On Acquaintance Rape

I came across this excellent article entitled "Perspectives on Acquaintance Rape", written by David G. Curtis.

As a survivor of acquaintance rape, also known as date rape, I found validation in the following statistics quoted in this article:

• 84 percent of those raped knew their attacker. (I knew my attacker and had trusted him enough to let him into my apartment.)


• 57 percent of those rapes happened while on dates.


• 84 percent of those men who committed rape said that what they did was definitely not rape. (My rapist is among these - he denies that it was rape)


• Only 27 percent of those women whose sexual assault met the legal definition of rape thought of themselves as rape victims. (Initially, I had trouble believing it was rape, especially since my offender denied that it was rape and tried manipulating me into thinking I was just projecting onto him my rage towards someone who assaulted me several years prior. He also claimed I was mentally unbalanced and promiscuous.)


• 82 percent of the victims said that the experience had permanently changed them.

One thing to note about these statistics is that they are from a study done on a college campus and are not representative of the population at large.

I encourage everyone to read this article, it is a great resource for learning about date rape and coming to terms with your experience, if you are a survivor.