• home
• help
• services
• volunteers
• events
• donations
• jobs
• sales
• links

Help

• Domestic Violence
  • Cycles of Violence
  • Power & Control Wheel
  • Stalking
  • Dating Violence
  • Order of Protection
  • Types of Abuse
  • Early Warning Signs
  • Stages in an Abusive Relationship
  • Effects on Kids
• Sexual Assault
  • Myths & Facts
  • Types of Sexual Assault
  • Rape trauma syndrome
  • Rape: Common responses
  • Indicators of child sexual abuse
  • Civil No Contact Orders
• Internet and Computer Safety

Types of Sexual Assault

Stranger Rape

Stranger rape was once believed to be the most common form of rape.

This is the stereotypical man jumps out from behind the bushes situation. Obviously this isn’t always how stranger rapes occur. There is no specific outline of what a stranger rape looks like. Even though a person can avoid certain situations and take classes in self-defense, there is nothing that can be done to prevent things like this from happening.

Acquaintance and Date Rape

Acquaintance rape is a broad term used to describe sexual assaults in
which the victim knows the perpetrator. The perpetrator might be a partner or husband, an ex-partner, coworker, neighbor, doctor, religious leader, or a family friend. The perpetrator might be just a passing acquaintance or someone the victim knows well. Date rape is a specific type of acquaintance rape, referring to a perpetrator that assaults the victim while on a date with the victim. Acquaintance rape is the most common form of sexual assault.

Marital Rape

In the state of Illinois marital rape is against the law. Marital rape is a
sexual assault in the confines of marriage or with long-term partners. Rape is one crime in the continuum of domestic violence. Men who are physically violent toward their partners are also likely to be sexually violent toward their partners and to use violence toward children. Many women experience rape when they are in the process of leaving a violent relationship. This is frequently attributed to the fact that the batterer/rapist is experiencing a loss of control over his partner and wants to “punish” her or reassert his power.

Substance-Related Rape

Substance-related rape is a sexual assault where the victim is under
the influence of alcohol or other drugs including drugs commonly known as “date rape drugs” such as Rohypnol or GHB. These drugs are used to perpetrate sexual assault, though most often substance-related sexual assault involves alcohol or other recreational drugs. Often both parties are voluntarily using substances.

Multiple Assailant or Gang Rape

Gang rape is when the same victim is raped by a number of
perpetrators as part of the same incident. Group sexual assault is most prevalent within the fraternity system and in intercollegiate athletics, but it also extends into other all-male groupings. Group rape is a way for men to ritually act out their contempt for women and to prove their dominance and superiority over women. Participation in a group sexual assault is motivated by a relationship among men, by the need to maintain and create order and status within the group, and by their relationship to women.

---