How likely are women to be assaulted?

The New York Times had an article today that seems to fairly well illustrate the sort of twisting of numbers that takes place when sexual assault is examined. On the one hand it mentions

Nearly every woman I know can recall one or more instances in which she was sexually assaulted, harassed, threatened, inappropriately touched or even raped.

On the other hand you have the comment in the same article that

Last year, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, 272,350 Americans were victims of sexual violence

It's a big number but divided by the female population of the US that would suggest less than 2 in 1000 being victims of such each year.

Less than 1 in 500 per year is quite a different conclusion from "nearly every woman".

(Frankly in any trial the reliability of the witnesses is an issue - 'women never lie about this sort of thing' doesn't seem to me to be a reasonable position nor one supported by the evidence).