USA Today reported these shocking statistics at the end of last year: "Sexual violence is a widespread problem in the USA that strikes the majority of its victims early in life, according to a major government study released Wednesday. Nearly 1 in 5 women...report being raped in their lifetime," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Janice Lloyd, "Study: Sexual Violence 'Widespread,’" Dec. 16, 2011).

In 2009 there were just over 155 million females in the United States, and probably somewhere near 160 million presently. Some 32 million women residing in America (ideally the land of the free and the home of the brave) have been raped at least once in their lifetime. These numbers are horrendous beyond words—and our sexually obsessed media culture bears a heavy responsibility.

"The study is the first to examine the prevalence of rape, sexual violence other than rape, stalking and intimate partner violence, and to report the damaging health consequences that last a lifetime," the article continued.

What callous and unfeeling men do to very young women and girls can only be called horrific and unconscionable. "Among female victims, 30% report being first raped when they were between 11 and 17 years old; 12% were 10 or younger." Clearly child abuse, especially of teenagers and very young girls, is a staggering problem in the United States.

Further, "nearly 1 in 2 women (44.6%) and 1 in 5 men (22.2%) experienced sexual violence other than rape at some point in their lives." How far from the true sexual intimacy men and women were divinely intended to experience in godly marriage! The master deceiver, Satan the devil, has turned what was meant by God to be the most pleasurable of human experiences between a husband and a wife into a living nightmare for the victims while inciting the brutality of callous perpetrators (see Revelation 12:9 Revelation 12:9And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
American King James Version×; 2 Timothy 3:1-4 2 Timothy 3:1-4 [1] This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. [2] For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, [3] Without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, [4] Traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
American King James Version×).

If you have been a victim of any type of sexual abuse, your life can be turned around by a genuine encounter with the living God. Read our free Bible study aid booklets Who Is God? and Marriage and Family: The Missing Dimension plus the PDF article "Dealing with Abuse." (Source: USA Today.)