Sexual Assault and Recovery
I. Rape defined and described
Rape-a dirty, violent word. I’ve heard guys say that so many things these days are called, “rape,” that now nothing is rape. Date rape, forcible rape, statutory rape, unconscious rape, marital rape, gang rape, and “terror rape” are some of the names. Many times the particular act involves more than one type of rape. There are instances of husbands drugging their wife and committing nonconsensual sexual intercourse. The bottom line is unless the victim is of a responsible age and agrees to sexual intercourse, the automatic answer is “No!” Statistics indicate that actual rapes are reported as being between 10% to 40% of the time.
According to the National Victim Center, approximately one in four girls and one in ten boys will be sexually assaulted prior to age 18. Approximately one in three women and one in seven men will be sexually assaulted at some point during their lives. In 1991, the United States Senate Judiciary Committee estimated that 25 million American women have been victims of sexual assault.
Survivors vs. victims. The term “survivor” is generally used to mean someone who has experienced this ordeal and are taking positive steps to overcome the experience. “Victims,” on the other hand, refers to those who are “stuck” in a state of “learned helplessness. They will use this experience to hide from life, feel sorry for themselves, and wait for the next occurrence, which hopefully will never come.
Date rape is defined as follows: noun: rape in which the rapist is known to the victim (as when they are on a date together) WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University
It is an act of violence. It can be with someone you have just met, or dated a few times, or even with someone to whom you are engaged. The force involved can come from threats or tone of voice, as well as from physical force or weapons.
Approximately 5% of this sort of rape is reported. The reasons are numerous:” I’m dependant upon him for support,” “I didn’t think of it as rape because he didn’t hit me, I was drunk and didn’t say, ‘No,’ “He said I owed it to him, but I didn’t want to.” “We’d done it before, but I didn’t want to anymore.”
Similarly, only 57% of the women in this category who had been raped labeled their experience as rape; the other 43% had not even acknowledged to themselves that they had been raped. (As cited in Ellen Sweet, "Date Rape. The Story of an Epidemic and Those Who Deny It," Ms., October 1985, p. 56)
Although acquaintance rape is often a spontaneous act, many are planned, some days in advance, others in the preceding hour(s). Sometimes men plan to have sexual intercourse with a woman even if they have to force the issue. These men have typically forced sexual intercourse before and gotten away with it. They usually look for victims who are unassertive--perhaps someone who is not very popular and would be flattered to go on a date with him. Needless to say, these men do not see themselves as repeat rapists; they are merely "out to have a good time."
Seduction vs. Rape. One of the key questions in the issue of date rape is the difference between seduction and rape: the man feels he has merely seduced a woman, the woman feels that she was raped. A useful distinction to keep in mind is that seduction involves no force, implied or otherwise. Seduction occurs when a woman is manipulated or cajoled into agreeing to have sexual intercourse; the key word is "agreeing." Acquaintance rape often occurs when seduction fails and the man goes ahead and has sexual intercourse with the woman anyway, despite any protests and without her agreement.
Forcible rape-this is differentiated from other forms of rape by the clear application of force to subdue an unwilling victim to provide sexual intercourse. It may have started as a date, but then it turned ugly. It may have transcended from “heavy petting,” or “making out,” or even the start of intercourse, but the victim drew the line at that moment that the continued behavior will end now.
It may involve being beaten into submission, being threatened of injury or serious bodily harm, or being attacked by someone you could not see, either by the proximity of his or her position, or the place the act occurred.
In this case frequently a victim will know the accused, as well. That has no bearing on the fact that force, or the threat of force is being, or will be used.
Statutory rape- Sexual relations with a person who has not reached the statutory age of consent.
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Currently, all States have laws that prohibit sexual intercourse with persons under a certain age. Although commonly referred to as "statutory rape" laws, the term is not usually found in criminal statutes. Rape, sexual assault, and unlawful sexual intercourse are some of the more commonly used terms. By whatever name, these laws have been the focus of recent legislative interest. In the last few years, more than 20 States have considered proposals to amend these laws.
