The University of Wyoming STOP Violence Program’s website gives the following definition for sexual assault:
“Sexual assault includes sexual intercourse, sexual contact, sodomy, or object penetration of the anus or vagina without the person’s sober and enthusiastic consent.”
If any readers happen to be offended by the graphic nature of this definition, good.
You see, what the STOP Violence Program defines as “sexual assault” is a horrific thing. It happens all too often on our campus and around the world. It is a crime in our country, yet it goes largely unpunished. It is a horrible act that is not accurately represented by the words “sexual assault.” It is rape, and you would do right by its victims if you started addressing it as such.
To this day, the word “rape” makes me squeamish. The word is uncomfortable to use–it feels like poison as you spit it from your mouth. Once upon a time, I believed that enough people knew rape was bad and there was no need to use the term when “sexual assault” is far easier to say. However, this accessibility of the term “sexual assault” is precisely why we should not use it.
When a person does something incorrectly, the nomenclature changes. Unless you are trying to spare the chef’s feelings, you say that they “burned” the food, not that they “overcooked” it. A clumsy person “crashes” a car, they don’t “drive it into another car.” If a person so much as attempts sexual contact without a partner’s consent, they have failed at sex. Sex is, when done correctly, fun and pleasurable. If it stops being pleasurable (i.e. when there is no longer consent), it stops being sex.
It is worth noting that victims of illegal sex acts may define what happened to them differently. If a victim says she or he was sexually assaulted, it is their option to describe the experience as they see fit. If they say they were raped, that is equally accurate. However, this option should no longer be extended to the offender. If they rape, they are a rapist. If they attempt rape, they are a rapist. It is as simple as that.
Now, some may see this change in classification as insignificant. This is reasonable, as it can be hard to see just how much power a word can have. However, it is important to realize that the term “sexual assault,” through its root word, can imply to some that the action is a form of sex. Just by being related to something more normal, the idea behind the term can become more normalized in the eyes of the dark and twisted. This is evident through the way more people are willing to say “sexual assault” than “rape.”
In support of those that have and will fall victim to rapists, the smallest thing we can do is avoid normalizing rape itself through the use of softer words. “Rape” is a harsh word because it needs to be. Let’s not forget that.
