Prohibited Sexual Behavior and Sexual Violence

Sexual Violence: Rape: Female Victims

As the previous sections of this course have demonstrated, there are virtually no limits to the variety of human sexual behavior. Any such behavior can also be coerced, however, and, according to our definition, any such coercion is rape. However, because of different legal traditions, not all of it may punishable everywhere. Obviously, the present introductory course cannot go into too many details, but for the purpose of a first orientation, it may be helpful to offer a brief list of the most important types of rape.

Rape of Children
When adults have sexual contact with children it is, of course, rape by definition, no matter what the circumstances. It is “statutory rape” (rape as defined by statute), because children cannot give legally valid consent. If parents or siblings are involved, it is also incest.

Statutory Rape
As a rule, the law also tries to protect teenagers from harmful advances by adults by setting a minimum “age of consent”. Teenagers who are “under age” cannot give lawful consent, and any sexual contact with them is also statutory rape. However, different countries have different “ages of consent”.

Acquaintance (Date) Rape
Some women are raped by people they know (acquaintances, boyfriends, dates). Such a breach of trust is always shocking for the victim, but it is not always easy to prosecute, because the offender usually claims that she consented. Some spectacular cases of this sort have gone either way - some of the accused were acquitted, others convicted.

Spousal rape
In the past, spousal or marital rape was not a crime, but in recent decades the laws have been reformed to cover such cases as well. For the victim, this form of domestic violence can also be very traumatic, because she usually finds it very difficult to find help.

Rape by a stranger
Compared to the other cases of rape, this crime is relatively rare. However, for the victim it usually is very traumatic, and the rapist is often especially violent and dangerous.

Rape of a prostitute
A prostitute who works in an unprotected environment (in the street, alone in an apartment, or on call) runs the risk of being raped and/or injured by aggressive or seriously disturbed customers. In countries where her rights are recognized, the offender can and will be prosecuted.

Gang rape
In some cases, three or more men partricipate in raping a single victim. This “gang rape” by three or more is often especially violent and degrading, because the men develop a group mentality which often reinforces itself during the commission of the crime. Thus, as a group, the men may go to extremes that they would avoid as individuals. Such a rape used to be called “gang bang” in colloquial language, but, in the meantime, the expression has increasingly also been used for consensual encounters, for example among “swingers”.

Rape as torture
Rape has also often been used in connection with the torture of female and male prisoners.