Nearly half of sexual abuse first happens at age 15 or younger: Lancet study
Fifteen-year-old Sanjana (name changed), from a remote village in Maharashtra’s Sangli district, has become the face of a bold new campaign: Zabardasti Mein Kaisi Mardangi—“What kind of masculinity is this if it’s forced?”
After her mother’s death, Sanjana was placed in the care of her maternal uncle. But instead of finding safety, she endured months of sexual abuse at his hands—an ordeal that would change her life forever.
Sanjana’s story is not new. According to a new analysis published in The Lancet, nearly half of sexual abuse first happens at age 15 or younger. This worrying trend has been extensively analysed in the new study, which is among the first ones to estimate the prevalence of sexual violence against children in 204 countries from 1990 to 2023 by age and sex.
Sexual violence...