Roughly 1.7 million men in the United States experience some form of sexual violence in a given year, though the exact number depends heavily on which definition is used and how the data is collected. That figure, drawn from the CDC’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, includes both rape (unwanted penetration of the victim) and a separate category the CDC calls “being made to penetrate,” where a victim is forced or coerced into penetrating someone else. When those two categories are combined, the annual number of male victims is far higher than most people assume.
Why the Numbers Are Hard to Pin Down
The challenge with counting male victims starts with definitions. The CDC defines rape as any completed or attempted unwanted penetration of the victim through physical force, or when the victim cannot consent due to intoxication or incapacitation. For men, this captures assaults where the victim is penetrated. But many men experience a different form of assault: being forced or coerced into penetrating someone else. The CDC tracks this separately under “made to penetrate,” and it is not counted in the agency’s rape statistics.
This distinction matters enormously. CDC survey data has consistently shown that the number of men reporting “made to penetrate” experiences in a given year is comparable to, and sometimes exceeds, the number reporting rape as narrowly defined. Critics argue that separating these categories obscures the true scale of male sexual victimization, since both involve nonconsensual sex acts carried out through force, coercion, or incapacitation.
Beyond definitions, underreporting is a major factor. Men are significantly less likely than women to disclose sexual violence to anyone, let alone law enforcement. Stigma, shame, confusion about whether what happened “counts,” and fear of not being believed all suppress reporting rates. National crime surveys, which rely on victims volunteering information, almost certainly capture only a fraction of what actually occurs.
Sexual Violence in Prisons and Jails
Incarcerated men face rates of sexual victimization that are strikingly high. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 4.1% of adult prison inmates reported experiencing sexual victimization in 2023 to 2024. About 2.3% reported assault by another inmate, and 2.2% reported victimization by facility staff. With roughly 1.2 million people in state and federal prisons (the vast majority of whom are men), that translates to tens of thousands of victims in prisons alone each year, not counting local jails, juvenile facilities, or immigration detention centers.
These numbers are based on anonymous surveys, which tend to produce higher and more accurate counts than official reports filed through prison grievance systems. Even so, researchers believe the true rate is higher still, since many inmates fear retaliation or have learned that reporting leads nowhere.
When Victimization Begins
A large share of male sexual violence happens during childhood. A global study published by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation found that among male survivors aged 13 to 24, 72% reported that their first experience of sexual violence occurred before age 18. Nearly half said it happened before they turned 16, and 14% of male survivors reported first being exposed to sexual violence before age 12.
These numbers are higher than the corresponding rates for female survivors in the same study, where 67% reported first victimization before 18 and 8% before age 12. The finding challenges the common assumption that boys face lower risk than girls. In many cases, the abuse begins years before a boy has the language or framework to understand what is happening to him, which delays disclosure, sometimes by decades.
Long-Term Effects on Health and Daily Life
Sexual violence leaves measurable, lasting damage in men’s physical and psychological health. A 2024 review in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law identified a consistent pattern of outcomes among male survivors: anxiety, depression, chronic anger, loss of self-image, emotional disconnection, self-blame, and self-harming behaviors. These are not temporary reactions. Many survivors carry them for years or decades, particularly when they never disclosed the assault or received support.
The physical effects are equally persistent. Elevated rates of sexual dysfunction, including erectile problems and loss of libido, are well documented among male survivors. Some men experience confusion about their sexual identity or orientation following an assault, especially when victimized as children. Others develop a pattern of hypersexuality as a coping mechanism. Beyond sexual health, survivors show higher rates of substance addiction, difficulty maintaining employment, and the breakdown of close relationships. The ripple effects extend into nearly every area of a person’s life.
Why These Numbers Likely Undercount
Every major data source on male sexual violence comes with built-in limitations that push the count downward. National surveys rely on people recognizing their experience as sexual violence and being willing to disclose it to an interviewer. Many men do not meet either condition. Studies have found that men are more likely to label what happened to them as “unwanted sexual contact” or “coercion” rather than rape or assault, which means their experiences may not be captured by survey questions that use those specific terms.
Cultural expectations compound the problem. The belief that men cannot be raped, that erection or ejaculation equals consent, or that male victims of female perpetrators should feel lucky rather than violated discourages men from coming forward. Law enforcement data reflects this gap: the number of male sexual assaults reported to police each year is a small fraction of what anonymous surveys reveal.
When all of these factors are considered together, the true annual number of men experiencing sexual violence in the U.S. is almost certainly higher than any single dataset suggests. The figures that do exist, ranging from hundreds of thousands to nearly two million depending on the survey and definition, represent a floor rather than a ceiling.