Date Rape

Date Rape :


In an ideal world, all men would be caring, respectful and protective. This is not an ideal world. Every woman has a responsibility to herself and to understand the risks and to protect herself against them. One of the biggest risks from a male to a female is date rape. Date rape is the crime in which the victims, most of them women, are forced in to having sexual intercourse by someone they are familiar with. 1 in 4 women will be raped in their life time. This is a very scary, yet true statistic. Women need to understand what is going on with the situation of date rape and be looked on less as the problem so more women will come out and report the incident. It is not in any way the woman's fault for being the victim of date rape…but it is the fault of the rapist and the rapist should pay the consequences.


The question might come up...why would a man force a woman to have sex or why would a woman doubt that it happened or that she was forced? Well, there are many reasons. A lot of these reasons having to do with how American kids are raised. Boys are brought up thinking they are strong and aggressive while on the other hand girls are brought up being passive and what you say goes. This shouldn't be going on in our society...not with the advancements we have made in our country. It is sometimes said that the woman who was the victim of rape shared fault for the rape for wearing a skirt too short or maybe if she stops over at his house. It shouldn't matter what women wear, or where they are. If a woman says no to sexual activity, then everything should stop. There are also ways that men misinterpret things women say. For instance when women say no, they mean NOT YET...KEEP TRYING or men think it is okay to be rough as long as there is no injury or if the women agrees to kidding, necking, etc...then she wants intercourse.


Some men also look at women as fair game if the woman is not a virgin. There seems to also be confusion whether rape was committed in instances like when a sexually active couple had been drinking and the woman says no to having sex, but is too drunk to do anything so sex occurs. Or perhaps earlier in the date she said okay and then changes her mind, or maybe the woman said no, and the man persuaded her to. Are these instances rape? More women then men say yes.


There are no laws to distinguish these situations. There shouldn't have to be laws to say when it is rape. If a woman says no, she means no. No one should ever force someone else to have sex against their will. That's rape. And rape is the fault of the rapist, not the victim. It is hard enough for a woman to come out and admit her story of being raped, but it is harder when she tells her story and it isn't even given two glances. In San Jose, California, a girl was raped by her boyfriend and when she came out and talked about it, the school ignored the issue. The school stated that they should stay out of it because it was too hard to prove, and that it was only her word against his. The crime of rape should not be over- looked in such a way.


Rape is looked as a crime of assault. Like other assaults rape causes physical and mental injuries. It especially causes a long and painful emotional aftermath for the victim. The rapist who caused all of this for his victim has a chance of serving jail terms, perhaps lasting for years, but so many times rapists walk because there wasn't proof. In these situations like that judge’s look at what kind of people the man and the woman are, and what their relationship is. That's called stereotyping. We are taught not to stereotype. In some cases, women take a stand, and when the case is being looked at and possibly proved, women will come back to the police and ask to drop the charges saying things like "I was wrong...we were making love". Women need to be strong as well as be educated with what date rape is. They can't back down on their guard. Rapists need to pay for how they abuse women, both externally as well as internally. A 1988 study showed that more than half the female teens surveyed thought there were times when it would be acceptable for a man to force sex. This is terrible! It is not a woman's fault that she was forced into sex! In the 1993-94 law enforcement records, 35% of the women who reported their rapes dropped or diverted the charges for various reasons. Women need to face the situation head on and be independent...realizing what happened to her is not okay...and things need to be done.


Date Rape


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