The recent news storm of sexual misconduct allegations against some of the most powerful men in the United States is leading to a dramatic increase in online information seeking about sexual assault and sexual harassment.
Google web searches in the U.S. for the terms “sexual assault” and “sexual harassment” are at their respective highest since 2004 (the earliest year available). Some of the top related queries include “what is sexual assault” and “definition sexual harassment.”
The first major bump in searches for “sexual assault” occurred in October 2016, the same month that the infamous Access Hollywood tape was released to the public by the Washington Post of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump bragging about assaulting women. When examined just within the two-month period around the October 7, 2016 video release, Google searches of “sexual assault” soared the day after and remained high for a week after the release.
Relevant Google searches returned to an average rate the following month but then surged to new heights in October 2017 alongside the flood of news about sexual assault and sexual harassment allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. The search rate continued to increase as more powerful men were accused of sexual misconduct.
While every Google search will likely return different results for each individual, a page from the website for the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) is the first result that came up in this author’s Google search for “sexual assault.” The first complete sentence listed on the respective page reads:
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Note: All information is based upon the Google Trends data available at the time of writing. Additionally, the use of the term “sexual misconduct” is meant to serve as an umbrella term for the purpose of this article, encompassing both sexual assault and sexual harassment.