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Media reports have highlighted the ubiquity of sexual violence against women. Investigators examined a key aspect of this violence: the health consequences of forced initial vaginal intercourse. Data from 13,310 women (age range, 18–44) in the 2011–2017 National Survey of Family Growth identified 993 respondents (6.5%) whose first vaginal intercourse with a male (termed sexual initiation) was “not voluntary.” The authors extrapolated to estimate that >3.3 million U.S. women in this age group have had the same experience.
Women with forced sexual initiation were about 2 years younger than those reporting voluntary first sex (mean age, 15.6 vs. 17.4), and their partners or assailants were older (mean age, 27.0 vs. 21.0). About half of women wh…