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Show this graphic to anyone who says rape isn't a real issue in America

The federal government estimates that, every year, 1.6 percent of American women are raped.

That number can feel small; it is, after all, a tiny fraction of the population. But when you put it human terms, as we do in the graphic below, it is astonishingly, overwhelming large.

rape prevalence graphic 2011

Each year, 1.9 million women in America are raped. That works out to, on average, a rape happening in this country ever 17 seconds. Sexual assault, and other forms of violence against women, are a massive problem in this country.