Date Rape

By: Yesenia Cardenas

As you sit there in the bed wondering what his next move will be, your body starts shaking in fear. He forcefully approaches your body and you don’t know what to do. You wake up the next day asking was I raped?
Date rape is when someone you know closely makes you have sex when you don’t want to. It can be someone you met at school, a party, or even someone you love and trust like your boyfriend. Many of us believe that date rape could never happen between a couple that loves each other and has spent so much time together. We think that people are only raped by a stranger in the middle of a dark alley or a park. “It’s so amazing to think that there can be people in this world who would take advantage of someone they’ve known for so long and say that they love” said freshman Adriana Lopez. But, unfortunately, date rape victims are typically between the ages of 15 through age 25. The largest groups of offenders are from age 17 through age 30.
There are many forms of abuse that occur before date rape. Emotional abuse includes name calling, putting down, stopping you from seeing your own friends and family, and checking what your doing all the time. Physical abuse includes hitting, pushing, punching you, smashing things or driving dangerously to scare you. The last common abuse in date rape is Sexual abuse. Sexual abuse happens when you are being forced to engage in any kind of physical intimacy against your will. All three abuses are against the law for your partner (or anybody else). “To me, all of these forms of abuse are harmful to anyone that goes through them,” said freshmen Maria Lopez. “It must be difficult to ever overcome any of these abuses since you know that the person is or can be someone you love very much.” She added.
For men, it can be hard to admit that you have been date raped. Society doesn’t want to admit male rape can happen. Being a victim of rape is hard to handle for men and they may want to punish themselves with self-destructive behavior like drugs and suicide. Date rape can be frightening for anyone who has experienced it. You can feel shame, self-blame, helplessness and fear of not being believed.
But there is help provided for those who have been a victim. “ Here at the health center we offer health ed,” said Xiomara from the health center. “ We try to help in much as possible,” she added.
To avoid things like this, remember that, a good relationship is one based on respect for each other. “I think that respect is one of the main things in a relationship because if there is no respect from the beginning then there will be no respect afterwards,” said Adriana Whenever you feel like some one is treating you with no respect, you should feel free to say no to things you don’t want to do.
www.uwstout.edu