Got a question, why are "date rape" and "rape" categorized differently

[HEyHEY]

Isn't rape just plane rape whether or not you know the person?

[craigmatic]

1. Seems like date rape is done with drugs

[LostinVA]

25. Drugs have nothing to do with why date rape is called date rape

It's to signify rape by someone you know versus "stranger rape," and came about because so many people did -- and still do -- claimed that a woman hadn't been raped, just played "hard to get" or whatever. Several notorious cases on college campuses started the "date rape" signifier.

I would wager many, many women on this board have been, or almost were, victims of some type of sexual assault by someone they knew, myself included.

[Dark]

2. Prolly cause date rape involves drugs.

n/t

[HEyHEY]

3. I thought it was to refer to when the victim knows the attacker.

[bettyellen]

5. you're right, it doesn;t take drugs to make it date rape. what iit takes is an attacker who knows

the victim (or appears to) well enough to try and cast doubt in some minds that it actually was rape. reporting a date rape can totally upset the social order, and victims often pretned it wasn;t, blurring the line themselves.

[HEyHEY]

8. Oh, okay that clears it up then

So, it's basically giving rapists a chance to seem innocent.

[Maru Kitteh]

20. Or how much blame and suspicion to heap on the victim

[LostinVA]

27. EXACTLY

[MrScorpio]

6. Specifically casual acquaintances I thought

Roofies and/or alcohol may or may not be applied.

But it's still rape just the same.

[LostinVA]

26. It does, HeyHey

I don't get why so many posters think it has something to do with drugs being used.

[petronius]

4. I can think of two reasons: 1) it's to provide cover to rapists who know their

victim ("it wasn't 'real' rape, after all") or 2) it's to force a smidgen of reality into a society that thinks women who get raped are to blame. Either answer is depressing.

But yes, rape is rape, regardless of who knows who or who bought dinner...

[hedgehog]

7. I think that the term date rape actually reinforces the concept

that even if she said yes to a date, even if she said yes to some necking, once she said no, what followed was indeed rape.

[petronius]

13. I agree; that's the more optimistic of my two suggestions

I just think it's unfortunate that we need a special term for something that should be understood as rape without any qualifiers...

[hedgehog]

19. It's late and I'm a little fuzzy. Glad we agree on this.

[yurbud]

9. until fairly recently, what we call date rape used to just be called ''date''

and rape was only what the stranger jumping out of the bushes did.

I think date rape is as bad if not worse than stranger rape because it is a violation of a trust, and depending on how close the person is to you, could lead to the kind of paranoia that extra locks, pepper spray, or even a gun won't cure.

[jobycom]

14. That's it. It's a term to educate people, not to create a different category.

It tells the victims that what happened to them was indeed as wrong as they feel it was, and the potential attackers that what they are about to do is as wrong as if they jumped out of the bushes with a knife and raped a stranger.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

10. Are you speaking about legal terms?

Because I don't believe there is such a thing as "date rape" under the law.

Maybe it would be categorized as "sexual assault" versus "aggravated sexual assault with force" .... but I'm no lawyer. Disclaimer: there may be some sexual assault laws re-packaged as date rape laws to satisfy public out-cry.

As far as societal terms go, I assume people think less about date rape as it doesn't involve some "scary" guy lurking in the bushes ready to rape you. Of course, I don't agree with that. Also, I believe there is a "blame the victim" aspect in play when date rape is contemplated.

[napi21]

11. Obviously both are RAPE, but my guess is that Date Rape

involves an occasion when both parties consent to being together fra social occasion, those crimes that are catagorized as "rape" are sexual attacks by anyone without any social occurance or even aquaintance involved.

[leftstreet]

12. Why are 'assault' and 'domestic violence' categorized differently?

In a nutshell, because a patriarchal society will go to any lengths to minimize violence against women

[HEyHEY]

16. Yes, we discussed this at our last secret "Man-meeting"

[leftstreet]

17. Why wasn't I invited?

:cry:

[HEyHEY]

18. Not all the invites were sent out on time thanks to economic cutbacks in administrative staff

This month's schedule of repression will be missing some important facets, for instance, sadly, women will be allowed to order for themselves in expensive restaurants.

[USArmyParatrooper]

24. That's ridiculous. Assaults cassified as "domestic violence" carry greater penalties.

Including, but not limited to the Lautenberg Amendment. A charge of domestic violence also carries a greater social stigma than a regular assault charge. It also bans you from being allowed to join the military.

[greyl]

15. They're also categorized similarly, don't forget.

One of the phrases is simply descriptive of the circumstance, that's all.

[ThatPoetGuy]

21. I think investigators need to use different tools...

and prosecutors need to use different approaches.

In cases of stranger-rape, the police need to figure out who the culprit was, which isn't part of a date-rape investigation.

I can see how they would be categorized differently for prevention, investigation, and prosecution.

[USArmyParatrooper]

22. I don't think it's for any sinister reason

It's merely a descriptive classification of the incident. It doesn't imply less of an offense just like "suicide bombers" aren't viewed more favorably than a Timmothy McVeigh.

I actually think it's good to have the distinguishment because it reminds us that women can also be at risk with people that they know.

[Sherman A1]

23. Agreed & Well Said