The issue of sexual violence is not unique to the United States or Spain, but is a worldwide issue that affects all women in any place in the world. While violence against women is not a new topic, a new global consciousness has started to rise that has encouraged women to come forward not only to share their stories with the world, but to report what has happened to them. This Tableau visualization details the number of recorded sexual offenses in major European countries from 2013 until 2016. Both the map and graph can be adjusted by year, and each bar and point on the map details the total number and types of sexual offenses reported in each country.
It could be interesting to note that the number of reports from 2013 to 2016 have increased significantly. While it may be disheartening to think that the trend of sexual violence seems to have increased, this graph is actually speaking to the number of women who have been brave enough to come forward to report their experiences with sexual violence. It’s not necessarily that sexual violence as a whole has increased, but that over recent years, women have finally started to speak up. This thought, in light of movements like #MeToo and #Cuentalo, is enough to show that the world is shifting toward a more responsive attitude regarding cases of violence against women.