I would say to myself he wouldn't dare come back. But at the same time if I heard a foot fall outside, that was sleep gone for the night. I slept with the lights on for a year. ... Its just as though because you are old you are not worth anything. ... I could not eat. I was 89kgs and I went down to 70 ... to be bought down to the extent where someone can assault you as though you are nothing; it destroys your faith in humanity. Margarita Solis, 95 years

Impacts of sexual assault on older people 

A report produced by KPMG for the Department of Health on the Serious Incident Report Scheme for aged care stated that 58% of staff said that sexual assault and rape had no negative impact on the victim. This finding demonstrates the ageism, sexism and lack of education that must be addressed if older women are to achieve their right to be free from sexual violence.

The Royal Commission into Aged Care estimated that there are 50 sexual assaults in residential aged care in Australia every week. The fact that sexual assaults occur ought to be a catalyst for action on prevention. However, we find ourselves here - refuting the myth sexual assault and rape have no impact on older people. We find ourselves presenting a summary of the evidence on sexual assault to hold service providers and policy makers to account - clearly another indication that we need change now. 

Special thanks to Meghan Wright for her assistance with this literature summary. 

Key findings for physical impacts

  • Burgess, Dowdell, and Prentky (2000) report that over half (55%) of the sample of sexually abused women in aged care facilities died within a year of the assault
  • Sexual assault can also result in a decrease both the quality and the length of older women’s lives (Burgess et al. 2000).
  • Burgess et al. (2008) report that 59% of their sample of sexually abused older people experienced genital trauma injuries
  • Burgess (2006) reports the majority of victims in her sample (n = 284) had visible injuries, and just under 7% had sexually transmitted diseases. 
  • A review of 100 people over 65 that had experienced sexual violence found that all had long-term health conditions because of the incident including incontinence, and exacerbating existing injuries or conditions such as arthritis (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-16601-4_5)
  • There are higher rates of genital trauma, aches and pains, cuts and bruises, and sexually transmitted diseases including HIV compared to younger women (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-16601-4_5)
  • Sares et al (2010) found that body aches and pains are more likely in older women.

Key findings for psychological impacts

  • Psychological trauma amplified in older victims
  • 30-40% have post traumatic stress disorder (in the broader population 94% of women who are raped experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the two weeks following the rape https://www.rainn.org/statistics/victims-sexual-violence)
  • For older victims, sexual violence carries social stigma and results in embarrassment, self-blame, and fear.108 Many older victims live alone or lack supportive family and social networks.109 Loneliness and social isolation increase the emotional trauma and limit the possibilities of treatment (https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1222&context=mjgl)
  • Low self-esteem, depression, and sleep problems (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14789940500096115?needAccess=true)
  • Burgess (2006) also found numbness, appearing withdrawn, sleeping problems, depression, and psychological upset were frequently reported
  • Jeary (2005) reports older survivors experiencing a range of psychological impacts including flashbacks and nightmares, problems sleeping, anxieties and fears about leaving their home or, if the attack happened in their home, fear of living in the property resulting in some older women moving house or into residential care settings (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14789940500096115?needAccess=true)
  • Long‐term, life‐changing effects despite efforts to put the trauma behind them (Jeary 2005)
  • Given a significant proportion of women who experience sexual assault over the age of 65 will have previously been a victim of sexual assault. Research indicates that women who had been sexually coerced more than once were ‘significantly more likely to have elevated psychosocial distress’ (de Visser et al. 2007, p. 683)
  • A ‘lifecourse’ approach to trauma is an important framework to consider and possibly adopt rather than an approach that treats incidents of sexual assault in older women as isolated or discrete events and does not recognise the possibility of the existence of decades‐old trauma from previous experiences (Bright & Bowland 2008; Cook 2011)
  • There are also significant consequences for partners, family members and friends of victims. Morrison et al. (2007) describes some aspects of ‘secondary traumatisation’, by which they mean ‘the effects of the sexual assault on people who were not the primary victim of the assault, but are nonetheless adversely affected by it’ (p.3). This can include the impacts of ‘vicarious traumatisation’ on partners, family members, friends and support workers as a ‘ripple effect’ of dealing with the victims’ sexual assault experience.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3130511/​​

Additional resources

Margarita 

Margarita Solis was sexually assaulted when she was 95. In the film below Margarita shares the story about the impacts on her which included the loss of 20 kgs in the 12 months afterwards and also that she couldn't sleep for more than a few hours for fear he would return. 

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