New over at Behavioral Scientist, as part of a special issue on the intersection of behavioral science and public policy, is a piece by Alexandra Rutherford on the origins and import of the “1 in 5” sexual assault statistic. This history is also explored more fully in a recent article-length piece in History of the Human Sciences.

As Rutherford notes,

It is now over 30 years since Koss first published her work on hidden rape victims. Instead of rehashing whether “1 in 5” is valid and whether women are reliable interpreters of their own experiences, we should be asking why it is so hard for us to hear these experiences and connect them to larger structures of power and domination. The history of “1 in 5” challenges us to critically examine, in the present moment, who has the power to name rape and be believed, under what conditions, and with what consequences.

Read the full piece here.