Characterization of sexual violence in a state from the southeast region of Brazil

Abstract

Objective: to verify the association between victims of sexual violence and the sociodemographic aspects related to exposure in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Method: an ecological study, where the database of the Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação, SINAN provided by the Minas Gerais State Health Department was used. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the chi-square test, and Multiple Correspondence Factor Analysis (p≤0.05). Results: stepfathers were the predominant offenders, associated with schooling from 0 to 4th grade, brownskinned ethnicity, and the residence as place of occurrence. When the offender was the father, there was association with an unknown place of occurrence, followed by the residence, abuse of male children between 0 and 9 years old, and living in municipalities from 200 to 500 thousand inhabitants. Stranger aggressors were associated with white female victims aged 15 years old or over, schooling between 5th grade and higher education, single act of sexual violence, in which physical violence was used and occurrence on public roads. Conclusion: sexual violence affects mainly women and children, the former being attacked on public roads and the latter in their own home environment by a known offender.