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Facts to
Consider
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In many cases of sexual assault,
the offender is a man the woman is
dating. This is commonly called
date rape. In other cases, the
offender is someone the woman
knows, perhaps a co-worker, an
employer, a neighbour or a friend.
This is known as acquaintance rape.
Although date and acquaintance rape
is no less a crime than rape by a
stranger, it tends to be ignored or
denied by people because the
offender is known to the
victim.
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Date rape has the lowest reporting
rate of all forms of sexual
assault. It is estimated that only
1% of all date rapes are reported
to police. (1) There are many
reasons for this including: failure
to recognize date rape as sexual
assault; feeling responsible in
some way for the assault; fear of
not being believed and shame at
having been
violated.
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The Canadian Panel on Violence
Against Women reports that 31% of
sexual assaults occur in dating and
acquaintance relationships.
(2)
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The majority of date and
acquaintance rape victims are young
women aged 16 to 24.
(3)
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Four out of five female
undergraduates recently surveyed at
Canadian universities said that
they had been victims of physical
or sexual violence in a dating
relationship. Of that number, 29%
reported incidents of sexual
assault.
(4)
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Research indicates that a shocking
number of young men and women
believe it is okay to coerce a
woman to have sex. In a recent
Toronto study, 31% of males and 22%
of females agreed when asked, "If a
girl engages in necking or petting
and she lets things get out of
hand, is it her own fault if her
partner forces sex on her?" Another
study found that 60% of Canadian
college-aged males said they would
commit sexual assault if they were
certain they would not get caught.
(5)
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A study of 304 Toronto secondary
students found that one-fifth of
the young women had experienced at
least one form of assault in a
dating relationship.
(6)
REFERENCES
(1) Diana Russell, Sexual Exploitation: Rape,
Child Abuse and Workplace
Harassment, California: Sage
Publishing, 1984.
(2) The Canadian Panel on Violence Against
Women, "Changing the Landscape: Ending
Violence, Achieving Equality," Ottawa,
1993.
(3) Helen Lenskyj, "An Analysis of Violence
Against Women: A Manual for Educators and
Administrators," Toronto: Ontario Institute for
Studies in Education, 1992.
(4) W. DeKeseredy and K. Kelly, "The Incidence
and Prevalence of Woman Abuse in Canadian
University and College Dating Relationships:
Results From a National Survey," Ottawa: Health
Canada, 1993.
(5) Lenskyj, 1992.
(6) Shirley Mercer, Not a Pretty Picture: An
Exploratory Study of Violence Against Women in
Dating Relationships, Toronto:
Education Wife Assault, 1987.
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