When writing this article I was astounded at how many of my friends were personally affected by sexual assault or abuse in their lifetime. Chances are it’s the same for you. Next time you take a look around, consider the pain that others surrounding you may have been through. This article aims to bring to light the realities of female sexual abuse: it’s not all dark alleyways and intoxicated women, it’s real and it’s happening now.
Most girls would think themselves safe walking through a building on a warm summer’s afternoon.
In February at 5 o’clock, it’s broad daylight and there are people about. Chances are you can safely walk to an ATM and withdraw some cash.
But for 20-year-old student Jess Chia* this was not the case.
Jess was walking through Glen Waverley’s Century City Walk to withdraw some money on a Friday afternoon last February, when she was attacked by a group of three men and sexually assaulted.
Century City Walk in Glen Waverley. Image Credit: Maddi Vantarakis
“I was walking, just to get some cash. I left the house in my trackies and T-shirt. No shorts or anything- not that it matters what I was wearing,” she said.
“These three guys came up to me. They were acting weird; they didn’t smell drunk but they were acting drunk, and they just kind of pinned me against the wall, in the corner but opposite the walkway and started groping me. Doing stuff to my clothes…”
For Jess the shock of the unwillingness to help of those around her was frightening.
“There was an old woman. An old Chinese woman, she didn’t say anything or do anything,” she said.
“First I was so shocked, I didn’t do anything. And then, I got really angry and I just kept thinking, ‘this is sexual assault’. I was like ‘what the f***’.
“They just pushed me and left, because there were people coming round the corner. I just remember standing there…you never think it’ll happen to you, you’re always thinking, ‘it’s not going to happen to me’.
“And then just one day it might and then you don’t know what to think. At first I was just standing there and I felt really, really gross and I was just trying to get my stuff on.
“I was looking at this old lady like ‘you didn’t help me’.”
The inside walkway of Glen Waverley’s Century City Walk, near where Jess Chia was assaulted. Image credit: Maddi Vantarakis.
Sadly, Jess is not alone in her ordeal. Only last month a 16-year-old girl was assaulted in a car park in Caulfield East. This incident occurred at 8am, again in broad daylight.
Victoria Police crime statistics for the 2012/2013 years highlight that reported non-rape sexual assault offences increased by 2.4 per cent.
In Eastern Victoria- including Monash, Stonnington and Glen Eira, there were 1705 cases of non-rape sexual assault recorded in the 2012/13 years. Glen Eira’s non-rape sexual assault offences increased by 35.4 per cent.
According to Monash University Lecturer in victimology Dr James Roffee, it seems the stereotypical ‘attack after dark’ is no longer justified.
“I think we see a whole spectrum of sexual assault, but we tend only to be made aware of those which are fitting the kind of news worthiness and news values,” he said.
“There is this kind of entire other landscape in the spectrum, where we’ve got this whole subset of crime which is going on, happening to people like us, all around us every day.
“But it isn’t ever brought to light because it doesn’t sell the papers, or the stories don’t match the way in which the news wants to be presented to us.”
For retail worker Kelly Anderson*, her experience with sexual assault can also be viewed out from the norm.
When she was 14, she was sexually assaulted on a sports trip by one of her opposing teammate’s mother.
“We were watching Australian Idol and I went into the bathroom, my friend was in the lounge room,” she said.
“And she followed me into the bathroom [the mother], locked the doors and sexually assaulted me.”
Kelly never thought to report her assault to the police, fearing she would not be believed.
“I wondered if we should press charges, but there was no point because you can’t prove anything,” she said.
“It’s gone so far on, and who’s going to believe a woman assaulted another woman. If it were male to male it would be more convincing.”
Dr Roffee says the media is partly to blame for purporting ‘a typical narrative’ and therefore not encouraging reporting from victims.
“I think it causes people to question their own behaviour, so then they think, ‘Well am I going to be taken seriously? Am I going to be believed about this?’” he said.
“They see it as a shame. So people don’t report it for these reasons that are intimately connected to how the incidents are portrayed.”
Although Jess did report her case, initially she did not consider it worthy.
“I said to myself, ‘it’s one of those things, it could have been much worse, the police have other things to do’,” she said.
“I thought, ‘I don’t want to bother them.’ It seemed like I should just get over it. That I should toughen up.”
Looking back, Jess was glad she had the support around her, which helped her gather the courage to report her case.
“At first I said it to my brothers and they really encouraged me to report it and I didn’t want to,” she said.
“I reported it thinking this is just me doing my part, not thinking that anything was going to come of it.
“Some people think it’s worth reporting and some people tell themselves to get over it. I think that’s really wrong. If you know that you’ve been sexually assaulted, you should report it.”
Victorian Sexual Assault Crisis Line 1800 806 292
*(Names changed for privacy purposes)
Maddi Vantarakis 
Well done Maddi
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