Rape

Perhaps even more difficult than defining rape is the task of identifying the frequency of its occurrence. Incidence refers to the number of rapes occurring during a given period of time; prevalence refers to the percentage of persons who have been raped. Estimates of incidence and prevalence of rape depend on the definition used, the population studied, and the methods used to gather data (see Muehlenhard et al. 1994).

In the United States, several studies have provided estimates of rape incidence and prevalence. The National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sponsored the National Violence Against Women (NVAW) Survey. The survey consisted of telephone interviews with eight thousand women and eight thousand men in the United States regarding their experiences with various forms of violence. In this study rape was defined as "an event that occurs without the victim's consent and involves the use of threat or force to penetrate the victim's vagina or anus by penis, tongue, fingers, or object, or the victim's mouth by penis. The definition includes both attempted and completed rape" (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000, p. 5). The researchers found that 7.7 percent of women and 0.3 percent of men over age eighteen had experienced such an event (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000).

Reviewing international research, Lori L. Heise and her colleagues reported that between 19 and 27.5 percent of college-aged women in Canada, Korea, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States reported being the victim of a completed or attempted rape (Heise et al. 1994). The 1989 International Crime Survey collected data from fourteen countries in North America, Europe, and Australia. They found that 2.3 percent of women in the United States reported sexual assault (including rape and attempted rape), the highest percentage of any of the fourteen countries. Canada and Australia followed with 1.7 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively (Dijk, Mayhew, and Killias 1991).

Cross-nationally, acquaintance, date, and marital rape seem to be more common than stranger rape. Similar to research conducted in the United States, research in Chile, Peru, Malaysia, Mexico, Panama, and Papua New Guinea indicates that most rapes are perpetrated by someone known to the victim (Heise et al. 1994).

Rape is also a common form of war violence. There is evidence that rape rates are often drastically high in war-torn nations (Human Rights Watch 1995). For example, mass rape in war has been documented in Liberia, Uganda, Peru, Cambodia, Somalia, Bosnia, and Yugoslavia (Heise et al. 1994).

Rape is a widespread international problem. In particular, date rape and marital rape are highly prevalent in many countries. Most information about the rates of rape pertains to men raping women. Sometimes men rape men and women rape women or men, but little information about incidence or prevalence is available.