Of the 1.7 million people over 16 who experienced sexual intimidation last year, over half said they didn’t know the perpetrator, while victims of sexual violence often knew their assailant, figures from the CBS show.

Sexual intimidation victims who did know the perpetrator (18%) said they were a casual acquaintance, met online, or during a night out. Some 11% mentioned a date, while colleagues and good friends accounted for 17% and 12% respectively.

In 90% of cases where women experience sexual intimidation, the perpetrator is male compared to 39% of men. Some 43% of male victims said the perpetrator was female. The figures are not complete, the CBS said, because relatively many of the male respondents did not answer the question.

Sexual intimidation – ranging from comments to gestures – is more prevalent than sexual violence, the CBS found. In 2024, over 1.2 million people over 16 said they had been victims of offline sexual intimidation, while over 760,000 had experienced abuse online. About 520,000 experienced physical sexual violence of some sort.

Victims of sexual violence said most often they knew their assailant, with the most frequently mentioned perpetrators being an acquaintance, a person met at a party, dates, good friends, colleagues, partners and ex-partners.