Statistics that pool rape and sexual assault frequency together, and do not show them separately, are doing so primarily to make people believe there is more rape than there actually is, and to inflate the victimhood of those that have only been sexually assaulted but not raped.

https://www.rainn.org/sites/default/files/Number_of_People_Victimized_Each_Year%20122016.png

> 321,500 Americans 12 and older were sexually assaulted or raped

What is the reason for this? Why can't we know how many experienced a rape and how many experienced sexual assault that is not a rape?

https://www.rainn.org/statistics/scope-problem

> A majority of child victims are 12-17. Of victims under the age of 18: 34% of victims of sexual assault and rape are under age 12, and 66% of victims of sexual assault and rape are age 12-17.6

So now it's "sexually assaulted and raped". Does this mean they experienced both non-rape SA and rape? Or just one? Why not just say?

Both robbery and murder are types of violent crime. Yet no one would publish or claim things like "500,000 Americans experience violent crime or murder per year".

Definitions

Additionally, many definitions of rape actually include sexual assault:

https://www.bestcolleges.com/resources/preventing-sexual-assault/

> Sexual assault, a type of sexual violence, is a term that applies to a broad range of forced and unwanted sexual activity. It includes attempted rape — unwanted fondling or sexual touching — and rape, generally defined as penetration of a victim's body against their will.

They are classifying "unwanted fondling" as attempted rape, which is wildly false. By that logic any sexual assault can be categorized as an attempted rape, which is again, making people believe there is more rape than there actually is.