How to Write about Sexual Assault: Incomplete Guides, #4

By Salt & Sage Books

How do you accurately write about sexual assault?

 

You care about writing diversely, and that includes writing about hard topics. You know how important it is to have accurate representation in your stories when it comes to the difficult topic of sexual assault. It's easy to find examples of writing gone wrong, but where do you start to get it right? 

 

The Incomplete Guide to Writing About Sexual Assault can help. Written and collaborated by the #ownvoices of Salt & Sage's editors and sensitivity readers, this guide is a compilation of important things you should know before you sit down to write about sexual assault.

 

In this guide, you'll find discussion about "asking for it," the idea of victim vs survivor, and dispelling of damaging myths and stereotypes around sexual assault. Our talented staff has provided links, explanations, and ideas for how to write about sexual assault authentically and with real respect.

 

By no means is this exhaustive, but it is a great place to start.

 

Disclaimer: No one book or perspective can reflect the diverse experiences of folx who have experienced sexual assault, nor should you use this as your only guide. We strongly encourage you to hire a sensitivity reader (or several!), to listen to those who have been assaulted, to read #ownvoices books around this topic.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Salt & Sage Books
• Release date: Nov 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9781734923452

Book preview

1

Sexual Assault is Extremely Common

As the title to this chapter suggests, sexual assault is extremely common. However, here we run into the limiting fact that reported sexual assaults are common. This necessarily indicates that unreported sexual assaults are actually far more common than the collected data suggests. See Chapter 5 for more discussion about why people do (and don’t) report sexual assaults.

Let’s look at the data that we do have, bearing in mind that these statistics are incomplete at best. To give a broad overview, we’ll look at definitions, then at the what, who, whom, when, and where of sexual