Sexual Assault
Sexual assault takes many forms including attacks such as rape or attempted rape, as well as any unwanted sexual contact or threats. Usually a sexual assault occurs when someone touches any part of another person's body in a sexual way, even through clothes, without that person's consent. Some types of sexual acts which fall under the category of sexual assault include forced sexual intercourse (rape), sodomy (oral or anal sexual acts), child molestation, incest, fondling and attempted rape. Sexual assault in any form is often a devastating crime. Assailants can be strangers, acquaintances, friends, or family members. Assailants commit sexual assault by way of violence, threats, coercion, manipulation, pressure or tricks. Whatever the circumstances, no one asks or deserves to be sexually assaulted.
Drinking and Sexual Assault
Alcohol is often a contributing factor in sexual assault -- especially acquaintance sexual assault.
If we're drinking, we may be unintentionally increasing our chances of being sexually assaulted, as alcohol dulls our senses and our judgment. A perpetrator may even buy a person drinks to make them an easier victim.
We may also be increasing our risk of committing sexual assault. Drinking makes some people less inhibited and more aggressive, and some people believe -- wrongly -- that they are not accountable for their actions when they're drunk.
When we're drinking, we may miss or ignore signals that we should stop our sexual advances.
On the other hand, we also may not pick up on "danger signals" or trust our intuition.
And a lot of people still think -- wrongly -- that women who are drinking are "looking for it".
The Criminal Code of Canada states that having sex with a person who is passed out or too impaired to give voluntary consent is sexual assault. Drunkenness is not a legal defence for sexual assault.
Drinking and Smart Sex
Because alcohol impairs judgment and motor skills, it is very difficult to practise smart sex when you have been drinking, and, in fact, alcohol is a major barrier to practising smart sex.
Sexual assault is the act of sexual intercourse without consent of the other person according to New South Wales Consolidation Act of 1900 (Austlii 2011) and is also described by the Australian Standard Offence Classification as ‘non-consensual’ acts or intents of sexual nature (ASOC 2008, p. 31) has become one of the most predominate crimes creating social harm in Australia. Social harm is defined as the negative influence through consequences impacting from the individual to the living conditions of the surrounding public (Cain & Howe 2008, p. 26). Sexual assault poses a social threat to all aspects of community, spreading insecurity in the 9000 victims across Australia and 1900 victims in NSW alone as indicated in the Australian Bureau of Statistics Crime Victimisation Report (ABS 2011, p. 40). This is supported by the victimization rate of all sexually assaulted victims between ages 10 to 14 being 4 times greater than all the other age groups (ABS 2010). Another major issue within the boundaries of sexual assault is that it holds one of the lowest prosecution rates with only 1 in 10 incidents able to prosecute the offender as guilty (Fitzgerald 2006, Pg. 1). The abundance of statistics and reports conducted all imply that sexual assault is still a predominate issue of crime within Australia.
Sociological Analysis of Sexual Assault This essay will examine the social and cultural conditions, within the macro-diachronic and micro-synchronic theoretical models, that intensify or perpetuate sexual assault. I have chosen only one concept from each model because these are the only concepts that I feel that I can use to most accurately and comprehensively depict causes and reasons for why sexual assault is deeply entrenched in our social structure. I will thus explore, from these ideological viewpoints, some of the motivations and circumstances that lead offenders to sexual assault. I will also fuse some of the historical attitudes from which today's concepts have evolved into our contemporary understanding of these social phenomena. However, it’s important that we look beyond both offenders' motivations and history, and to the greater sociological view, if we are to correctly reconstruct acts of violence such as sexual assault.
Legally, one might wonder how sexual assault is defined. According to Massachusetts State law, there are two major categories of sexual assault against adults. One of these is rape, and the other is indecent assault and battery. Rape is defined as “sexual intercourse or unnatural sexual intercourse with a person and compels such person to submit by force and against his/her will, or compels such person to submit by threat of bodily injury.” Rape and attempted rape are punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
What is consent? Consent is a willing agreement that exist between sober, non-coerced, and mentally capable adults when engaging in activities together. Consent is given or taken away at any time. Just because a person had consent in the past does not mean they have it in the future. This is a very important concept and requirement that must be established within any sexual relationship. It is absolutely critical to understand if your partner does not expressly give their consent and commit a sexual act upon them, you have sexually assaulted that
When people think about rape, they usually think of a stranger with a knife hiding in the bushes. He waits for a woman to walk by and then attacks. But that is not the only kind of rape. The majority of victims are raped by individuals they know or acquaintances. This rape is known as “acquaintance rape” or “date rape.” Eighty percent of all rapes are, in fact, acquaintance rapes. This kind of rape happens when a man and a woman go out on a date together. The man forces the woman to have sex with him when she does not want to. Also called simple rape, which differs from real rape, because real rape involves weapons, violence and attackers. This kind of rape is recognized as rape in courtrooms, where simple rape is dismissed as not real rape and it is more common that the offender will be found not guilty.
