How Does Date Rape Usually Occur?

    Date rapes typically occur when a woman is alone with a man. If you go to a man's room or apartment or even get into his car alone, you are vulnerable. Date rapes can occur when others are relatively close by; for example, they can take place in an upstairs bedroom while fifty people are attending a party on the first floor.

    Alcohol and drugs are sometimes a significant factor in date rape. Many victims say later that they drank too much or took too many drugs to realize what was going on; by the time they realized their predicament, it was too late. Sometimes a woman passes out and awakens to find a man having sex with her. On the other hand, some date rapes occur when alcohol is not involved or when the victim has had little or nothing to drink but the man has been drinking and becomes sexually aggressive.

    Mixed signals are another element in date rape. The woman acts in a friendly manner; the man interprets this friendliness as an invitation to have sex. "No" is heard as "maybe" and even a strong protest can be ignored under the delusion that women say "no" when they mean "yes."  Some men find it sexually exciting to have a woman struggle. If the woman protests only mildly, the man may think he is merely "persuading" her, not forcing her to have sex (He may think the same, however, even if she protests vigorously.) Sometimes a woman is not clear in her own mind about what she wants or she may think she will make up her mind as she goes along. If she changes her mind at some point and decides not to have sex, the man can feel cheated, rejected, and angry. He may be interpreting her nonverbal messages, such as her enjoyment of kissing and caressing, as meaning that she wants to have sex with him. At this point he may decide he has been teased or misled and "deserves" to get some satisfaction, regardless of the woman's wishes. The result can be rape.

    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 sex with a woman even if they have to force the issue. These men have typically forced sex 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."

    Communication between men and women is often problematical, especially in the realm of sex.  Especially in a first sexual encounter with someone, some women may say "no" when they mean "maybe" or even "yes," and men have been taught to try to turn that no/maybe into a yes. Thus, it is sometimes hard for men to know when "no" really does mean "no." Women on the other hand, don't want to agree to sex too readily for fear they will be seen as "loose" or "easy."  Misperceptions abound; a woman thinks she is merely being friendly, but her date thinks she's signaling willingness to have sex. Furthermore, stereotypes about women as passive and submissive can also foster a climate for sexual assaults.

RAPE STATISTICS

  (Most of these statistics are from an April 23, 1992 report from the National Victim Center)

• In 1985, Mary Koss, a professor at Kent State University, surveyed approximately 7,000 students on thirty-two campuses on behalf of Ms. magazine and found that one in eight women were the victims of rape. One in every twelve men admitted to having forced a woman to have intercourse or tried to force a woman to have intercourse through physical force or coercion; that is, admitted to raping or attempting to rape a woman. Virtually none of these men, however, identified themselves as rapists. Similarly, only 57% of the women 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)

• In the United States, 1.3 women are raped every minute. That results in 78 rapes each hour, 1872 rapes each day, 56160 rapes each month and 683,280 rapes each year.

• The United States has the world's highest rape rate of the countries that publish such statistics---4 times higher than Germany, 13 times higher than England, and 20 times higher than Japan.

• 1 out of every 3 American women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime.

• 1 in 7 women will be raped by her husband.

• 61% of all rape cases are victims less than 18 years old. 22% are between the ages of 18 and 24.

• 78% of rape victims know the attacker.

• In a survey of college women, 38% reported sexual victimizations which met the legal definition of a rape or attempted rape, yet only 1 out of every 25 reported their assault to the police.

• 1 in 4 college women have either been raped or suffered attempted rape.

• In a study of college students, 35% of men indicated some likelihood that they would commit a violent rape of a woman who had fended off an advance if they were assured of getting away with it.

• 1 in 12 male students surveyed had committed acts that met the legal definition of rape.  Furthermore, 84% of the men who had committed such acts said what they had done was definitely not rape.

• 75% of male students and 55% of female students involved in acquaintance rape had been drinking or using drugs.

• Rape has a devastating impact on the mental health of victims. 31% of all victims develop Rape-Related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (RR-PTSD) sometime in their lifetimes.  Based on U.S. Census reports on the number of women in the United States, 1.3 million women currently have RR-PTSD, 3.8 million women have previously had RR-PTSD and roughly 211,000 women will develop RR-PTSD each year.

• When compared with non-victims, rape victims have been found to be 8.7 times more likely to attempt suicide.

