MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW)-This week is national crime victim’s rights awareness week. it is also sexual assault awareness month and according to the department of justice, one in five women will be sexually assaulted at some point in their lives.
A counselor at the rape crisis center told News13 people don’t know what’s available to them because rape is not widely talked about and people don’t want to talk about it.
She said that is why they use this month to talk about it because it’s an ongoing problem impacting millions of people.
According to the department of justice four out of five rapes are committed by someone the victim knows.
82% of rapes are committed by a non-stranger. 47% of rapes are by a friend or an acquaintance.
While this isn’t an easy topic to address, Karly Buckley with the rape crisis center said it gets worse the longer someone puts it off.
“The more you put the pain and the trauma in your unconscious it’s going to come back and something is going to trigger it someday whether it was in childhood or adolescence it’s going to come back and something is going to trigger it in adulthood and you just feel like it’s going to come crashing down and that is why a lot of people seek help twenty or thirty years later when they’re like I just can’t handle this anymore.”
The crisis center offers individual counseling and group counseling, legal advocacy. If you need help anytime during the day or night you can call 843-448-7273.
