Sexual violence - the inside story

If you think you know enough, test yourself by taking our Quiz - Sexual Violence 101.

There’s a lot of sexSex
Is different things people choose to do to actively express sexuality and sexual feelings; often this involves genitals, but not always. Other words used in place of “sex” could be “sexual activity”, “sexual experiences”, or just “sexual” – they all mean the same thing. Sex can involve one person (i.e. masturbation) or more. When we talk about sex, we are not just talking about a man putting his penis into a woman’s vagina – there are heaps of ways people can have sex.
For sex to be fun, legal, respectful and pleasurable there must always be CONSENT.
without respect and harmful sexual stuff that happens between people in every part of our communities. Lots of it is sexual violenceSexual Violence
Is a general term that covers any sexual stuff a person does not consent to.. Sexual violenceSexual Violence
Is a general term that covers any sexual stuff a person does not consent to. is a huge problem in NZ - 1 in 4 females and 1 in 8 males are likely to experience some kind of sexual violenceSexual Violence
Is a general term that covers any sexual stuff a person does not consent to. in their lifetime. (Fergusson, D. & Mullen, P. (1999) Childhood sexual abuse: An evidence based perspective. Sage: London). 

In order for this stuff to stop happening, first we need to know about the issue, then look at our own behaviour and think about how we can change it. This is so we can all have more respectful sexual experiences and relationships.

Sexual Violence

Sexual violenceSexual Violence
Is a general term that covers any sexual stuff a person does not consent to. includes:

• Touching & kissing without consentConsent
  Is a free agreement between everyone involved in any sexual experience. A free agreement can not happen when someone is verbally, physically or emotionally forced or threatened, tricked, if someone is too wasted on drugs or alcohol or if they are under the age of 16. A free agreement means that everyone was keen on everything that was happening and they all knew what was going on.
• Rape/sexual violationRape/Sexual Violation
  Is a criminal offence in law that includes two categories:
  1) Rape: sex without consent from a man to a woman (a penis going into a vagina).
  2) Unlawful sexual connection: A sexual act involving penetration (something going into something else) or oral sex, without consent.
  This can happen in all types of relationships - from a man to a woman, a woman to a man, a man to another man, or a woman to another woman.
  It can involve:
  Vaginal sex (penis going into the vagina) ,
  Anal sex (penis or objects going into the anus/bum)
  Oral sex (lips, mouth, tounge touching a penis, vagina or anus/bum),
  Digital sex (fingers, hands or and toes going into a vagina or anus/bum)
  And any kind of penetration with an object (someone putting something into someone else's mouth, vagina or anus/bum).
• Child sexual abuseChild Sexual Abuse
  Is any sexual stuff done to a child by an adult, older child or teenager. Doing any sexual things to a child is always illegal and never ok.
• Being made to look at, watch, pose for or act in pornography
• Being made to do sexual things in front of someone else or others
• VoyeurismVoyeurism
  Someone secretly watching someone because it turns them on.
• FlashingFlashing
  Someone showing their genitals to others because it turns them on. This is often in a public place.
• Sexual harassmentSexual Harassment
  Any unwelcome sexual advances, requests or sexual stuff said or done to other people. This happens in lots of places including schools, work places, sports teams, community groups etc.

Sexual violence carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

Sexual violenceSexual Violence
Is a general term that covers any sexual stuff a person does not consent to. can be a one-off experience or it can be an ongoing thing that happens over a period of time. It can often involve someone a person knows well, and possibly even cares about or loves.

Sadly, in , sexual violenceSexual Violence
Is a general term that covers any sexual stuff a person does not consent to. within families is the most common type that happens. (Fanslow, J., Robinson, E. M., Crengle, S., & Perese, L. 2007 Prevalence of child sexual abuseChild Sexual Abuse
Is any sexual stuff done to a child by an adult, older child or teenager. Doing any sexual things to a child is always illegal and never ok. reported by a cross-sectional sample of women. Child Abuse & Neglect, 31(9)1, p.935-945).

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