This is the infographic. However it's very sensationalist and the stat's seem off to me. So I looked them over and did some simple percentages and then thought about what the numbers might mean.

Feminists seem obsessed with rape. To hear them tell it, women in the US are getting raped all the time, they can't go anywhere or do anything without the imminent threat of rape. I am skeptical of this state of affairs, and I suspect that the risk of rape is not that really that high. I also suspect that there is a lot of behaviours any individual woman can do to greatly minimize her risk from rape.

This image in particular seems to be the source of much of the material in the original graphic. But the image itself is sensationalist in the extreme. There are also a number of faulty assumptions built into the image itself.

Such as:

  • Everyone accused of rape is also guilty. (100% truthfulness on the part of the accusers.)

  • There is enough evidence to convict all of the reported rapes (no reasonable doubt).

Looking at this other graphic the stats are not as clearly indicative of "rape culture" as it would seem:

  • It states that out of 100 rapes only 46 are reported. But since only 46 are reported I don't understand how they come up with 100 rapes? That doesn't make sense to me. So disregarding non-reported rapes there are only 46 rapes (those reported are the only ones visible to the justice system)

  • Of those 46 alleged rapes, 12 of the alleged rapists can be arrested: That's a 25% chance that the alleged (at this point in the process) rapist will be apprehended by the police. In my mind the 25% chance most likely reflects the fact that some accusations are withdrawn, the accused could not be located, or some of the accused have alibi's which exonerate them, or those accusing them are clearly fabricating the accusation, or finally there is little more than her word against his so the grounds for a trial are a little shaky. Clearly the low number of arrested rapists is more complicated than the inflammatory explanation of "rape culture".

  • Of those alleged rapists, 9 will go to trial: That's a 75% chance that somebody apprehended for rape will go to trial. The other 25% who don't could be be plea bargains, or possibly charges dropped by the person who made the complaint? DNA? Who knows.

  • Of the rapes that go to trial 5 will get a conviction: A 55% chance of conviction. So it's almost a coin flip. I'm guessing that this number includes rapes violent rapes, and also rapes where there was no DNA evidence or obvious physical trauma.

  • Of the convicted rapists 3 go to jail: So 60% of convicted rapists go to prison. This is the strange part... Convicted rapists that DON'T go to jail? WTF? Then I suspect that the rapes statistic includes statutory rapes mixed in with the violent crime type of rapes. Now it starts to make sense, since a statutory rapist (while a rapist under the law) is not a violent criminal and may not go to jail. So that could be why only 60% of rapists go to jail. Since the total includes both types of rape which do not share the same penalties. Statutory rapes may also explain the 55% conviction rate, as some people may be getting let off because of the non-violent nature of their crime or other circumstances.

As for the rest of the complaints:

  • Rapists can get custody / access to the child they create
    In the case of a statutory rape I would say yes they should have the right to see their child. Since the sex that led to the child was consensual. I strongly doubt that violent rapists (strangers) have any access to the children they create.

  • 32,000 women get pregnant from rapes
    I would bet good money that most of these pregancies resulted from statutory rape and not violent rape or some sort of stranger rape. However the justice department website is down due to gov't shutdown... so I can't look more of this stuff up.

On the whole the graphic looks sort of legitimate when you take it at face value, but when you think about it a little bit, it seems to be really sensationalist and making it seem like there is some sort of rape crisis or "rape culture" at work in the US on college campuses (or out in life in general), when in fact there isn't. I think Africa has a rape crisis / rape culture, and maybe even India, but rape is taken quite seriously by the US justice system. And law enforcement is doing their jobs (and due diligence as well I hope). The implied thought processes at work behind these infographics is pretty scary....especially the part where they assume all those accused of rape are guilty....

The citations from the image (in case anyone is interested in reading the articles that this comes from):

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/health/nearly-1-in-5-women-in-us-survey-report-sexual-assault.html?_r=0

http://journals.cluteonline.com/index.php/CIER/article/viewFile/1201/1185

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/08/31-states-grant-rapists-custody-and-visitation-rites/56118

http://www.nsvrc.org/publications/articles/false-reports-moving-beyond-issue-successfully-investigate-and-prosecute-non-s

http://nij.gov/topics/crime/rape-sexual-violence/welcome.htm

http://rainn.org/get-information/statistics/reporting-rates

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8765248