Sexual Violence
Sexual violence is any type of sexual activity committed against someone without that person’s freely given consent. The activity can be verbal, visual, or anything that forces a person to engage in unwanted sexual contact or attention.
The use of “sexual violence” here encompasses all forms of sexual abuse, assault, and harassment, including:
SILENCE IS NOT CONSENT.
Sometimes victims are too scared, disoriented, or shocked to fight back or say no. Anyone can experience or perpetrate sexual violence. The perpetrator of sexual violence is usually someone the victim knows, such as a friend, current or former intimate partner, coworker, neighbor, or family member. In 2019, 87% of sexual violence instances reported to Kentucky police were perpetrated by someone known to the victim. [1]
Many survivors of sexual violence encounter poor responses from the systems and people they interact with, such as victim blaming, disbelief, shame, and minimization, which can be retraumatizing. Survivors of sexual violence who belong to historically oppressed social groups encounter additional barriers to justice, healing, safety, validation, education, and more.
How big is the problem?
Sexual violence is a serious public health problem in Kentucky.
The rate for sexual assault victimizations are 5 times higher for Kentucky children than for Kentucky adults. [1]
What is the impact of sexual violence?
We know that sexual violence has serious, long-lasting impacts on victims, their friends and families, their communities, and society as a whole.
An assault may impact a survivor’s daily life no matter when it happened. Each survivor reacts to sexual violence in their own way. Common emotional, physical, and psychological reactions include: guilt, shame, fear, numbness, shock, and feelings of isolation. Personal injuries, concerns about pregnancy, or risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection. Post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and isolation.
Sexual violence can affect parents, friends, partners, children, spouses, and/or coworkers of the survivor. As they try to make sense of what happened, loved ones may experience similar reactions and feelings to those of the survivor such as fear, guilt, self-blame, and anger.
Schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, campuses, and cultural or religious communities may feel fear, anger, or disbelief when sexual assault happens in their community. Violence of all kinds destroys a sense of safety and trust.
Sexual violence also creates a cost to society. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that victims of rape incur $122,461 over a lifetime in costs associated with lost wages, medical costs, criminal justice activities, and property loss or damage. [5] This same study found that government sources pay around $1 trillion towards the lifetime economic burden in our nation. [5]
Citations:
[1] Martin, Kimberly H., “Sexual Assaults Recorded by Law Enforcement, 2019,” July 30, 2021, bjs.ojp.gov: https://bjs.ojp.gov/nibrs/reports/sarble/sarble19
[2] Leemis, R. W., Zhang Kudon, H., Zhu, S., Smith, S. G., Chen, J., Friar, N. W., & Basile, K. C. (2025). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2023/2024 sexual violence data brief. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. https://www.cdc.gov/nisvs/media/pdfs/sexualviolence-brief.pdf
[3] Smith SG, Khatiwada S, Richardson L, Basile KC, Friar NW, Chen J, Zhang Kudon H, & Leemis RW. The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2016/2017 State Report. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. https://www.cdc.gov/nisvs/documentation/nisvsReportonSexualViolence.pdf
[4] James, S. E., Herman, J. L., Rankin, S., Keisling, M., Mottet, L., & Anafi, M. (2016). The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. Washington, DC: National Center for Transgender Equality. https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf
[5] Peterson, et al. (2017). Lifetime Economic Burden of Rape Among U.S. Adults. Am J Prev Med 52(6): 691-701. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PM C5438753/pdf/nihms849041.pdf
How can we stop sexual violence before it starts?
We can stop violence before it starts through high-quality primary prevention work. The CDC has identified five focus areas for effective sexual violence prevention:
