I have in the past posted that VAWG was a non-issue due to the fact that female homicide victims are rare, certainly when compared to male victims.

I would like to pedal back a bit on that. Although that statement is partially true… it’s not the full story.

As can be seen from the chart here (data taken from PSNI website), female homicide victims are rare (right axis) and there is no upward trend. HOWEVER… rape and sexual assault are much more common (left axis) AND are trending up.

I think it is important when discussing VAWG that it is made clear that we are really talking about rape and sexual assault, it avoids confusion like mine.

Now… do I believe rape and sexual assault instances have increased by a factor of 3 or 4 x in the last 20 odd years? No. In my opinion this is most likely due to higher reporting and prosecution as our criminal justice system has improved in this area. Much work remains to be done in that.

by Thehamster101

5 comments

  1. VAWG = Violence against women and girls, for anyone else that didn’t know

  3. If we assume that each instance is a different woman involved and that the total 16+ female population of NI is about 800k. These figures suggest something like 6% of women in NI have been raped or sexually assaulted in NI over the past 20 or so years. That is probably a low ball figure due to under reporting.

  4. OP valiantly defending the Union by downplaying the level of violence against women in Northern Ireland which is statistically [the most dangerous place in europe for women](https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/northern-ireland-is-most-dangerous-place-in-europe-for-women/41095214.html) and where [up to 98% of women experience / have experience some form of violence.](https://www.ulster.ac.uk/news/2023/september/new-uu-research-uncovers-levels-of-violence-against-women-and-girlsni)

  5. When you’ve brought it up previously you were talking about femicide right? I still think you’re misunderstanding the term. It’s not just “women being killed” but it’s “women being killed as part of _gender based violence_.” They’re being killed _because_ they’re women. That’s the issue that people are concerned about, not that more women are being murdered than men.

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