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 under 18 years
Nearly one in five women (18.9 per cent) and one in seven men (14.8 per cent) globally experienced sexual violence before the age of 18 years. The study also identified significant region- and country-level differences in the rate of sexual violence under 18 years, with the US estimates being 27.5 per cent for women and 16.1 per cent for men; UK estimates being 24.4 per cent for women and 16.5 per cent for men, and estimates for India being 30.8 per cent for women and 13.5 per cent for men.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle conducted the analysis using the newest Global Burden of Disease research.
According to the study’s authors, this is the most comprehensive investigation of the prevalence of sexual violence against children, covering 204 locations by age and sex from 1990 to 2023, while accounting for when people were first exposed to such violence.
Zabardasti Mein Kaisi Mardang?
Meena Saraswathi Seshu, general secretary of Sampada Grameen Mahila Sanstha, a Sangli-based grassroots women-centred NGO (not associated with the study), told that Sanjana’s story is heart-breaking but not an isolated one.
“Actual numbers may be much higher due to underreporting, particularly in rural areas. We are also very worried about the increase in aggressive expressions of masculinity in Maharashtra. Hence the village campaign to demand accountability about this toxic behaviour from both society and state,” Seshu added.
In the study, researchers found that among young sexual violence survivors aged 13-24 years, 67 per cent of females and 72 per cent of males reported being first sexually abused during childhood, before the age of 18.