• Only 16% of rapes are ever reported to the police. In a survey of victims who did not report rape or attempted rape to the police, the following was found as to why no report was made: 43% thought nothing could be done, 27% felt it was a private matter, 12% were afraid of police response, and 12% felt it was not important enough.

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Bureau of Justice Statistics

Crime Data Brief

June 1994, NCJ-147001

According to the FBI, 109,062 forcible rapes of females were reported to the Nation's law enforcement agencies in 1992¹.  A Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) survey of the States (including the District of Columbia) solicited data on victims' ages. Thirty-six States reported that they did not keep such statistics, and the remaining 15 responded with information on 26,427 female victims, or nearly one-fourth the national total. Statistics from the BJS State survey revealed that:

About 1 in 4 rape victims were under:

• age 10 in Delaware, Michigan
• age 11 in North Dakota
• age 14 in Arkansas
• age 15 in Alabama, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin
• age 16 in the District of Columbia, Idaho

About 1 in 3 rape victims were under:

• age 13 in Delaware, Michigan, North Dakota
• age 16 in Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin
• age 17 in Alabama
• age 18 in the District of Columbia, Idaho

Notes:

¹ FBI, Crime in the United States, 1992, p. 23, 1993.

Cumulative percent of female victims of forcible rape

State	# of  female victims of forcible rape*	under  age 10	under  age 11	under  age 12	under  age 13	under age 14	under age 15	under age 16	under age 17	under age 18	over age 18
Alabama	1,404	4%	6%	7%	10%	17%	24%	30%	35%	38%	62%
Arkansas	986	9%			24%				44%	56%
Delaware	783	22%			29%		50%	61%	66%	71%	29%
Dist. Columbia	205	5%					22%		28%	32%	68%
Florida	7,280	14%								46%	54%
Idaho	221	5%			9%		20%	24%	29%	35%	65%
Kansas	1,013	1%					12%
Michigan	4,731	25%	28%	31%	35%	41%	49%	58%	64%	68%	32%
Nebraska	290	6%					31%		42%	58%
No. Carolina	2,397	5%					20%
No. Dakota	124	25%	30%	35%	44%		48%	50%	52%	57%	43%
Penn.	2,996	9%	14%				25%	32%	37%	42%	58%
Rhode Island	490			49%					70%	30%
So. Carolina	2,193	9%		16%					40%
Wisconsin	1,314	4 %	6%	8%	10%	14%	22%	29%	37%	42%	58%

Note:  Blanks indicate detail was not reported.

*Excludes victims with unknown age.

Source: BJS State survey of rapes reported to law enforcement agencies in 1992.

VICTIM-OFFENDER RELATIONSHIP

Two sources provided information on rapists: interviews with rape victims reported to law enforcement agencies in 1991 in three States (Alabama, North Dakota, and South Carolina) and 1991 interviews with rapists confined in the Nation's State prisons. Sources indicated similar accounts of rape victim ages:

1991                          Percent of female rape victims

                         ________________________________________________

Source                        Total         under 12        12-17          18 or older

Victims in 3 States      100%        14%              29%            57%

Imprisoned rapists      100%        14%              24%            62%

  

Regardless of the source, when the victim was under 12, the likelihood of a family relationship was relatively high: 46% of victims and 70% of imprisoned rapists.  Additional detail from the three-State survey revealed that 20% of victims under age 12, 11% of victims age 12 to 17, and 1% of those 18 or older were raped by their fathers.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VICTIM AND OFFENDER

The older the victim, the less likely that victim and offender were family members and the more likely they were strangers to one another: 4% of victims under 12 said the rapist was a stranger, compared to 33% of victims 18 or older; 6% of imprisoned rapists of females under 12 said the victim was a stranger, compared to 47% of imprisoned rapists of females 18 or older.

Experts estimate that as many as 90 percent of all rapes are never reported; in those that are reported, about 60% of the victims know their assailants. In one study by the National Center for the Prevention and Control of Rape, 92% of adolescent rape victims said they were acquainted with their attackers.  (Reported in Newsweek, April 9, 1984)  Of these, women 15 to 25 years old are the majority of victims. (McDermott, Joan, Rape Victimization in 26 American Cities, 1979. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Justice as cited in Pauline B. Bart and Patricia H. O'Brien, Stopping Rape, Pergamon Press, NY, 1985, p. 131) 

Bibliography

Johnson, T. (2005, October 20). How Does Date Rape Usually Occur?. Retrieved January 4, 2015, from Kyoshin Dojo: http://kyoshindojo.org/