observe how the attitude of the security forces has become more derogatory towards these women. The police start by asking them for their immigration status before proceeding to their complaint, despite not having the right to do this. The current, very discriminatory discourse used against migrants in this country makes people who would have thought long and hard before making a racist comment, now would not think twice,” confirms Orel.
She has been met with attitudes such as that by a social services worker whose response to a victim was “how good it is that your husband abused you, now you will have the right to get a house.” According to the coordinator “this used to happen once or twice in every ten cases, now this is happening once in every five cases.”
Lethal Wound
Psychologists agree that the physical aspect of sexual violence is the most visible, but the most damaging is the psychological aspect.
According to Hayley Bisofsky, the most common consequence is post-traumatic stress syndrome. “They suffer flashbacks where they remember the incident, they have difficulty sleeping and many things frighten them. For example, people who resemble their attacker. I recall a woman who was raped by a man wearing a reflective vest, and every time she saw a workman or a roads workman, she was frightened.”
Violence leaves a mark on the woman’s character, in “the way she expresses her sexuality, and in her relationships with other people,” she explains. “Because to live from day to day we need the belief that we are safe walking down the street. However, an attack breaks that world, making the woman insecure and lack confidence.”
Even when it seems that she has overcome her fears, the trauma manifests itself many years later.
One of the main collateral victims is also children. According to Stephanie Orel’s experience, during the recovery, the woman usually has problems connecting with her child as her anxiety is involuntarily transmitted to them.
Sexual abuse can be a burden on the family, as in the context of very traditional communities the family can be rejected because they believe that the woman is dirty, which according to Bisofsky “is very dangerous because the woman is being blamed and not the man”.
(Trasnlated by Louise Jefferson)