Millions of people are impacted by sexual abuse every single year in the U.S.
According to the CDC, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men experience sexual abuse. This is an alarming statistic, but in all likelihood, it actually underrepresents the prevalence of sexual abuse because many victims of abuse do not report the crime.
According to research published in the journal of Child Abuse and Neglect, 63% of sexual assaults are not reported to police and 88% of child sexual abuse is not reported to authorities.
Source: Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
In most cases, sexual abuse starts early. Approximately 22% of rape victims were younger than 12 when they were first raped, and 32% were between the ages of 12 and 17.
Sexual abuse is particularly prevalent in underserved communities. Consider the following facts:
Approximately 43% of lesbian and bisexual women, and 30% of gay and bisexual men, report having experienced sexual assault during their lifetimes.
Approximately 34% of Native American and Alaskan Native women report experiencing an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime, compared with 19% of Black women, 18% of white women, and 7% of Asian American women.
Women with disabilities are raped and sexually abused at a rate 2 times that of the general population of women.