Date/Acquaintance Sexual Assault

Date rape and acquaintance rape are terms used to describe situations where a woman is forced (through coercion, pressure, and intimidation or physical violence) by someone known to her, to go further sexually than she has agreed to.

We think it won’t happen to us. We don’t suspect people we know. We prefer to think someone we don’t know will hurt us, not someone we choose to be with, trust and believe in. We believe that because we choose who we date; we are not at risk when we date.

Date/Acquaintance Sexual Assault is Unexpected

Women and girls are often told to a” beware of strangers”. A woman who is with an acquaintance usually does not expect to be in danger. She may not immediately view the situation as dangerous and may not act quickly enough. If she does feel uneasy about her dates behavior, she is more likely to dismiss it. Finally, although it may be acceptable to scream or to be rude to a stranger, many women feel that it is not acceptable to behave this way with someone they know. All this set up for an extremely dangerous situation

Statistics

  • About 75% of all rapes are committed by a date or acquaintance (2006, Sexuality and you: Your link to sexual well-being)
  • A woman’s risk of women assaulted by an acquaintance is 4 times greater than her risk of being similarly victimized by a stranger.
  • 80% of victims of sexual offences knew the accused. About 10% were assaulted by a friend, while 41% were assaulted by an acquaintance. Just over one-quarter (28%) were assaulted by a family member, while the remaining 20% were victimized by a stranger (The Daily, Statistics Canada, 2003)