An important reason why national and provincial sexual violence statistics do not capture the full extent of the pervasiveness of sexual violence is because the two primary national data sources – the General Social Survey (” (Brennan & Taylor-Butts, 2008).This term includes indecent assault and rape, and emphasizes the physically violent nature of the offence rather than the sexual aspect (see below for elaboration) (Brennan & Taylor-Butts, 2008).The purpose of this issue brief is to provide a comprehensive picture of what is known about sexual violence against women in Canada.This includes a discussion of some of the challenges associated with measuring the prevalence of sexual violence, as well as some of the broader historical, political, and social processes that contribute to sexual violence and shape public understanding of the problem.There is a vast array of terms used to debate this issue in policy, research, and intervention contexts.These include, but are not limited to: “” for instance, has wide currency and highlights how patterns of violence are shaped by gender roles, behaviours, and norms that contribute to patterns wherein men are significantly more likely to be physically violent toward women than the reverse.It should be noted that this report focuses on sexual violence against The objective of this brief is to raise awareness and understanding of the issue as well as support policy and program development and decision making for governments, non-governmental organizations, service providers, academics and others working to address sexual violence against women in Canada.The World Health Organization (any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private lifesexual violence is any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, or other act directed against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting, social, physical, or cognitive disabilities).
Some of the reasons women do not report sexual violence include fear of stigma and general distrust of the efficacy and neutrality of the Canadian judicial system (Du Bois, 2012; Johnson, 2012).By: Cecilia Benoit Leah Shumka Rachel Phillips Mary Clare Kennedy Lynne Belle-Isle This Issue Brief was commissioned by the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Senior Officials for the Status of Women The ideas and opinions in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Governments.December 2015 One of the most pressing human rights issues facing Canadians today is the high rate of sexual violence against women.However, what is not always clear is whether or not the violence being referred to is sexual in nature.When research and public documents fail to distinguish between various forms of violence, it is difficult to understand the factors that make sexual violence a distinct issue requiring a tailored public response.