Wairarapa Rape & Sexual Abuse Collective Inc.
0800 614 614 (24/7) / 06 370 8446
Floor 3 Departmental Building, 35 Chapel Street, Masterton
Office hours 8.30 AM - 2.30 PM Monday - Friday. Please call as appointments are preferred.
So What Actually is Rape?
People’s attitudes to rape are very different. These attitudes lie anywhere on the following continuum:
Broad View |
What the Law Says |
Narrow View |
Rape is any act of sexual violation |
Rape is penetration of a person's genitalia by a penis when that person doesn’t want it |
Rape only happens violently in dark, deserted streets |
All sexual attention that is not wanted is a part of rape |
Any other forms of sexual violation are not rape, but unlawful sexual connection |
Rapists do not know the people they attack |
The narrow view comes from a lot of misunderstanding about rape. The broad view extends rape beyond the legal definition. This broad view acknowledges that rape is not always physically-violent.
New Zealand legislation defines rape in the following way:
Person A rapes person B if person A has sexual connection with person B, effected by the penetration of person B’s genitalia by person A’s penis:
(a) without person B’s consent to the connection; and
(b) without believing on reasonable grounds that person B consents to the connection.
Rape may also include:
New Zealand legislation defines rape in the following way:
Person A rapes person B if person A has sexual connection with person B, effected by the penetration of person B’s genitalia by person A’s penis:
(a) without person B’s consent to the connection; and
(b) without believing on reasonable grounds that person B consents to the connection.
Rape may also include:
- Forced or coerced oral sex
- Forced or coerced masturbation
- Penetration with objects
- Forced or coerced anal sex
- Across-gender or same-gender sexual abuse e.g. female-on-male, male-on-male, female-on-female, male-on-female.
False Beliefs About Rape
- If a person did not physically resist or say no, then it wasn’t rape
- Rape would not happen if people did not dress seductively
- Only young, attractive people are sexually-assaulted
- Only strangers rape
- A person cannot be raped by their spouse or partner
- It wasn’t really rape if the survivor was drinking, it was just regretful sex.
NONE OF THESE BELIEFS ARE TRUE.
Truths About Rape
- Sometimes resisting can prevent sexual assault, but it can also increase physical violence
- The way people dress has very little to do with who is assaulted
- All people are at risk, young or old
- Relatives and friends are just as capable of rape. Most survivors know their attacker
- A person can be raped by their spouse or partner. That person has a right to say “no” and the law recognises this right
- Drinking doesn’t cause rape. Perpetrators do.
Rape is the misuse and abuse of power. Rape is a crime which can take away your dignity and self-determination. Rape can have profound and long-term effects on your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing.
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