Defining sexual assault

As many as one in four women will be raped or experience attempted rape during college, according to a 2000 study from the U.S. Department of Justice. Yet nearly half the women in the study did not consider the incidents they discussed to be rape — even though the researchers did. One glaring reason: Women and men are often still unclear about the definitions of sexual assault and consent.

To help address the problem and educate the public during Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the Women’s Center of Jacksonville and the University of North Florida’s Women’s Center have planned several educational events this month (see What’s Happening on Page E-6 for details).
Meanwhile, skirt! asked Tina Vaughn, director of the Rape Recovery Team at the Women’s Center of Jacksonville, and Sheila Spivey, director of the UNF Women’s Center, to define sexual assault and consent, and then to debunk some of the myths surrounding it:

What is the legal definition of sexual assault?
In Florida it is referred to as sexual battery, which is defined by Florida Statute 794.011 as “any oral, anal or vaginal penetration by, or union with, the sexual organ of another or the anal or vaginal penetration of another by any other object” without consent.

What is consent?
According to the Florida Statute, consent means “intelligent, knowing and voluntary consent, and does not include coerced submission. Consent shall not be deemed or construed to mean the failure by the alleged victim to offer physical resistance to the offender.”

What does not count as consent?
According to the University of Florida Police Department, consent does not involve: “failure to physically resist; forced or coerced submission; temporary inability to make decisions due to intoxication or drug use; [or] being unconscious, asleep or physically unable to communicate non-consent.” Vaughn added: “If she is intoxicated or unconscious or sleeping, there is no way under law — or under pure human reason — that she could give consent to a sexual act. Then it becomes an issue of responsibility — on the person who is initiating what they think is sex but is really an opportunity to overpower the victim.”

“Drunk sex” doesn’t mean consensual sex, Spivey noted.

“If a person needs help walking out of a bar or to their room, they are definitely not in a position to decide whether or not to engage in sexual activity.”

Does non-consent have to be verbal?

It does not. Often the Rape Recovery Team responds to a woman in the middle of the night, and she will say she didn’t say “no” or didn’t scream, Vaughn said.

“I’ll ask if she turned her face away, clenched her legs together, struggled under the weight of his body or pushed him away. Because, yes, those [non-verbal cues] can all be defined as non-consent. It’s not always safe to say 'no’. It’s not always safe to resist. It’s to the credit of the survivor that they walk away alive, because that means they did something right.”

What are some other verbal cues of non-consent other than “no”?
“Stop. I don’t want this. No, I’m not interested. Get off me. This wasn’t what I thought it was going to be like. There are so many ways to say no without just saying no,” said Vaughn.

If a woman is going home from a bar and is intoxicated but doesn’t say no, is that consent?
“No. You cannot make an informed decision when you are intoxicated. Yes, it is rape at that point,” said Vaughn.

If a person is pestering a woman to have sex after she has already expressed that she doesn’t want to, and she submits, is that assault?
That would be coercion, so by definition that is assault.

De-bunking myths

Myth: Most rapes are committed by strangers.
Truth: “Most of [the sexual assaults] actually involve alcohol. It places the person at greater risk. They can’t make an informed decision about whether they want to engage in sexual activity. The majority of acts are committed by people they know, and not by strangers,” said Spivey.

Myth: You can’t stop mid-act. Once you’ve started something, you have to go through with it.
Truth: “It’s still rape if a woman says 'no’ or does not want to continue,” said Vaughn. “A scenario I hear all the time is that a woman goes home with a man, they are making out, and the second she — or either one of them — says no, the second the agreement is broken, it is over and you’ve stepped into dangerous territory. So, I always tell women you can say 'no’ at any time. Just because you got in his car or walked up to his bedroom does not mean he can have his way with you. You are talking about two autonomous individuals deciding what happens and the way it happens.”

Myth: It’s not rape if the victim didn’t say “no.”
Truth: “The real issue is the lack of saying yes — there could be actions of saying “no,” like crying or trying to get away,” said Spivey.

Myth: Alcohol causes rape.
Truth: “It isn’t the cause; the cause would be someone actually using sex as a tool to force their power and control on someone else and alcohol being a contributing factor,” said Spivey.

Myth: Women can ask for rape by their behavior, by who they are with, or what they wear.
Truth: The person committing the rape is responsible for the assault, according to Vaughn.

By SARA CONRAD

The Times-Union

sara.conrad@skirt.com,
(904) 359-4693