Acquaintance rape

Acquaintance rape is rape that is perpetrated by a person who is known to the victim. Examples of acquaintances include someone the victim is dating, a classmate, co-worker, employer, family member, spouse, counselor, therapist, religious official or medical doctor. Acquaintance rape includes a subcategory of incidents labeled date rape that involves people who are in romantic or sexual relationships with each other. When a rape is perpetrated by a college student on another student, the term campus rape is sometimes used.

Most rapes are perpetrated by a person known to the victim; however, it is less likely to be reported than stranger rape and thus crime statistics often underestimate the prevalence of acquaintance rape compared to national surveys. The legal consequences of acquaintance rape are the same as for stranger rape.

Studies distinguishing between stranger rape and those by a person known to the victim go back to the 1950s, when a study examining American police rape files from 1958 and 1960 found about half were alleged to have been committed by men who knew their victims. The phrase acquaintance rape was first used in print in 1978 by feminist writer and activist Diana Russell. She used it as an umbrella term to cover all rapes involving people who know one another, in her write-up of a study of 830 women in San Francisco in which she found that 35% reported having experienced rape or attempted rape by an acquaintance, compared with 11% who reported being raped by strangers. In 1988 American feminist writer Robin Warshaw published I Never Called It Rape, the first major book on acquaintance rape.

Acquaintance rape has taken place worldwide throughout human history, and takes different forms in different cultures.

A 2004-05 study of 30 predominantly European countries by the United Nations Research Institute found about half of rape victims knew their rapists, over a third by name. 17% were a colleague or boss, 16% a close friend, 11% a former partner, and 7% a current partner. In a major 2009 European Commission study of rape cases across Europe, it was found that 67% of rapists were known to the victim, with most being a current or former partner. In Europe, the most common rape location is in the home of the victim or rapist.

...
Wikipedia