sexual assault violence against women

Thank you for joining us for news 10 on my fox 10.

Over the past several days we've heard from experts about violence against women.

Local experts say demand for legal services have increased during the pandemic as women seek help.

Tonight... news 10's bri shackelford continues her coverage of violence against women with more on sexual assault.

Bri intr} according to the world health organization.one in three women have been sexually assaulted by someone they know.

That person could be a husband.boyfriend.or even a family member.

Pk} the director of the kinsey institute for the sexual assault research initiative says it's important for us to see the extreme acts of violence against women in the media.

She says this sheds light on how violent things can get...and reminds us that most violence against women takes place in close quartersand mainly goes unnoticed.

Many of these acts include emotional abuse.physical abuse.and sexual abuse.

"what we know is that all of these kinds of experiences of violence when they're perpetrated by someone close to the women are often not reported to the police.

They're often invisible."

And that invisible offense is unfortunately what we are seeing here in the wabash valley.

Sexual assault advocate for the council on domestic abuse tells me that many victims don't report their sexual assault.

She tells me some of the main factors of why people don't report their abuse is because they don't how to...they're scared to come forward..or they don't want to put their partners in a bad situation.

"i feel like unfortunately a lot of women in some ways blame themselves.

They're embarrassed, shy, and they have nowhere to go if they do report."

Heaton says she knows how hard it is to come forward about your partner.but you need to if you've been in that situation.

She tells me even if you don't want to report your partner to the police...there are other ways you can get help.

She says you can call coda directly if you've been a victim of sexual abuse...and coda will not go to the police if you don't want to.

Heaton says she knows how scary the situation can be..and she tells me she will be with you every step of the way.

"especially when they don't have anyone else to turn to, sometimes it's just me in the hospital room or the police station.

And that's the most fulfilling part is just being a friend."

Bri ou} if you need help....or know someone that does....you can contact coda directly.

We have the information linked on our website over at w-t-h-i tv dot com.

Back to you.