Survivor Advocacy Services
Terms and Definitions
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Sexual Assault
According to the RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) the term sexual assault refers to sexual contact or behavior that occurs without explicit consent of the victim. Some forms of sexual assault include:
- Attempted rape
- Fondling or unwanted sexual touching
- Forcing a victim to perform sexual acts, such as oral sex or penetrating the perpetrator’s body
- Penetration of the victim’s body, also known as rape
Rape is a form of sexual assault, but not all sexual assault is rape. The term rape is often used as a legal definition to specifically include sexual penetration without consent. For its Uniform Crime Reports, the FBI defines rape as “penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” To see how your state legally defines rape and other forms of sexual assault, visit RAINN's State Law Database.
Sexual assault is a continuum of behaviors defined in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) to include sexual assaults committed by offenders who are strangers, people you know, related by blood or marriage to, or in a dating relationship with the victim/survivor.
Sexual assault is any behavior that includes engaging in sexual activity:
- By using force
- By placing that other person in fear.
after knowingly rendering that person unconscious, - By administering to another person by force or threat of force, a drug, intoxicant, or other similar substance
- With another person that is incapable of understanding the nature of the conduct, or is physically incapable of declining participation
- Without the other person’s permission
The Violence Against Women Act defines domestic violence as felony or misdemeanor crimes of violence (including threats or attempts) committed by a current or former spouse of the victim, by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, by a person who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse, by a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction receiving grant monies, or by any other person against an adult or youth victim/survivor who is protected from that person’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction receiving grant monies. It should be understood that domestic violence/dating violence applies to any pattern of coercive behavior that is used by one person to gain power and control over a current or former intimate partner or dating partner. This pattern of behavior may include physical or sexual violence, emotional and psychological intimidation, threats, verbal abuse, stalking, isolation, and economic control.
More information about dating abuse and violence can be found at the National Domestic Violence Hotline: https://www.thehotline.org/
The Violence Against Women Act defines dating violence as violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim. The existence of such a relationship is determined by the length of the relationship, the type of relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship.
More information about dating abuse and violence can be found at the National Domestic
Violence Hotline: https://www.thehotline.org/
Dating/domestic violence can take many different forms including, but not limited to the following:
- Physical: Inflicting or attempting to inflict physical injury
Example: grabbing, punching, pinching, shoving, slapping, hitting, biting, arm-twisting, kicking, punching, stabbing, strangling, smothering, using or threatening to use weapons, shoving, interrupting your sleep, throwing things, destroying property, hurting or killing pets, and denying medical treatment. - Sexual: Coercing or attempting to coerce any sexual contact without consent
Example: physically forcing sex, making you feel fearful about saying no to sex, forcing sex with other partners, forcing you to participate in demeaning or degrading sexual acts, violence or name calling during sex, denying contraception or protection from sexually transmitted diseases, marital rape, acquaintance rape, forced sex after physical beating, attacks on the sexual parts of the body, forced prostitution. - Psychological: Instilling or attempting to instill fear
Example: intimidation, threatening physical harm to self, victim, and/or others, threatening to harm and/or kidnap children, menacing, blackmail, harassment, destruction of pets and property, mind games, “crazy-making”, stalking. - Emotional: Undermining or attempting to undermine victim’s sense of worth
Example: constant criticism, belittling victim's abilities and competency, name-calling, insults, put-downs, silent treatment, manipulating victim's feelings and emotions to induce guilt, repeatedly making and breaking promises, minimizing the abuse or blaming you for their behavior, excessive jealously, accusing you of having affairs, and watching where you go and who you talk to. - Financial/Economic: Making or attempting to make the victim financially dependent
Example: giving you an allowance, not letting you have your own money or access to money, maintaining total control over financial resources, forbidding attendance at school, forbidding employment, on-the-job harassment, requiring accountability and justification for all money spent, running up debt, running credit.
Stalking is defined as a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for his or her safety or the safety of others or suffer substantial emotional distress.
More information about stalking can be found at the SPARC (Stalking Prevention, Awareness,
& Resources Center) website here.