Measuring the Sexual Victimization of Women : Evolution , Current Controversies , and Future Research

In the 1970s, the growing interest in the victimization of women prompted claims that rape and sexual assault in the United States, heretofore rendered invisible, were rampant. Existing data sources, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reports and the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Survey (later called the National Crime Victimization Survey), were roundly criticized for methodological flaws that led to the substantial underreporting of the sexual victimization women experienced. These concerns in turn led to the quest to construct measures that would more accurately assess the true extent of females’ sexual victimization. This essay examines the development and key methodological issues characterizing this effort to measure the extent and types of sexual victimization perpetrated against women.