According to the FBI, one out of three women will be raped during her lifetime - that is one every six minutes somewhere in the United States. Some people think the wrong idea about rape. They think the rapist was overcome with sexual desire, the woman was dressed too seductively, the victim asked for it, or that all women want to be raped. These ideas assume that rape is a sexual crime - a crime that is motivated by desire. Sex is only the weapon.
Rape is a crime.
Most states define it legally as sexual intercourse, achieved or attempted without the victim s consent and with the use of threat or force. Perhaps you think that rape happens only in certain highrisk situations - hitchhiking, walking alone at night, going alone to bars. It s true that rape can happen in these situations, but many rapes take place in ordinary, seemingly safe places. In fact about one-third of all rapes occur in or near the victim s home. The Rapist Imagine a typical rapist.