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From a tweet thread started by https://twitter.com/VocalFriez/status/1046487752429072384 , a citation is made of RAINN (the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), saying that the overwhelming majority of rapes do not involve relatives:

Rape, unfortunately, happens too often. An intersection no one seems to be discussing is that many survivor stories of late, including those of Muslim women, begin with being alone with their non-mahram perp, by choice! Free-mixing isn’t permissible for reasons. Stop doing it. [Wikipedia link added for convenience]

To further illustrate my point, here’s a handy infographic. Most rapes are committed by a friend/acquaintance. Muslimahs [female Muslims] A.) should not have real life male friends anyway and B.) should never be alone with non-mahrams. My intention was never to blame those who’ve been raped.

enter image description here

In a related tweet here, she said

I posted the study from RAINN that proves what you’re saying wrong [about rape predominantly occurring by family members]. Friends/acquaintances account for the majority of rapes. Family members account for the least.

The RAINN page Perpetrators of Sexual Violence: Statistics indeed does claim that 1% of rapes involve a "non-spouse relative", citing "Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2010-2014 (2015)."

Putting aside the fact that spouses are also mahrams, and whether her advice would help prevent rape, and whether the relationship between perpetrator and victims may differ by country, I'd like to know whether the claim that the overwhelming majority of rapes don't involve relatives is accurate.

In the United States, do an overwhelming majority of incidents of rape not involve relatives?

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Andrew Grimm
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    Please let it be advised that the statistics here are showing sexual assault. Whilst rape is actually sexual assault, sexual assault does not always end in rape. see here for clarification: http://theconversation.com/whats-the-difference-between-sexual-abuse-sexual-assault-sexual-harassment-and-rape-88218 (Let me state here and now that ofcourse i consider both deplorable, just to avoid any misunderstandings). – Marina M Oct 10 '18 at 06:27
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    This question is confusing to me. Why are **muslims** mentioned in it? What relevance is that to the question? –  Oct 10 '18 at 06:53
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    @MichaelK The quoted argument is being put forwards by a muslim arguing that most rape is due to ignoring the muslim practice of separating the sexes. – Paul Johnson Oct 10 '18 at 07:06
  • @MichaelK My guess is that some Muslim are using this "fact" to push for alienation of women from society: since most rapes are not from family members, by isolating your sex sl, ahem, wife from all other people you are making her safer... :facepalm: – Giacomo Alzetta Oct 10 '18 at 07:08
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    @MichaelK the word only appears in quoted text, quoting someone who is presumably of that religion herself. – Andrew Grimm Oct 10 '18 at 08:44
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    Two things here: 1) is there anything **surprising** or even **notable** about the claim that sexual violence mostly occur between non-relatives? Why does this claim even need to be examined? 2) What are you hoping to use the answer for? If the answer is "Yes, it is true that sexual violence most often happen between non-relatives", then what? If the answer is: "No, it is mostly relatives that conduct sexual violence", then what? Do you intend to reply to this person — that advocates **gender and family/clan segregation** — with that? Why should that argument ever be taken seriously? –  Oct 10 '18 at 10:23
  • @MichaelK 1a) Is it surprising? Yes, because a lot of anecdotes I've read about sexual abuse involve family members. 1b) Is it notable? Well, I'd venture a guess that lots of people think the way the person tweeting does, but even more importantly, I think that the organisation she cited, RAINN, is a fairly prominent, well respected organisation, which in turn cites the government. 2) I think it's an argument that has to be dealt with, because many societies and people already currently engage in such segregation. – Andrew Grimm Oct 10 '18 at 10:49
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    1) To counter your anecdotes... what I have been told, the most common perpetrator of sexual violence is **a person's partner or close acquaintance**, and the statistics above affirm that. I also think that the number of cases where a partner does it is (more) under-reported compared to when strangers or acquaintances are the perpetrator, due to abused spouse-syndrome. This then leads to 2a) The argument is moot, because limiting the freedom and movement of females is the wrong cure for the problem. We limit and fight **the crime**, not the victim and 2b) the proposed "cure" does not help. –  Oct 10 '18 at 10:59
  • @MichaelK 2a and 2b is why I'm asking this question! – Andrew Grimm Oct 10 '18 at 11:02
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    The problem is you are attacking the a tree, not the forest; you are trying to attack a statement of fact rather than the argument. Bringing down the fact will not automatically bring down the argument. You are instead **validating her argument** by trying to quibble about if the fact is right or not. So your approach is wrong... you need to attack the flaw in the **reasoning** instead of trying to discredit the fact, especially since the fact is probably correct anyway. –  Oct 10 '18 at 11:04
  • Let us [continue this discussion in chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/84272/discussion-between-michaelk-and-andrew-grimm). –  Oct 10 '18 at 11:08
  • @AndrewGrimm - they don't call it "abuse" in those other situations, they just call it "rape" or "assault," so having more claims of abuse being related to family members or people in positions where they have power or control over the victims is not surprising. I'm not sure that ever translated in to any kind of claim that rapes were mostly of the incestuous variety. – PoloHoleSet Oct 10 '18 at 15:34

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