From the founder
I was one of the dashed circles.
[Your story, in your words. A few sentences on what almost happened, why you never talked about it, and the moment you realized "nothing happened" was the whole point.]
Read the full storyWhy this exists
“Nothing happened.” That’s why no one ever counted it.
We know a lot about sexual violence that happens. We know almost nothing about the times it nearly did, and what stopped it. Here’s what the numbers show, and where they stop.
Picture 100 women.
About 1 in 4
of rapes and sexual assaults were reported to police in 2024. This is the part the system sees.
45 of 100
women say they have experienced contact sexual violence when asked privately in a national survey. Most assaults are never reported to police.
?
The near misses. Some of these 100 women were followed, cornered, or drugged, and got away. Someone stepped in, a friend noticed, or they trusted a bad feeling. Surveys count attempted rape, but no national survey we know of asks about the times someone got away before it turned physical.
If even a few of those dashed circles are near misses, the real number of women who came close is bigger than any statistic we have.
[Photo: an empty street or parking lot at first light, calm and ordinary]
Did something almost happen to you?
Your near miss might be the story that helps someone else see it coming. Story submissions aren’t open yet.
Sources and notes
45.1% of women: CDC, National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 2023/2024 Sexual Violence Data Brief. Contact sexual violence includes rape, attempted rape, sexual coercion, and unwanted sexual contact. Men: 16.9%, same survey.
About 1 in 4 (23.6%) reported to police: Bureau of Justice Statistics,Criminal Victimization, 2024. The reporting rate is per incident, so the dark circles are an illustration, not a count of women.
Near misses: national surveys count attempted rape (6.9% of US women in the CDC survey), but no national survey we know of measures near misses that never turned physical. That gap is what this project is trying to fill.
Last checked: October 2026. See all the stats