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Sexual attacks against teen girls increased at school, online and at home during lockdown

Despite the troubling trend reported by the CDC, sexual violence experts have an empowering message: ‘Our girls are not broken.’

FILE - A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sign stands at the entrance of their offices in Atlanta on Tuesday, April 19, 2022. On Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022, the head of nation's top public health agency announced a shake-up of the organization, in a bid to respond to ongoing criticism and try to make it more nimble. (AP Photo/Ron Harris, File) (Ron Harris, Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found an unprecedented wave of grief and sadness among teenage girls uncovered a stunning statistic: In 2021, nearly 20 percent said they had been victims of violent sexual behavior. More than one in 10 had been raped, they said.

While women of all ages have long endured a disproportionate number of sex assaults compared to men, a closer look at the CDC data reveals that the number of young girls forced into sex grew by nearly 200,000 in just two years.

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The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior survey is given to more than 17,000 U.S. high school students every other year. Based on the responses in 2019, an estimated 850,000 high school girls reported that they’d been raped. By 2021, that estimate soared to more than 1 million.

To continue reading this article, visit nbcnews.com.


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