Reasons Behind High Rape Rates among Native Women

Nowadays, more and more people begin to address the issue that is sexual violence. The act of sexual abuse is something that, unfortunately, might happen to any woman across the globe – regardless of age, skin color, social status, or behavior. During the last years, many women, including celebrities, have stepped out to make a public statement about the experience of the sexual assault, which they have been keeping a secret for a long time, sometimes, even years. This “movement” encouraged many women to stop being quiet about the issue, and go to the police immediately. However, as much as the issue is being publicly discussed, many of the problems regarding the topic of sexual violence stay beneath the surface. One of such issues, which stays out of people’s sight, is the sexual violence against the Native women of America. Various studies have proved that Native American women have the highest rates of committed sexual violence against them. What is more, according to Halldin, Native American women are “also known to receive the most physical violence in sexual attacks.” Among all of the women, American Indian women suffer from rape the most, due to the history of invasion by Europeans, the flawed jurisdictional system in the reservation and low social status of women in tribes.

The issue of the sexual assault against the Native women of America dates back to the colonial times. Therefore, it is crucial for the exploration of the problem to look for some answers in the times of Europeans invading America in the 1800s. Halldin points out that “Christopher Columbus’s arrival marked the destruction of indigenous cultures, but also the beginning of rape of Native American women by European men.” Inside the tribes, rape was considered an extremely serious crime and was severely punished to avoid the repetition of it in the future. Therefore, sexual assaults were an uncommon act for the women of Native tribes. The reason behind the strong views of Native people towards the sexual violence was the equal gender society. While there still were certain roles of men and women in the tribal society of Native Americans, each person was treated with equal respect. When the Europeans began invading Native lands, they also began consistently raping Native women. At that times, where racism was considered rather a normal activity, Native people were seen as the “impure race,” and therefore, a sexual act without asking consent towards a woman from a Native American background was not seen as a crime.

Halldin writes that invaders of the Native lands “did not view the acts of raping Native American women as criminal because Native Americans were devalued as people.” Europeans and Natives had completely different mentalities: as previously mentioned, men and women of Native America were equal, which helped them keep the balance inside the tribes, while in Europe, a woman was considered to be under a man’s authority. With raping Native women, Europeans ended not only their dignity but also the whole nation, because, according to the Cheyenne saying, which Halldin uses in his article, “A nation is not conquered until the hearts of the women are on the ground.” The roots of the high rates of rapes among the Native women lie in the history of Europeans invading America. With bringing a whole nation down, invaders brought a problem, which will be hard to solve even several centuries later.

Women of Native American ethnicity are the group, which is estimated to be the most affected by the sexual violence. Halldin mentions that “one in every three Native American and Alaskan women will be raped” and the disturbing part of the statistics is that many people, who are fighting against the issue of sexual violence against the Native women say that the numbers that are currently in the public eye are underestimated. In his article, Adam Crepelle explains: “Congress stated the rates of domestic and sexual violence against Indian women are “epidemic.”” Crepelle mentions the statistics, saying that “Two-thirds of violent crimes committed against Indians are perpetrated by non-Indians; whereas, whites and blacks are victimized by persons of their own race 70 and 80 percent of the time, respectively.”

While the overall criminality rates in the United States are getting lower, the rates of criminal activities committed against the women of the Native background are getting higher, at the same time. One of the horrifying consequences of the Native women having the highest rates of the rape, which Halldin mentions in his article, is that “Indians who have survived sexual abuse would often say that they no longer wish to be Indian.” This statement comes from the mouth of Andrea Smith, who has herself experienced sexual assault and is a counselor for Native Women, meaning that the impact, made such long time ago, keeps affecting people’s lives. The strong principles and sacredness of the woman’s body were ruined long time ago, but to this day, the self-dignity is extremely hard to restore, after experiencing the sexual violence. It would seem that, compared to the 19th century, the situation will change, as our society keeps evolving. Many factors prevent solving the problem, some of them even coming from the jurisdictional side.

One of the most significant concerns of people, who are trying to explore and bring up the topic of sexual violence against the Native women, is the lack of jurisdictional protection of the victims. According to Crepelle’s words, “Before an individual can be arrested, law enforcement must determine whether the incident occurred inside or outside of Indian country, whether the offender is Indian or non-Indian, and whether the victim is Indian or non-Indian.” Crepelle explains that women know that the chances of the offender being punished for what he did are scarily low, so they do not even report rape. One of the examples of the jurisdictional flaw in the system of punishment is the Indian Civil Rights Act (ICRA). This act limits the extent to which the court of the tribe could impose in criminal cases. In the article, Crepelle mentions that “Since ICRA was revised in 1986, a tribal court has the ability to sentence a criminal defendant to a maximum sentence of one year of imprisonment, assess a $5000 fine, or both.”

