The WHY of it all!
Our Data Matters has and continues to be a labor of love for the community. Dr. Yulinda Renee Rahman aka Doc YuRoc, founder of Heal On Purpose Inc., spearheaded the process to collect data on the prevalence of sexual trauma within the Black community because she knows that wounds need light and fresh air to heal, to breathe, to scab over creating a scar that says, something happened here…
Sexual trauma impacts the community historically and daily. As a sex therapist, Doc YuRoc worked with several individuals and one of the main things they had in common was their history of sexual trauma. She was able to see how that unaddressed trauma showed up in every area of her clients’ lives, impacting everything.
Unfortunately, for a lot of us, our wounds stay in darkness, not allowed to heal “clean”, festering, affecting and infecting our entire eco system individually and collectively.
At Heal On Purpose, healing means to address, to deal with, to accept, integrate, reconcile, and move forward in love and with love. The OUR DATA MATTERS project is a beginning.
The Survey
This survey was and still is (data collection is ongoing) for ALL Black people, not just those that have been victimized. The goal is to get accurate as possible data about the prevalence of sexual assault/abuse in the Black community which means we need to know how often it is and is not happening.
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 due to a lack of reporting. In order for us to have the relevant resources, access to culturally competent treatment, and healing modalities that centers OUR needs we need the data to show us what is necessary and right now the “math ain’t mathing.”
Heal On Purpose Inc. a nonprofit organization committed to providing education and researching the social impact of sexual trauma in the Black community while simultaneously creating and providing resources that center Black people’s lived experiences. This survey is part of that work. This survey is also anonymous. No identifying information was collected.
This topic is heavy and triggering and so are the results. Please take care of yourself as you review them.
Space is being created so that we can review, discuss, and create solutions. Look for a way to join the conversation at the end of this report.
The Results
A total of 105 participants completed the survey. Of those who completed, a vast majority were cis-women. A major barrier to creating effective resources for the varying identities within the Black community is a hesitancy to report. Going forward it is our hope that as we courageously bring this conversation out into the open, more people will be willing to allow their experience to be counted and together we can create effective change.
Demographics
Age Breakdown of 105 responses
The picture shows the age ranges and the percentage of responders that fell within each range.
The largest range being age 42-47 with 34.3% of all respondents
Sex assigned at birth (SAAB)
Of the 105 respondents 17% were assigned the male sex at birth while 83% were assigned the female sex at birth.
Gender Identity of 105 respondents
Of the 105 respondents 76.2 percent identified as cisgender female, 17.1 percent as cisgender male, 4.8 percent as nonbinary and 1.9 percent as gender fluid.
Sexual Orientation of 105 respondents
The above graphic depicts the sexual orientation of the 105 respondents with the largest being 80% of all respondents identifying as heterosexual/straight.
Location
Twenty three different states were represented by the participants. They are as follows:
Texas
Maryland
California
Oklahoma
Missouri
Indiana
Nevada
Colorado
Georgia
Florida
New York
North Carolina
Virginia
Ohio
New Jersey
Connecticut
Illinois
Washington State
Tennessee
Michigan
Massachusetts
Pennsylvania
Arizona
How To Read the Data
Broad data regarding adult sexual assault
This data report consists of graphics showing percentage breakdowns of the 105 participants responses to several different questions regarding their experience with various forms of sexual misconduct.
Nuanced Data
More detailed data is provided with each graphic. However, due to the limited number of participants overall, and the limited number of representatives from varying groups such as men, the data is reported in a way that hopefully provides the most insight.
The data reflects in percentage form the number of participants, within a certain demographic, response to a question (unless otherwise specified).
For example: 80 respondents identify as cis-female and out of those 80, 62 said they have experienced being touched without their permission, meaning 78% of all respondents who identify as cis-female have experienced being touched without their permission.
The data was broken done via the following demographics
- AMAB (assigned male at birth)
- AFAB (assigned female at birth)
- Cisgender Male
- Cisgender Female
- Nonbinary
- Gender Fluid
- LGBTQIA+ (due to limited data reflecting the various groups under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella participants who identified as being apart of one of the communities were counted together so as to maximize the collectives group experience, as more data is gathered it is our goal to report with even more nuance).
The Numbers
The following data is broken into two main sections, Adult Sexual Assault and Childhood Sexual Abuse. Each section contain numerous questions to determine the prevalence of certain forms of sexual misconduct/trauma in the Black Community.
Heal On Purpose Inc. 