Rape

The definition of rape differs from state to state and changes over time as a result of legislative advocacy. Currently, however, the majority of statutes in North America define rape as the nonconsensual oral, vaginal, or anal penetration of the victim with a penis, finger, or other part of the body or with objects by using force or threats of bodily harm or by taking advantage of a victim who is incapable of giving consent. Penetration, however slight, is considered rape; emission of seminal fluid is not required for a finding of rape.

After a rape, many survivors—the term often used for rape victims coping with the long-term effects of the crime—experience intense feelings of guilt, shame, and self-blame, in part because they have internalized myths and believe that something they did, or didn't do, led to their rape. Responses from legal, medical, and mental health systems and unsupportive social networks often perpetuate these negative feelings. Institutional responses may fail to respect a survivor's autonomy, blame the survivor for the rape, trivialize the abuse, fail to adequately address safety needs, violate confidentiality, and minimize the harm done to the survivor.

Beyond long-term physical and mental consequences experienced by a survivor, rape is a crime against women and a violation of social equity. Many view the need for justice as a basic human drive. Although social institutions that develop as a response to this need have differed across time and place, many nations use an adversarial justice system based on Anglo-Saxon law to adjudicate crimes against women. In the United States, the legal system considers the crime of rape an act against the state. This practice tends to ignore survivor and community needs for protection, reparation, and retribution, focusing instead on punishing offenders without actually compelling them to face the true impact of their crimes. The development of an appropriate justice response to rape is critical because rape and battering are many women's only exposure to criminal victimization. Whereas all other categories of crime victimize men more often, reports indicate that women are eight times more likely than men to be assaulted by an intimate. A national survey of American women by the U.S. Department of Justice (July 2000) showed that approximately one in five American women has been raped, and almost half of those were raped by an intimate.