There are many different types of sexual assault. Below is a list of the various acts that are considered sexual assault and abuse, as well as a short description of some of the most common types of assault.
Sexual assault includes:
- Rape—sexual intercourse against a person’s will
- Forcible sodomy—anal or oral sex against a person’s will
- Forcible object penetration—penetrating someone’s vagina or anus, or causing that person to penetrate her or himself, against that person’s will
- Marital rape
- Unwanted sexual touching
- Sexual contact with minors, whether consensual or not
- Incest (Sexual intercourse or sexual intrusion between family members.)
- Any unwanted or coerced sexual contact
Other sexual crimes include:
- Sexual harassment
- Solicitation of minors through the Internet
- Possession of child pornography
What Is DRUG FACILITATED Sexual Assault?
This most often happens when you are at a party, club, or a social event and you are with people you know and don’t think you have any reason to fear. Someone secretly drops a drug such as roofies or ecstasy in your drink. When the drug dissolves, it is odorless. It may be colorless, or may leave a bluish colored residue, and it may also be tasteless. As you consume the drink, the drug takes effect. You may experience drowsiness, dizziness, confusion, lack of coordination, slurred speech, loss of inhibition, impaired judgment and reduced levels of consciousness. You are incapacitated and cannot escape, resist or even call out for help. Often, these drugs cause amnesia, and you cannot remember what happened and who assaulted you.
‘Roofies’ are not the only drug used in drug-facilitated sexual assaults. Alcohol is in fact the most commonly used drug to facilitate the perpetration of sexual assault. Just as with roofies, alcohol impairs your judgment, lowers inhibitions, and affects consciousness. In the eyes of the law, you cannot consent to have sex when you are under the influence of alcohol.
What Is CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE?
Child sexual abuse is any sexual act with a child by a parent, an adult or someone who is older or more powerful than the child. It involves forcing, tricking, bribing, threatening or pressuring a child into sexual acts.
The abuse can be physical, verbal or emotional and includes such acts as sexual touching, exposing the child to pornography, taking pornographic pictures of the child, “peeping” at the child, exposing oneself to a child, and attempting/performing oral, anal, or vaginal penetration.
What Is MARITAL RAPE?
Spousal or marital rape is the term used to describe sexual acts committed without a person’s consent and/or against a person’s will, when the perpetrator (attacker) is the woman’s husband or ex-husband (or a man’s wife or ex-wife). This type of rape is very underreported for a number of reasons; the women may fear the husband’s reaction, or she may fear the stigmatization and shame, as well as the potential loss of his or her children. For more insight into this type of rape, please refer to our section on relationship violence.