Of the women who call Vancouver Rape Relief for being victims of sexual assault or rape, 27% were sexually abused in their childhood.

Of these 27 %, 47% were victims of incest, meaning that the abuser was an adult family member.

More than 80% of the women who call us about incest in their childhood are adult at the time of the call.

When the call is made to us when the incest victim is still a child, the caller is most often the victim’s mother who is trying to protect her daughter.

For 55% of the callers, the abuser was their father or father figure (stepfather, mother’s boyfriend). In 30% of the cases, the abuser was another adult family member (grandfather, uncle, older cousin). In the remining 15% of the cases, the preparator was a male friend of the parents.

A third (34%) of the women who call us about being victims to incest in their childhood, are calling us when they are in their 40’s or older (some women are in their 60s and 70s). Often, it is the first time they talk about the abuse to anyone.

While half of the women who call us as adult about being victims to incest in their childhood, call us to get our support in relation to this attack. The other half of adult women who confided to us about being victims to incest in their childhood, originally called us for support in relation to a current assault by their male partner or being recently raped by a man they dated, an acquaintance or a stranger. Once we had closer relationships with them, they told us about the incest.