Date Rape
When talking about rape, most people still have a nightmare image of masked assailants jumping out of dark alleyways and dragging their helpless victims down into the depths from which they came. While stranger rape is a tragic reality for some victims, most rapes are committed by someone the victim knows.
One common misconception is that rape can't occur between two people that have been friends or intimate before, including husband and wife. The truth is that a rape occurs anytime one person forces a sexual act on another person against their will, regardless of any existing relationship between the rapist and the victim.
Another frequently heard misconception concerning date rape is that it is a "crime of sex" or "crime of passion." In truth,
rape has very little to do with sex or passion. It is a brutal act of aggression that is performed by individuals as a means of violence, power, and control. One of the most disturbing things that some people say about survivors of rape and date rape is that
maybe they were "asking for it" by dressing or speaking a certain way or even by drinking too much alcohol. No matter what happened or what course of action a person chose to take, victims of rape are not to be blamed. No one ever owes another person sex at any time and as soon as sex is forced upon another person, then a
rape has occurred.