Let’s talk about all the victims of underreported sexual trauma: black boys, black girls, black LGBTQIA+, black people…

This is a potentially triggering pos

Reporting seemed pointless when even grandma didn’t believe me…

When looking at the available information on the prevalence of sexual trauma in the Black community, it is apparent that the numbers do not accurately depict what is happening in our households. In order for us to have the relevant resources, access to culturally competent treatment, and healing modalities that center OUR needs we need the data to show us exactly what is necessary and right now the “math ain’t mathing.”

Black Women and girls

· 40–60% of black women report being subjected to coercive sexual contact by age 18.

· African American girls and women 12 years old and older experienced higher rates of rape and sexual assault than white, Asian, and Latina girls and women from 2005–2010.

· 4 in 10 black women have been subjected to intimate partner violence in their lifetimes.

· 40% of confirmed sex trafficking survivors in the U.S. are African-American.

· Black women comprise 8% of the U.S. population but account for 20% of the intimate partner homicide victims

· Black women comprise 8% of the U.S. population but account for 20% of the intimate partner homicide victims

· The African-American community experiences domestic violence at greater levels than White Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos.

All these statistics and yet…

For every Black woman who reports rape, at least 15 do not report it. In part because the penalties a Black woman’s abuser suffers are typically less severe than offenders who sexually assault White women. One recent study found prosecutors filed charges in 75 percent of the cases in which a White woman was attacked, but when the victim was a Black woman, prosecutors filed charges just 34 percent of the time.

At some point it becomes, what’s the point?

Not only are Black women dismissed so are our Black girls. A Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality study found that adults often “view black girls as less innocent and more adult-like than their white peers” and that negative stereotypes Black women endure are projected onto Black girls resulting in harsher treatment and a lack of empathy and inability to see them as children.

A Black girl is often seen as “fast” not as a victim.

Don’t let the abuser look like you, or even worse, be related to you, now reporting becomes that much harder. Not only do you risk not being believed, but you might even be blamed, because Black girls are seen as fast, even by their own family, and fast girls don’t get abused they start trouble.

Unfortunately, this has been, and is, the experience of some Black girls. When you tell your family and they not only don’t believe you but go so far as to blame you and defend the perpetrator, a continuing cyclical culture of silence is created.

The trauma travels down the timeline.

~Black girls are seen as fast, even by their own family, and fast girls don’t get abused they start trouble.~

Black men and boys

When shifting the focus to Black men and their experience with sexual assault and trauma the research is scarce and the numbers nonexistent. A huge issue is that men are groomed not to report. There are some who still believe that men can’t be assaulted and for boys with a female abuser, those experiences are often coded as “come-ups” something to be proud of. Cool points, if you will.

Rapper Boosie Badazz shared on social media back in 2020 for the world to see that he hired grown female strippers to perform oral sex on his son and nephews. He was “getting them prepared” and “training them up,” he said, in actuality, he set them up to be sexually abused.

According to research 1 in 6 men have experienced some form of sexual abuse. However, there is no data specific to Black men and boys. When “statistics for Black men with a history of sexual abuse” is put in the search field, no relevant data comes up.

The lack of focus on the experience of Black men and boys is devastating and infuriating. A legacy of dehumanizing Black men and boys is still prevalent, minimizing their mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health by rendering them invisible. How can we meet the needs of people who aren’t even seen or recognized as, people? We can’t. Black men and boys count. Their experiences are valid their traumas worthy of being acknowledged and their healing gets to be prioritized. If not anywhere else, here.

~A legacy of dehumanizing Black men and boys is still prevalent, minimizing their mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health by rendering them invisible.~

Black LGBTQIA+

If Black men are invisible, Black LGBTQIA folks are disposable. The good news is that some data is being collected on the Black LGBTQIA+ experience. The School of Law Williams Institute created a report that analyzed several data sources to provide information on adults who self-identify as Black and LGBT in the U.S. What was interesting to note was that the majority of the researchers conducting the study and compiling the report were not Black.

The report did not focus on sexual trauma however one data point that was provided was the following,

A large proportion of Black LGBT adults have experienced victimization, including 79% who reported verbal insults or abuse, 60% who reported being threatened with violence, 44% who were physically or sexually assaulted, and 43% who experienced robbery or property destruction.

Other statistics found did not focus on the experience of Black LGBTQIA+ folks. However, the numbers were dismal alluding to them being even more dire for Black folks. Some of those statistics are as follows,

• 44 percent of lesbians and 61 percent of bisexual women experience rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner, compared to 35 percent of straight women
• 26 percent of gay men and 37 percent of bisexual men experience rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner, compared to 29 percent of straight men
• 46 percent of bisexual women have been raped, compared to 17 percent of straight women and 13 percent of lesbians
• 22 percent of bisexual women have been raped by an intimate partner, compared to 9 percent of straight women
• 40 percent of gay men and 47 percent of bisexual men have experienced sexual violence other than rape, compared to 21 percent of straight men
• Within the LGBTQ community, transgender people and bisexual women face the most alarming rates of sexual violence. Among both of these populations, sexual violence begins early, often during childhood.
• The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found that 47% of transgender people are sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetime.
• Among people of color, American Indian (65%), multiracial (59%), Middle Eastern (58%) and Black (53%) respondents of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey were most likely to have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime
• Nearly half (48 percent) of bisexual women who are rape survivors experienced their first rape between ages 11 and 17.

With these numbers, it can only be assumed that the level of abuse, harm, and trauma would be exponentially higher for Black folks. However, there is no data.

~If Black men are invisible, Black LGBTQIA folks are disposable.~

What is also upsetting is that when looking for resources that were available in the past, such as the Black Survivors Network and Times Up Foundation, you find yourself routed to pages that no longer exist! The Times Up Foundation piece on Black Survivors of Sexual Trauma which was cited earlier THIS YEAR, is no longer available! I wonder why…

The math ain’t mathing because there are no numbers to do the math with! Heal On Purpose Inc. is working diligently to fill that gap by conducting its own research.

Heal On Purpose Inc. is a nonprofit organization committed to providing education on and researching the social impact of sexual trauma in the Black community while simultaneously creating and providing resources that center on Black people’s lived experiences. One of its first areas of business is to collect the data.

A survey has been created to capture the experiences of Black folks so that resources can be developed based on data that centers their lived experiences and identifies their needs. If you identify as Black please consider completing the survey and sharing it with any and er’body you know that is BLACK! This is for Us, about Us, and created by US!

FUBU for real!

Find the link here!