A new study looked at sexual violence in America and the gap between men and women — the numbers are alarming

A new survey shows what percentage of adults in the United States have lived through sexual violence at some point in their lives, and the figure hides an alarming divide.

According to The Guardian, which reported on the USVEX survey, nearly half of all American adults have experienced some kind of sexual violence in their lifetime. 68% were women, against 29% of men. It’s a conspicuous gap, made all the more shocking when you realize that the study otherwise found the sexes experienced violence in general in even measure.

As mentioned, the numbers come from Violence in America: Findings from the 2025 United States Violence Experiences Survey. It is, according to its authors, the first nationally representative survey to ask Americans directly what violence they have survived rather than tallying what made it into a police report.

Researchers at Tulane University’s Newcomb Institute and the University of California, San Diego, led the work, which surveyed 2,720 adults across all 50 states from October to December 2025 in English and Spanish. The samples were drawn by NORC at the University of Chicago.

The finding shows that in the past year, about one in 14 adults, or 7% of the population, reported sexual violence, rising to 9% among women and falling to 4% among men. Much of that total, the study noted, came in the form of sexual harassment, and not assault.

Strangers topped the list for both sexes: around 58% of women’s recent cases and 66% of men’s, and it was followed by people from the victim’s own community, at 47% for women and 41% for men.

Interestingly, the data shows another discrepancy, one in the setting the harassment or assault took place. Public spaces were the likeliest place it happened for women, and for men, it was their own home.

Where the sexes converge

The sexual violence divide will stand out more once you consider the study’s other headline number. Physical violence had reached 52% of adults in their lifetime, and it was identical for both men and women. Yet there’s a divergence in the data, and it involves the source. For women, the danger was domestic, with 61% pointing to a spouse or partner. Men more often pointed outward, with 38% naming a stranger.

The survey also points out that risk peaks through adolescence into early adulthood, by which point close to a third of adults had already experienced sexual violence. As for other kinds of violence, economic hardship appears to be the main fueling force, with eviction tracking with a sevenfold jump in recent physical violence.

For reference, the American picture seems to echo a global one. A landmark 2025 WHO report estimated that nearly one in three women worldwide — some 840 million — have survived partner or sexual violence, with another 263 million subjected to non-partner sexual violence since age 15.