What is Rape?

Written by Lis

There are different kinds of rape. Read the legal and dictionary definition of rape and learn about the different types of rape.

"If the occurrence of rape were audible, its decibel level equal to its frequency, it would overpower our days and nights, interrupt our meals, our bedtime stories, howl behind our love-making, an insistent jackhammer of distress. We would demand an end to it. And if we failed to locate its source, we would condemn the whole structure. We would refuse to live under such conditions." - Patricia Weaver Francisco, Telling: A Memoir of Rape and Recovery

Dictionary Definitions of Rape

Rape: Sexual intercourse with a woman by a man without her consent and chiefly by force or deception.

Statutory rape: Sexual intercourse with a female who is below the statutory age of consent.

Consent: Compliance in or approval of what is done or proposed by another.

Different Kinds of Rape

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Stranger Rape: A person who the victim does not know rapes her. Example*: Rose, age 25, was accosted at knife point in a shopping mall parking lot and forced by a stranger into his car. He drove her to a rural area, raped her, stabbed her five times, set the car on fire, and left her. Although severely injured, she survived (*examples from The Rape Victim: Clinical & Community Intervention Koss & Harvey, 1991).

Acquaintance Rape: The victim knows her attacker, although he is not a close friend or family member. Example: Susan, age 23, went to the door of her house to find a man she recognized from one of her college classes. She opened the door to let him in the house, whereupon he threw her on the sofa and raped her.

Date Rape: The victim is dating the person who rapes her. Example: Diana, age 50, was vacationing in the Caribbean. She spent some of her time learning sailing and walking along the beach with a fellow guest. At a hotel dance, she danced with this man, and he asked her to walk outside. Once on the beach, this 6'4" man asked to have sex and forced her to cooperate by holding her down. Diana was too afraid to resist.

Multiple Rape (gang rape): The victim is raped by more than one man. Example: Ann, age 21, was at a friend's home with a group of her peers. There were three men, one other woman, and herself present. When the other woman left, the three men raped her.

Marital Rape: The victim is raped by her husband. Example: A woman recently had gynecological surgery. Two days after she came home from the hospital, her husband forced her to have sexual intercourse. This caused her to hemorrhage; she was re-hospitalized.

"rape" in the eyes of the law

next: Legal Definition of Rape