Sexual assault is defined as a type of behaviour that occurs without explicit consent from the recipient and under sexual assault come various categories such as sexual activities as forces sexual intercourse, incest, fondling, attempted rape and more (Justice.gov. 2017). People often become victims of sexual assault by someone they know and trust (Mason & Lodrick, 2013) which is conflicting to the public’s perception and beliefs that offenders are strangers. Women are the main victims for sexual assault and are 5 times more likely to have been a victim of sexual assault from a male (Wright, 2017, p. 93). Men are victims of sexual assault however only 0.7% of men, compared to 3.2% of women, experience some form of sexual assault which highlights how vulnerable women are compared to men. Sexual assault is publicised and exposed in the media, however is often
Underage drinking results in more than 4,300 deaths each year, and injuries requiring 189,000 emergency department visits. Such drinking is correlated with school problems, social difficulties, and unwanted and unprotected sexual activity.
This allows them to treat women and the targeted victim with no regard or respect. In 1983, the terms rape and immoral assault were replaced with a three-tier structure of sexual assault within the Criminal Code of Canada. One of the reasons for the re-categorization was to change acts of sexual violence as “assaults”, drawing attention to their physical and violent nature. Moreover, the term sexual assault was chosen in order to better combine sexual offenses beyond forced penile-vaginal acts (e.g., unwanted sexual touching) and to be gender inclusive (e.g., not all victims are female). Other important changes to the criminal code included limits placed on the consistency of a victim’s previous sexual history and the removal of freedom for sexual assault by a spouse. An additional purpose of advencing the criminal definition was to encourage victims to come forward to police, regardless of the harshness of the sexual assault. Sexual assault is any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, and divides into three levels in Canada; simple sexual assault, sexual assault with a weapon, and aggrevated sexual
When people think of rape, they might think of a stranger jumping out of a shadowy place and sexually attacking someone. But in fact there different forms of sexual assault. Acquaintance Rape also known as date rape, is one of the most common among female adolescents and college students. About 60% of all reported rapes are committed by someone the victim knew. Rape is a crime of violence, and you can be arrested, prosecuted and properly punished by the law.
There are many variables that come into play when mixing under-age drinking and sexual assault. First, women are most commonly the ideal target for predators simply because of their lowered inhibitions when consuming alcohol. This is especially prevalent when under-age drinking is involved. The second variable in most sexual assault cases is under-age drinking. Many college towns are well aware that once a teen leaves to go off to college the chances of that person drinking or becoming drunk is about 82% (Alcohol 101). Just because a person is under-age does not mean that they are not allowed into bars. Several college towns will allow patrons at the age of eighteen to enter a bar. However, the under-age patron will be stamped or marked in some way to be quickly identified if they are drinking. Even with these types of markings, under-age patrons still figure out ways to get drinks illegally and become intoxicated. With such large fines and penalties surrounding under-age drinking, many bars are moving to only allowing patrons that are twenty-one and older to enter. In the United States, in any given month there are 26.4% of underage persons drinking alcohol illegally (SADD). By adding the first two variables of women being the ideal targets and unexperienced and irrespons...
A survey from the Association of American Universities of 150,000 students found that more than one in four women experience sexual assault during their four years in college. Over the four year college period, 27.2% of female students are victims of unwanted sexual contact that ranges from touching to rape (6). Sexual assault is far too common and it is an epidemic that faces many students in college. Many students suffer from the consequences of sexual assault, which is a result of many social and cultural deficiencies, but it can be fixed through a multifaceted approach. The problem of sexual assault can be fixed through the education of the community, a positive and helpful school environment, and classes focused on prevention.
What is sexual assault? Sexual assault is, “any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient. Falling under the definition of sexual assault are sexual activities as forced sexual intercourse, forcible sodomy, child molestation, incest, fondling, and attempted rape” (Sexual Assault).
...among drinkers, those who were first drunk before the age of 13 were twice as likely to have unplanned sex and more than twice as likely to have unprotected sex. Considering all the effects, consuming alcohol at a young age not only can ruin the consumer’s life, but also destroys others, too
People are unaware of the fact that there isn't just one type of rape and all of them have different meanings. Sexual assault is not directly rape but the action is unwanted touching and unwanted caressing. The word sexual assault is the state's’ term. Rape and sexual assault are two different aspects. Rapes is a forced intercourse either vaginal, anal, or oral by a body part or object.
Although college policies have differences, most colleges around the world and the laws define rape or sexual assault in a similar fashion. Columbia college defines sexual violence as “physical sexual acts perpetrated against a person’s will or where a person is incapable of giving consent” (Columbia 3). Similarly, the policy from the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education states “…any kind of sexual