Women and Sex Abuse in Minnesota

I just freaked out when I read the little blurb in MinnPost!

by Charlie Leck

Is it possible? Tell me, for heaven’s sake, that it is not. The Centers for Disease Control says that “nearly half of Minnesota women experience some kind of sexual abuse…” and “…about 22 percent of Minnesota women have been raped in their lifetime [sic], and more that 48 percent of Minnesota women have experienced sexual violence other than rape…”

Here’s the story as reported by MinnPost. It can lead you to more complete stories and to the original sources for the report. I just can’t handle reading any further.

Honest to God, I just don’t know what to say. As a father of four daughters, this angers and terrifies me.

I just couldn’t imagine! Say it ain’t so!

This whole thing reminded me, very surprisingly, of some little dot or tittle that I had read in one of Stieg Larsson’s books. I browsed through them quickly. It would be impossible to find it. Suddenly, on the page introducing the Part One of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I saw it: “Eighteen percent of the women in Sweden have at one time been threatened by a man.”

Then, in the same book, on the page that started Part Two, I found more: “Forty-six percent of the women in Sweden have been subjected to violence by a man.”

And, beginning Part Three: “Thirteen percent of the women in Sweden have been subjected to aggravated sexual assault outside of a sexual relationship.”

Then, at the start of Part Four: “Ninety-two percent of women in Sweden who have been subjected to sexual assault have not reported the most recent violent incident to the police.”

What the hell? Some things are too big for me – so big that I cannot get my mind around them!

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