You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Study: 1 of Every 16 Women and Girls’ First Sexual Experience Was Rape

HeadlineSep 17, 2019

A new study reveals that the first sexual experience for one out of every 16 women and girls in the U.S. is rape. Almost half of those surveyed said they were physically forced into the act, and over half said they were verbally pressured into sex against their will. The average age of the assaults is 15. In the following years, the affected women had poorer mental and reproductive health outcomes, including more unwanted pregnancies and abortions.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top