One of the most difficult things to accept about sexual assaults is that they are most often committed by someone the victim knows, trusts, or loves. Most girls and young women are not prepared for the possibility of a sexual assault committed by a guy they know as a boyfriend, a classmate or co-worker, a date, a relative, or an authority figure. It’s upsetting to think that someone who is known and trusted could behave in this way. But research shows that:

• Women are twice as likely to be sexually assaulted by a man known to them, than by a stranger.¹ Far fewer cases of sexual assault are committed by strangers.
• Girls and young women are sometimes sexually assaulted in their own families, by a father, brother, uncle or other family member. This is called incest. In one study, 17% of women interviewed reported that they had been sexually abused by a male relative before they reached the age of 16.²

Girls and young women are sexually assaulted by men such as neighbours, family friends, religious leaders, or teachers. Up to one in three women (34%) have reported that, before they reached the age of 16, they had an unwanted sexual experience with a male who was not a relative.

1. Randall, M. and Haskell, L. "Sexual Violence in Women's Lives: Findings from the Women's Safety Project, a Community Based Survey," Violence Against Women: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 1, no. 1, 1995, p. 19.
2. Randall and Haskell, 1995 p. 19.