Confronting sexual violence among female youth gang members

Youth gangs throughout the US continue to rise as well as terrorize the neighborhoods that they claim as their own. Often overlooked in gangs is the pervasive bondage of intimate partner violence among female youth gang members. Over 80% of all female youth gang members are “sexed in,” which is an initiation tactic of getting into a gang. Getting “sexed in” the gang means that the prospective female gang member has to have sexual intercourse with all of the male gang members in that particular gang set. Moreover, the author found that 23% of the female gang members have a history of child sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. Unfortunately, female gang members are the least likely to report rape victimization. Of the female gang members that are physically or sexually abused, 97% have never utilized any rape or physical abuse services such as a rape crisis center or shelter within their communities, while 30% of them not even knowing about the services available to them to begin with. With the technical assistance of Women Organized Against Rape (WOAR), a Philadelphia rape crisis center, this study identified 12 distinct barriers to disclosure and service utilization of female youth gang members who experience intimate partner violence across the lifespan (i.e.: immigration issues, racism, depression, anxiety, fear, shame, isolation, age, lack of health insurance, lack of child care, lack of affordable housing, lack of independent income, lack of support from the family/community, and just not knowing the available resources surrounding intimate partner violence).