Of the various trends documented in Generation Uncoupled, one of the most startling, dispiriting, and consequential is the rising fear that women feel about their personal safety. For more than two decades, Gallup has tracked public perceptions about crime—the personal sense of threat people feel about being a victim of theft, assault, or even murder. Beginning around 2015, younger women’s fears about being a victim of sexual assault increased rapidly after decades of relatively little change. By 2023, nearly six in ten younger women worried about this at least occasionally.
