What is Rape?

Rape Definition

The legal definition of rape may vary from state to state, and country to country.

Rape is described as forced penile-vaginal sexual intercourse. Rape is when an assailant uses physical force or threats of force or harm to overpower and control a victim, or if the victim is unable to give her consent because of intoxication, a mental disorder, or a developmental or physical disability. Rape and other sexual assaults are felonies and, depending on jurisdiction, are second in severity to homicide.

Most jurisdictions provide examples of rape as sexual intercourse against the will of the victim that can occur under a variety of circumstances, including:

• The assailant uses physical force or the threat of force to overpower and control the victim.
• The victim fears that she or another will be injured if she/he does not submit.
• The victim is prevented from resisting or consenting due to alcohol or drugs self-ingested or administered by the assailant.
• The victim is unconscious of the nature of the act and the assailant knows this.
• The act is accomplished by threatening to use the authority of a public official to incarcerate, arrest, or deport the victim or another.
• The assailant uses duress to coerce the victim as a direct or implied threat of hardship or retribution.
• The assailant uses force, fear, or threats to accomplish sexual intercourse against his spouse; sometimes referred to as “spousal rape law.”

Understandably, people use the word “rape” to describe any forced sexual act. However, other sexual assaults may be defined applying the above criminal elements that include the following: sodomy (forced anal intercourse); oral copulation (forced oral-genital contact); penetration by a foreign object (other than the penis, any foreign object, including a finger); and sexual battery (unwanted touching of an intimate part of another person for the purpose of sexual arousal). Lewd and lascivious acts with minors, pandering, and pimping are other definitions of sexual crimes.

Check your state or province penal code for specific definitions of sexual assault. Each of the above sexual descriptions, when forced, may carry different sentences during prosecution.

Rape Defense

Defining rape and other forced sexual activity in specific terms will provide more viable solutions and specific options for using techniques during personal protection and self-defense against sexual assault.

Women can effectively learn to apply rape defense skills taught in Model Mugging self-defense training under adrenaline stress conditions.