Personal Safety

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Sexual Violence in Midlife and Beyond: The “Myth” of Aging Out
January 2026

By Jamila Dawkins

When it comes to sexual assault, risk is heavily correlated with age. By eighth grade, I knew that one in five women experienced sexual assault in their lifetime. Here’s what I didn’t know then: According to RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), the percentage of my peers who would experience sexual assault was closer to 11%. When I entered college five years later, it would leap to one in four (25%), and current statistics show that these percentages have edged even higher.​

As an anxious daughter of vigilant parents, I can’t think of a part of my life where I haven’t been aware of the risk of assault. But nothing could have prepared me for college. During orientation, we were informed that we had entered the Red Zone, a period when more sexual assaults are reported in the first few months of the academic year. RAINN statistics show that female college students between the ages of 18 and 24 are three times more likely to experience sexual assault than women in general, particularly during that first fall semester. A flurry of pamphlets, discussion groups, and hotline numbers followed, with one refrain: You are in danger. Be vigilant.​

This zealous effort to keep me safe created a frame of mind that has stuck with me even since I’ve graduated, both comforting and frightening. I’ve come to view aging as passing through these zones of danger. Having turned 24 in October, I am still at the highest risk of sexual violence. Statistics show that by 34, the risk decreases, and by 65, I’ll be 92% less likely to experience sexual violence.

​Each year, I shed a little more anxiety, but as each birthday passes, I also find myself more and more conflicted by the way narratives around sexual assault foreground the experiences of young women. Yes, young women are at higher risk. But must that come at the cost of being left behind as we age?

Women 65 and older are not immune to sexual violence. While the numbers are comparatively low, there is good reason to believe that elder sexual abuse is both underreported and inadequately studied.

“Roughly 95% of older adults live in our communities and not in nursing homes,” says Tracey Siebert-Konopko, LMSW, Director of Education, Training and Research Initiatives for Upstate Elder Abuse Center at Lifespan. “Yet despite this fact, the majority of research and criminal-legal actions occur within nursing homes.”

“Roughly 95% of older adults live in our communities and not in nursing homes,” says Tracey Siebert-Konopko, LMSW, Director of Education, Training and Research Initiatives for Upstate Elder Abuse Center at Lifespan. “Yet despite this fact, the majority of research and criminal-legal actions occur within nursing homes.” This means that our existing research isn’t nearly as representative as it should be. Combined with the tendency for elderly accounts of violence to be dismissed as confusion, the societal silence around elder sexual abuse is unsurprising — and for some, more comfortable.

“We as a society tend not to think of elderly people as sexual beings,” says Emily Sack, Professor of Law at Roger Williams University and expert in domestic violence and sexual assault. “So, I think that the way that manifests is that if it's a stranger sexual assault, [some might] have trouble understanding why that person would have been raped, because they don't understand that rape is not about sexual attraction. It's about power and violence.”

​Today, sexual assault and abuse are discussed more than ever before. But not everyone has been included in the conversation. When we leave older victims out of conversations about sexual violence, we participate in the creation of a world that forgets us as we age. At 20, I am at risk of being victimized; at 80, I am only at risk of being a survivor.
 
My life, which had previously been littered with caution tape and warning signs, has become quieter. Although it’s important to provide resources for younger women who are at the most risk, we need to also provide support for those in midlife and beyond.

"Meet People Where They Are"
Photo Credit: Center for Ageing Better

​“You need to meet people where they are,” says Sack. “Instead of expecting the elder population to go to court or to get to a police station, think from a community perspective: Where is this type of population likely to be?” This work doesn’t have to be left up to the career advocates. Take Tennessee, for instance, where all licensed beauty professionals receive free training in identifying domestic abuse.

“We need to offer victims opportunities to disclose to people they come into contact with in daily life, such as teachers, doctors, nurses, school counselors, etc., who will listen and support them in appropriate ways,” says Anna Gjika, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Sociology at SUNY New Paltz and author of When Rape Goes Viral. Becoming more educated on how to recognize signs of sexual abuse can help all of us to be a bridge between victims and the help they need.
 
“If you build it, they will come,” says Siebert-Konopko. Until we build the resources and create the spaces for older victims of sexual assault to be seen and heard, we’ll never be able to move forward. We shouldn’t leave anyone behind.

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Additional Resources:

Sexual Violence Against Senior Adults (RAINN)
 
Elder Abuse Education and Outreach Program (NYS Office for Aging)
 
Elder Sexual Abuse: Warning Signs (DOJ)
 
Legal Advocacy, Support Groups and Other Resources (National Special Victims ~ NSV)

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Jamila Dawkins is a Hudson Valley-based writer and small business owner. On the occasions where she fights writer’s block and wins, she enjoys writing creative nonfiction and personal essays about sustainability, justice, race and sexuality.

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