Rape, not by strangers only!

Most people think rape is only committed by strangers. Research indicates that women are more likely to be raped by someone they know fairly well than by someone who is a total stranger.

Acquaintance rape, or rape committed by someone the victim knows, is one of the most common forms of rape occurring today, especially in a campus setting. It is not uncommon for women to be sexually assaulted by friends, family members, neighbors, boyfriends or ex-boyfriends, dates, coworkers, etc.

It is difficult to estimate the true magnitude of the acquaintance rape problem for two reasons. First most women raped by an acquaintance are reluctant to report the attack to police because they are afraid they will not be believed. Second, many women do not think of it as rape if they are forced to have sex with a acquaintance.

For example, in a recent study of adult women, it was found that only 29% of all rape victims reported the crime to the police, almost two-thirds (62%) of all rape cases reported involved a man the victim knew fairly well, and these acquaintance cases were less likely to be reported to police than were rapes by strangers.

The reluctance of women to label forced intercourse as rape is evident in the research finding that only 43% of victims experience abuse meeting the legal definition of rape actually acknowledge the experience as rape. Also, women who did not acknowledge their sexual assault as rape were more likely to have been unmarried students at the time of their assault.

Indications are that acquaintance rape occurs much more frequently on college campuses than you might imagine. Studies at some universities reveal that at least 20% of women students have been victims of acquaintance rape. One study of college males found that 61 % admitted to having used some type of coercive behavior in sexual situations, and 15% said they had actually forced women to have sexual intercourse, an act that would constitute rape.

In general, people believe acquaintance rape tends to involve less violence than rape committed by strangers. However, recent data collected by researchers show that rapes committed by some types of acquaintances are at least as violent or even more violent than stranger rapes. When rape cases involving boyfriends were compared with those involving strangers, victims of boyfriends were more likely to fear serious injury or death, to sustain minor physical injury. Boyfriend assailant cases were twice as likely to involve the use of a weapon than stranger assailant cases but were less likely to have been reported to police.

Some say it's a shame, some say it's a misunderstanding, some say it is a lie, some say it's her fault, some say it's his fault.......