Quick Facts
Sexual Violence includes a spectrum of actions that range from an offensive joke to sexual assault- While sexual violence can affect anyone, certain demographics are more likely to experience it, including women and gender diverse people. Other factors include race, socio-economic status, culture, health, and age
- Acts of sexual violence are often traumatic, causing the person who experienced one to require ongoing help to treat lasting physical and mental impacts
- Healing from an act of sexual violence can take time and is an individual journey—one person’s experience will likely differ from another person’s experience
- There are many avenues a person can pursue to receive help, depending on their specific area of support: hospital Emergency Department (for immediate physical help), mental health clinics, sexual violence support groups, counsellors, non-profit organizations, and legal organizations
- Some of these groups on PEI include 211, PEI Rape and Sexual Assault Centre, Mental Health and Additions Phone Line, Mental Health Walk-in Clinics, Family Violence Prevention Services, Victim Services, and RISE PEI
- The Government of PEI has made a commitment to preventing and responding to sexual violence as outlined in its first Sexual Violence Prevention Strategy
The Longer Story
Sexual violence is a broad term that includes all acts of unwanted sexual actions, ranging from offensive jokes and crude comments to harassment and assault. While sexual violence can affect anyone, certain groups of people are more likely to experience it, including women and gender diverse people.
- In 2021, Statistics Canada reported that women are five times more likely to be a victim of sexual assault than men, and that gender diverse people are twice as likely to experience inappropriate sexual comments in public.
- Transgender people are two to three times at risk of a sexual assault than their cisgender peers.
- Other circumstances that influence sexual violent acts include race, socio-economic status, culture, health, and age.
Most of the time, a sexually violent act is committed as a way of marking power and control. For this reason, younger people can be susceptible to sexual violence. Sexual violence against women and gender diverse people can occur because of homophobia, transphobia, and misogynist attitudes.
It is important to note that sexual violence is complex and is often linked with other forms of violence, including intimate partner violence.
Physical and Mental Health Damage from Sexual Violence
Depending on many factors, including the specific act of sexual violence, the identity of the person committing the act, the history of the person experiencing the act, and the environment in which the act occurs, an act of sexual violence can cause lingering physical and mental health damage.
An act of sexual violence can result in physical damage that requires immediate medical attention—usually provided at either a hospital or clinic. In addition to the immediate physical damage, the lingering effects on a person’s mental health can bring about additional physical effects due to ongoing stress (e.g., insomnia and other sleep challenges, high blood pressure, migraines, chronic pain, digestive issues).
Any act of sexual violence also has the potential to affect a person’s mental health. When a person experiences something traumatic, it can complicate the healing process. The effects of an act of sexual violence can be felt long after the act has been experienced. Trauma, in general, can play havoc on a person’s nervous system. In order to heal, a person’s brain needs to feel reassured that the threat is over and they are safe—this isn’t always an easy or straight-forward process and, often, people can be re-traumatized when they experience reminders of the original act.
Healing from Trauma
There is no “one-size-fits-all” when it comes to healing from trauma—every person’s journey will look different. Sexual violence can have lasting mental (e.g., depression, anxiety, nightmares, fragmented memory, suicidal thoughts) and physical (e.g., nausea, tremors, sleep disruption, appetite change, chronic pain, headaches) effects.
The circumstances around the act can also dictate a person’s reaction—for example, if the act occurs in the workplace, one might be hesitant to return to work, following the act. Personal relationships might be affected as well. For example, someone who has experienced a sexually violent act may be hesitant to pursue a romantic relationship. Or they may become withdrawn and limit social engagements altogether.
There are many avenues a person can pursue to receive help, depending on their specific area of support: hospital emergency department (for immediate physical help), police, mental health clinics, sexual violence support groups, counsellors, non-profit organizations, legal organizations and the justice system.
Some of these groups on PEI include:
- 211
- PEI Rape and Sexual Assault Centre
- Mental Health and Additions Phone Line
- Mental Health Walk-in Clinics
- Family Violence Prevention Services
- Victim Services
- RISE PEI
The government of PEI has created a website entitled End Sexual Violence that includes resources and a list of various support services for sexual violence survivors.
Preventing/Reducing Sexual Violence
As more survivors speak out, society is learning even more about the impacts of sexual violent acts and how everyone has a role to play in reducing and preventing these acts in the first place.
Here on PEI, the Provincial Government committed to “strengthen Prince Edward Island’s approach to preventing and responding to adult sexual violence.” PEI’s first sexual violence prevention and response strategy was subsequently developed: Creating A Culture of Care: A Strategy for Preventing and Responding to Adult Sexual Violence in Prince Edward Island. [PDF]
This strategy was developed with the mindset that sexual violence is the responsibility of society, with several actions proposed to “create a culture of care in which every member of our society understands their role in preventing sexual violence while ensuring that survivors, perpetrators and communities are met with a coordinated and trauma-informed system of support services that acknowledges their individual needs.”
In 2024, the PEI Government launched its Change the Story campaign to provide better understanding about the causes and impacts of sexual violence. Included in this campaign is the website End Sexual Violence which offers resources and strategies around sexual violence.
Visit the End Sexual Violence website
Sources
About gender-based violence. Government of Canada.
Government of Prince Edward Island. (n.d.). Culture of care digital strategy.
Prince Edward Island. (n.d.). Get support. End Sexual Violence.
Statistics Canada. (2020, September 9). Police-reported crime statistics in Canada, 2019.
Published date: August 2024
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