Understanding and addressing violence against women: sexual violence

Overview

Sexual violence encompasses acts that range from verbal harassment to forced penetration, and an array of types of coercion, from social pressure and intimidation to physical force.

The best quality prevalence data on sexual violence come from population-based surveys. Other sources of data on sexual violence include police reports and studies from clinical settings and nongovernmental organizations; however, because only a small proportion of cases are reported in these settings, they produce underestimates of prevalence. For example, a Latin American study estimated that only around 5% of adult victims of sexual violence reported the incident to the police.