Happy Valentine’s Day !

During Valentine’s love season, there is an increase in forced sexual intimacy. Sex is not Valentine; sex is not ‘love’ but a byproduct of Love.

 Almost 1 in 5 young adult women have experienced forced sexual intercourse.

• Approximately 18% of women aged 18-24 report having experienced forced sexual intercourse at least once in their lives.
• Forced sex was either responding “not voluntary” to the following questions about first sexual intercourse. “Would you say then that this first vaginal intercourse was voluntary or not voluntary? That is, did you choose to have sex of your own free will or not?” Or responding “yes” to the following question: “Have you ever been forced by a male to have vaginal intercourse against your will?”
• Considering that sexual abuse is likely underreported and that our measure includes only force acts of sexual intercourse, we would expect that the actual occurrence of nonvoluntary sexual experience maybe even higher.
• Most young adult women report being age 16 or younger at the time of first forced sexual intercourse, including 13% aged 11 or younger, 15% aged 12-14, and 30% aged 15-16. Twenty-seven percent were aged 17-18, and 15% were aged 19-24 the first time they experienced forced sex.

 The prevalence of ever experiencing forced sexual intercourse does not differ by race/ethnicity or socioeconomic status.

• Young adult women who are white, black, Hispanic, or of another race are equally likely to report having ever experienced forced sexual intercourse.
• Forced sexual intercourse also did not differ by parental education. Young adult women with parents who did not complete high school had only a high school degree, completed some college, or obtained a bachelor’s degree were similarly likely to have experienced forced sexual intercourse.

 However, experiences of forced sexual intercourse are linked with other risky sexual behaviors.

• Compared to women who have never experienced forced sex, our analyses indicate that young adult women who have experienced forced sexual intercourse are more likely to report that they engaged in at least one of the following HIV risk behaviors: using IV drugs, having sex with a male who uses IV drugs, having sex with a male who has sex with males, having sex with a male who has other partners at the same time, engaging in prostitution, or having sex with an HIV positive person. More than one-third (36%) of those who experienced forced sex had also engaged in at least one of these risk behaviors, compared with 20% of those who did not experience forced sex.
• Young adult women who have ever experienced forced sexual intercourse to report a more significant number of lifetime sexual partners, on average, and are more likely to have had an STD in the last year than women who have never experienced forced sex. Young adult women who experienced forced sex have an average of 8-lifetime partners, and 15% report having had an STD, compared with three partners and 7% experiencing an STD among those who did not experience forced sex.
• Although risky sexual behaviors and forced sexual intercourse are linked. We are unable to determine causality – it is unknown whether risky sexual behaviors lead to a higher likelihood of forced sexual intercourse or whether forced sexual intercourse leads to a higher likelihood of engaging in risky sexual behaviors.

Types of Force Used

 Young adult women who have experienced forced sexual intercourse report several different types of force used during the incident.

• The most common types of force reported in nonvoluntary sexual experiences were verbal or physical pressure and being physically held down. Over half of the women forced to have sexual intercourse reported each of these types of force (See Figure 2).
• Approximately a third of the women reported were given alcohol or drugs, abused by someone bigger or a grown-up, or threatened. Approximately a quarter of the women reported being physically hurt.
• A small percentage of women were told the relationship would end as a means of forcing intercourse.

Forced sexual intercourse is, unfortunately, a somewhat familiar experience among young adult women. It is an experience shared by all groups of women, including women of all racial/ethnic groups and women of all socioeconomic statuses. However, engaging in other risky sexual behaviors and experiencing adverse sexual health outcomes are potential markers of unwanted intercourse experience. Women who experienced forced sexual intercourse report several different types of force used during the incident and most commonly reported experiencing verbal or physical pressure and being physically held down;

(Support for this Fact Sheet comes from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation).