Rape vs Sexual Assault
When the term sexual assault is mentioned, it is often associated with rape. However, there are differences in the degrees of physical or mental abuse experienced by the victim. Although rape is an extreme crime involving non-consensual sex, sexual assault is also a serious offense with similar implications. This article aims to distinguish between sexual assault and rape to help readers understand the differences in the degree and severity of the crime.
Key Takeaways
- Rape is the extreme form of sexual assault, involving violence or the threat of violence to forcefully enter a woman without consent.
- Sexual assault includes a wide range of actions, such as child sexual abuse, attempted rape, actual rape, fondling, obscene phone calls, and sexual harassment.
- Both rape and sexual assault involve a lack of consent from the victim, but rape carries a higher sentence due to its more violent nature.
It is not difficult to picture a man forcing himself upon a woman, penetrating her through the vagina or anus to reach an orgasm without her consent. Rape is indeed the most severe form of sexual assault, as it involves the use of violence or the threat of violence to enter a woman forcibly. In many states, the definition of rape has expanded, and sexual assault has virtually replaced it. In other states, rapists receive longer prison sentences than those accused of sexual assault. This difference in legal treatment has sparked a debate over the distinction between sexual assault and rape.
Although the use of force or the threat of force to penetrate a woman’s sex organs is one feature that sets rape apart from sexual assault, both crimes involve a lack of consent. Sexual assault encompasses any incident of intercourse without consent, including the extreme case of rape where force is used or the victim is threatened with violence.
Sexual assault covers a broad range of actions and situations, such as child sexual abuse, attempted rape, actual rape, fondling of body parts, making obscene phone calls, and even sexual harassment. In all cases of sexual assault, the victim experiences a sense of helplessness and loss of control.
Rape can be viewed as an extreme act of violence that turns sex into a weapon or tool to commit a heinous crime against a woman. However, there are unusual cases of rape where the perpetrator does not know the victim and commits the act purely for personal sexual gratification. Under old English law, forced sex with a woman constituted rape only if committed by a man other than her husband. Any other sex-related crime was considered assault or battery, which did not even carry a sentence.
This situation called for legal reforms. After several protests and demonstrations, changes were made to laws, and the definition of sexual assault was broadened to protect women from sexual assault even by their own husbands. Due to the emotional and cultural baggage, such as social stigma, associated with the word sex, many reformers want to eliminate the term altogether. However, rape remains classified as one of the sexual crimes under sexual assault.
In summary, an adult who forces a child to watch porn or engages them in sexual activity is considered to have committed sexual assault. Meanwhile, despite social stigma and cultural baggage, rape is defined as entering a woman vaginally or anally using force or threatening to use force without her consent. If there is an attempted rape and the victim escapes, the charge is limited to sexual assault. Sentences for rape are higher than those for sexual assault.
