DEMOGRAPHICS OF THOSE WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED SEXUAL ASSAULT

Sexual Assault is an act of a sexual nature carried out against a person's will through the use of physical force, intimidation or coercion, and includes any attempts to do this experienced by a person since the age of 15. This includes rape, attempted rape, aggravated sexual assault (assault with a weapon), indecent assault, penetration by objects and forced sexual activity that did not end in penetration. This excludes unwanted sexual touching (for the purposes of the PSS this is defined as Sexual Harassment) and any incidents of sexual assault which occurred before the age of 15 (this is defined as Sexual Abuse). Refer to Endnote 1 for more detailed descriptions and definitions.

Due to the relatively small numbers of males experiencing sexual assault, it is not possible to provide the same level of detailed information for men as for women. Many of the detailed estimates for men's experience of sexual assault are subject to very high sampling error and are generally considered too unreliable for general use (for further details refer to the Technical Note). For this reason only limited information on men's experience of sexual assault are included in the tables and commentary relating to sexual assault, but where possible data have been included.


PREVALENCE OF SEXUAL ASSAULT - SINCE THE AGE OF 15

Women aged 18 years and over were more likely than men aged 18 years and over to have experienced sexual assault since the age of 15. In 2012 an estimated 17% (1,494,000) of all women aged 18 years and over and 4% (336,000) of all men aged 18 years and over had experienced sexual assault since the age of 15 (refer Table 1).

Relationship to perpetrator

Both men and women who had experienced sexual assault since the age of 15 were more likely to have been sexually assaulted by someone they knew than by a stranger (refer Table 12).

• Of the 1,494,000 women aged 18 years and over who had been sexually assaulted since the age of 15, an estimated 1,310,900 women (15% of all women) had been sexually assaulted by a known person compared to 335,000 women (3.8% of all women) who had been sexually assaulted by a stranger.
• Of the 336,000 men aged 18 years and over who had been sexually assaulted since the age of 15, an estimated 252,600 men (3.0% of all men) had been sexually assaulted by a known person compared to 139,000 men (1.6% of all men) who had been sexually assaulted by a stranger.

ENDNOTE

Endnote 1 sexual assault is defined as follows:
Sexual Assault is an act of a sexual nature carried out against a person's will through the use of physical force, intimidation or coercion, and includes any attempts to do this. This includes rape, attempted rape, aggravated sexual assault (assault with a weapon), indecent assault, penetration by objects, forced sexual activity that did not end in penetration and attempts to force a person into sexual activity. Incidents so defined would be an offence under State and Territory criminal law. Sexual assault excludes unwanted sexual touching - for the purposes of this survey, this is defined as Sexual Harassment. Sexual assault also excludes incidents of violence that occurred before the age of 15 - for the purposes of this survey, these are defined as Sexual Abuse. If a person experienced sexual assault and sexual threat in the same incident, this was counted once only as a sexual assault. If an incident of sexual assault also involved physical assault or threats, this was counted once only as a sexual assault.

This section contains the following subsection :

Prevalence of sexual assault during the last 12 months

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