Raising the age of the minor who is subject to protection by the law. North Carolina and Pennsylvania raised the age of the minor up to 16 years who is subject to protection under the criminal unlawful sexual laws. North Carolina did so as part of amendments that created different offenses based on the age of the minor and the age gap between the minor and the defendant. Under the new statute, sexual intercourse with 13- to 15-year-olds is now a crime.
Age gaps. Along with raising the age of the minor, North Carolina and Pennsylvania also imposed age gaps. If the minor is above a certain age, a crime is committed only if the defendant is a specified number of years older than the minor (5 years in North Carolina and 4 years in Pennsylvania). a recent Florida statute prohibits persons 24 or over from sexual activity with 16- and 17-year-olds. This effectively requires at least a 7-year age gap for these older minors. Florida's legislators are comfortable defining exploitation as a large age gap.
It is completely irrelevant whether or not the victim was consciously willing and receptive to the act of sexual intercourse. The rapist is completely accountable for statutory rape. Various states have different penalties awarded for this act.
Unconscious rape- As an adolescent the talk about “scoring” was you take a girl out, get her drunk, then…well you get the picture.
This is the case where the victim is either unconscious, or in a state that she would not be able to consent or deny consent. A great difficulty with this type of attack is that the victim has trouble telling if they had sex, if it was consensual, who it was with, where, how many, when, how often, the words used and other important details.
Again, the victim frequently blames herself for “falling into the situation.” These situations usually occur in night clubs, “raves’, on dates, in other people’s apartments.
Do not make the mistake that if you were drunk and it happened to you, you were an active participant. If you could not say “Yes,” then you were not giving consent. The best practice is to avoid situations in which these things may occur. Do not confuse that with accepting blame & guilt.
Although alcohol is the most often used drug, but due to the fact that it requires consumption over possibly several hours before it renders the victim unconscious, it is becoming less common than the use of the various drugs. Some rapists who develop an expertise in their technique. The following are some of the more commonly used substances:
Rohypnol is being called the date rape drug because of its prominence in rape situations. Often these cases aren't reported because the victims may have unclear fragmented memories.
Ketamine causes the person to feel as if their mind is "separated" from their body. The drug causes a combination of amnesia and hallucinations. Also, it stops the feeling of pain and lowers the heart rate leading to oxygen starvation to the brain and muscles.
GHB effects can felt within 15 minutes after ingestion. In small amounts it produces effects similar to alcohol, however, in larger doses it can have a hallucinatory effect and cause headaches, shaking, spasms, seizures, drowsiness, nausea, irregular heartbeat, and vomiting. Mixed with alcohol GHB can cause the central nervous system to shut down, lead to loss of consciousness, and possibly result in a coma or death.
Neither the victim’s nor the perpetrator’s alcohol or drug use is an acceptable defense in a sexual assault case. It may not involve the use of drugs or alcohol at all. It may be the result of using mace, rocks, sticks or other devices that would render the victim unconscious.
An example of this is the well-known case that happened on April 19, 1989 that had left a 28-year-old Wall Street executive, known ever since as "the Central Park Jogger," near death. It will be mentioned in more detail under Gang Rape.
Marital rape- The traditional definition of rape in the United States most commonly was, "sexual intercourse with a female not his wife without her consent" (Barshis, 1983, p. 383). As Finkelhor and Yllo (1985) have argued, this provided husbands with an exemption from prosecution for raping their wives-a "license to rape" (See Drucker, 1979; Eskow, 1996; and Sitton, 1993, for a discussion of the marital exemption). While the legal definition varies within the United States, marital rape can be defined as any unwanted intercourse or penetration (vaginal, anal, or oral) obtained by force, threat of force, or when the wife is unable to consent (Bergen, 1996; Pagelow, 1984; Russell, 1990). Most studies of marital rape have included couples who are legally married, separated, divorced or cohabiting with the understanding that the dynamics of sexual violence in a long-term cohabiting relationship are similar to those of a married couple (Mahoney & Williams, 1998).
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