Another case, which hugely affected the way the jurisdictional system works in the Indian country now, is the Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe. Due to this case, the court now cannot proceed a crime that was committed by a non-Indian, even if the crime was committed on the reservations of the tribe and the offender was a resident of the reservation. It was previously mentioned, that the majority of sexually assaulted women suffer at the hands of non-Indians. In some cases, when the tribal court cannot affect the victim’s life, it can be done with the help of the federal court. However, as Douglas explains, “sometimes a federal prosecutor or police agency could be hundreds of miles away,” so the cases are being lost and uninvestigated without even trying.

Despite the rates showing that most Native women suffer from the non-Indian people, rape within the tribes still happens. As mentioned above, women of the 1800’s in the Native American Land had way more rights than European women did. However, with white people coming to the Native’s land, the cultural assimilation happened, leading to the decrease of the women’s status in the community. It is, though, quite hard to identify the exact social status of the women in various tribes, as every tribe has its own rules. For example, Plains Indians had specific gender roles for both sexes – men had to be brave generous and wise, while the core of the woman’s role was the role of the mother. Thus, as the time has passed, and many of the rules and traditions are not being followed in the modern society, many men within the reservations are taking advantage of the women and treat them as their “property,” with this behavior leading to sexual violence.

With exploring the jurisdiction of the Indian Country, it is understandable, why women are not reporting rape, when it was committed by a non-Indian. However, at first, it seems unclear why women are afraid to speak out, when they are raped by the member of their tribe, even from their husband. Once again, due to the historical development of the roles of men and women in the tribes, it has been historically regulated that women are dependent on men. Because men are the ones who are earning a living, and women are the ones who are sitting at home, making sure that the food is cooked, the children are being raised and other ‘functions’ of the women. Therefore, many women have to follow these rules to be accepted in the Native American community simply. It is obvious that when the woman has the occupation of a housewife, she is financially unsupported on her own. Thus, many women are afraid of reporting rape, because they know that is they leave the house, they will not be able to live a full life.

Much time has passed since the Europeans invaded the Natives’ territory and raped Native women. However, the issue did not seem to go away. Native women still have the highest rates of sexual violence, and the vast majority of them are suffering from non-Indian people. Across the globe, people are slowly succeeding in getting rid of excessive sexual violence crimes, while American Indian women are afraid to talk about it. Not only the issue needs to be brought up more, but the jurisdictional system also has to be seriously overlooked. Considering how much the statistics and the attempts to fix the problem differ, the topic of sexual violence against Native Women needs to be fully reconsidered, and many new steps have to be taken. As Obama said, “When one in three Native American women will be raped in their lifetimes, that is an assault on our national conscience; it is an affront to our shared humanity; it is something that we cannot allow to continue.” (Deer) With the help of joining forces, such important issue needs to and can be overcome, as we cannot stay in the state, in which people were in the 1800s.

All in all, when speaking about the topic of the sexual violence in general, every case is important and valid. Regardless of any factor, every woman should be able to go out alone, without constantly fearing of someone chasing her to rape her. In this context, it would not be right to say that the issue of sexual violence against specifically Native women has to have more recognition than any other race. However, keeping in mind all of the previously mentioned sides of the problem, this is the only right thing to do. While women all over the world are speaking out about and dealing with the sexual violence, American Indian women keep silent due to the specific jurisdictional system of the Indian country. While a woman of any race, apart from Native American, can report a rape and hope that an offender will go to prison for what he did, an American Indian, in the most cases will not even report the crime.

Works cited

Crepelle, Adam. “Concealed Carry to Reduce Sexual Violence against American Indian Women.” Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy, vol. 26, no. 2, Spring2017, pp. 236-261. EBSCOhost, libdb.smc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=121734970&site=ehost-live.

Deer, Sarah. “Bystander No More? Improving the Federal Response to Sexual Violence in Indian Country.” Utah Law Review, vol. 2017, no. 4, July 2017, pp. 771-800. EBSCOhost, libdb.smc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=124909511&site=ehost-live.

DOUGLAS, MAURA. “Sufficiently Criminal Ties: Expanding Vawa Criminal Jurisdiction for Indian Tribes.” University of Pennsylvania Law Review, vol. 166, no. 3, Feb. 2018, pp. 745-787. EBSCOhost, libdb.smc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=128304914&site=ehost-live.

HALLDIN, AMBER. “Restoring the Victim and the Community: A Look at the Tribal Response to Sexual Violence Committed by Non-Indians in Indian Country through Non-Criminal Approaches.” North Dakota Law Review, vol. 84, no. 1, Mar. 2008, pp. 1-21. EBSCOhost, libdb.smc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=34524943&site=ehost-live.

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