On December 27, 2023, Imam Khamenei had a meeting with a large group of women from across the country. During this meeting, while criticizing the Western outlook toward women, he in particular referred to a book written by the US former president, Jimmy Carter.
In his book called "A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power", Jimmy Carter mentions some shocking numbers on the matter. For example, he mentions a report funded by the US Justice Department in which it is expected that an academic institution with about eight thousand students, has more than 1,700 female victims of rape or sexual assault, during the relatively short time span of the study.
Another instance of the rampant statistics of sexual assault in the US, was given by the US Department of Defense in 2012. It is estimated that there were “about 26,000 instances of unwanted sexual contact in the military.” A report done by National Public Radio in 2010 shows, “a survey of female veterans found that 30 percent said they were raped in the military.”
Another aspect of this issue is that these crimes are mostly left unpunished and unprosecuted. According to Pentagon statistics, "only about 3,200 assaults were reported and 300 prosecuted, which is about 1.2 percent of the 26,000 known cases."
In a disturbing example of this leniency in US courts, a fourteen-year-old girl was raped by his teacher in Montana. She later committed suicide, and the teacher was sentenced to serve only 30 days in prison. Even a petition with 140,000 signatures could not alter this decision.
“Sexual freedom and the excessive expansion of sexual assault, destroy families. A few years ago, I quoted some words from a book written by a former US president [Jimmy Carter’s A Call to Action]. The statistics regarding sexual assault and promiscuity are truly horrific. What’s more, there is no punishment for sexual assault, but [wearing] the hijab has penalties,” said Imam Khamenei on December 27, 2023.
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