This year, we are excited to bring attention to the fight against sexual violence by destigmatizing the reporting of sexual violence, empowering female survivors, educating adolescents, and building communities to offer compassion, connection, and support.

In the United States, sexual violence is a serious social and public health problem that has profound, lifelong impacts on a woman's well-being - physically, psychologically, spiritually, and financially. The estimated lifetime cost of rape is an astonishing $122,461 per survivor for medical and mental health expenses, lost productivity, criminal justice activities, and other costs. According to The Centers for Disease Control, 1 in 4 women have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime, more than 4 in 5 female rape survivors reported that they were first raped before age 25, and almost half were first raped as a minor. The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) reports an estimated 12.5% of women reported sexual coercion in their lifetime, and more than one-quarter of women (27.3%) have experienced some form of unwanted sexual contact in their lifetime.