Survive / Date Rape

Date Rape

I have had so many mails from girls lately asking if what happened to them was actually rape. Just because they were under the influence of drugs or alcohol doesn’t make what happened to them any less of a case of rape. When you are unconscious or passed out from the effects of too much to drink you are incapable of giving consent, so in effect you can’t consent to sex, and that constitutes rape.

In a research poll for an American magazine Ms one in every twelve men interviewed admitted to having forced a woman to have intercourse or tried to force a woman to have intercourse through physical force or coercion; that is, they admitted to raping or attempting to rape a woman. However hardly any of these men, identified themselves as rapists. Similarly, only 57% of the women who had been raped labeled their experience as rape; the other 43% had not even acknowledged to themselves that they had been raped.(As cited in Ellen Sweet, “Date Rape. The Story of an Epidemic and Those Who Deny It,” Ms., October 1985, p. 56) This is indeed a scary thought. Perhaps it was the effects of either alcohol or drugs that clouded their judgement and perceptions of what was happening.

Date rape typically occurs when a woman finds herself alone with a man. If you go to a man’s room, house or flat (apartment) or even get into his car with him alone, you are vulnerable. Date rapes can often occur when there are other people relatively close by. Parties are a prime example. There could be a whole crowd of people in the next room oblivious to what was happening.

Often date rape victims say afterwards that they drank too much or took too many drugs to realize what was going on. By the time they realised the predicament they were in it was too late. Sometimes a woman passes out and wakes up to find a man having sex with her. Sometimes date rapes occurs when alcohol is not involved or when the victim has had little or nothing to drink but the man has been drinking and becomes sexually aggressive.

I have mainly reffered to date rape being something that happens to females, but males, especially gay males are just as vunerable as females and it does happen to them too.

Some Possible Causes of Date Rape

Date Rape happens. It is not so easy to set out definite causes. I have picked out the most likely and obvious causes to try and give an insight as to why it does, and hopefully make people aware of the dangers and prevent it happening to them.

Sometimes it is a case of mixed signals that can play a major part in date rape. A female may be acting friendly towards a man. The man in return interprets this as the woman showing him openly that she wants sex. She says No to sex, but he hears it as Maybe. Women on the whole are afraid that they may appear too easy and don’t want to be seen to have sex readily on the first couple of dates. So sometimes just for the sake of appearances they may say no and mean in fact yes. It’s hardly suprising then that men become confused and will often try and persuade a woman that she does in fact mean yes. Some men still don’t take no for an answer even when a woman struggles and it is obvious that is indeed what she does mean. The men may come even more aroused becuase she is putting up a fight.

Sometimes a female isn’t sure in her own mind whether or not she does in fact want sex at all. She may decide to make up her mind as the evening wears on. If at some stage she changes her mind and says no, which we are entitled to do, the man may well feel cheated or feel he has been teased, and he decides that she will get what she “deserves” regardless, and so rapes her.

Some men feel that if they have spent money on a female, taken her out for a meal, or to the cinema for example that his way of being repayed by the female is to have sex with her, regardles of what she may feel.

Some men think that just because they know a female has been sexually active with someone else that she will be willing to have sex with all men, including him.

Another more sinister type of date rape is becoming very much more widely reported. It is the misuse of alcohol and or drugs to make an unsuspecting female become sleepy and sedated thus making the female unable to consent to sex. This type of date rape is happening mostly to the younger age group especially at parties.

As you can see from the above examples date rape is not about just a lack of communication or a crime of passion. It can be interpreted as an attempt to “control” another person or to assert power or to dominate and not just be a case of feeling the need for sex.

The Date-Rape Drugs

Rohypnol

Over recent years more information has been coming to the fore about The Date Rape Drugs One of these is Rohypnol which is a brand name for Flunitrazepam, which belongs to the family of medications called “Benzodiazepines”. It is very potent, being 10 times more potent than Valium. It has many common street names like: Roofies, Roachies, La Roche, Rope, Rib, Roche, Rophies, Ruffies and Stupefi.

It is becoming well know as a club scene drug used mostly by young people. It is an illegal drug in America and sold or prescribed in Europe and South America. It comes in 1mg and 2mg strengths, manufactured by Hoffman-La Roche.

Rohypnol taken on it’s own produces sedative effects, including amnesia, muscle relaxation, and the slowing of psychomotor performance. Sedation occurs anything from 10 to 30 minutes after administration of a 2-mg tablet and lasts for approximately 8 hours. Mixed with alcohol in which it quickly dissolves a 2mg dose in one beer can put a girl flat on her back in a state of bliss, to waken the next morning with no memories of the previous night, wondering what happened to her.

Rohypnol can be slipped easily into the drink of an unsuspecting sexual assault victim by an assailant. The result is that the victim remembers nothing of the sexual assault or it maybe they knew something was happening but were incapable of stopping it. Mixing Rohypnol with alcohol intensifies its effects several fold. It is reportedly given to female party guests in hopes of lowering inhibitions and making them an easy potential sexual conquest.

Rohypnol, particularily when it is mixed with alcohol or any other drugs, cannabis, cocaine and heroin in particular may lead to respiratory depression, aspiration and even death. When taken repeatedly, in can lead to physical and psychological dependence which is thought to increase with both the dose and duration of use. Rohypnol is usually sold in its original bubble packaging, conveying a sense of legality and security in its use.

Reports of feeling hung over, feeling drowsy, confused and still drunk the next day have been noted. It is certainly a very dangerous drug, especially if it is used without your knowledge.

GHB (gamma hydroxybutyric acid)

GHB also known as Bodily Harm (GBH), Liquid X, Easy Lay and other street names is a potent date rape drug, in some ways easier to use than rohypnol, but with the same effects. It is promoted as a growth hormone aid, a diet aid and a stimulant.

GHB comes in liquid form, and is often home produced by people who know a little about drugs and their effects. Becuase it is in liquid form rather than tablet form it is much easier to slip into an unsuspecting females drink than some of the other date rape drugs. This is done with either an eye dropper or off a bottle cap, and only a few drops can render the victim confused, dazed, drowsy and unconscious within the space of 15 minutes. The effects can last from 2 to 8 hours.

The drug is hard to detect as it is colourless and odourless, although some reports suggest it has a slightly salty taste.

Ketamine

Ketamine is also known as Special K, Vitamin K or Bump. It is in fact a drug that is used by vets as an animal anaesthesia.

Burundanga

Burundanga or borrachio is not so widely used as the other known date rape drugs, but although it may be obscure people should still be aware that it is being used for date rape purposes.

Reports have shown it to be highly soluble and tasteless like rohypnol. It causes victims to becoem confused, disorientated and produces a trance like state.

Alcohol

We are all concerned with the use of date rape drugs, but let us not forget that alcohol alone wihtout added chemical substances can act like a drug. It can make people confused, disorrientated, carefree, more confident and also unconscious if too much is drunk.

Many rapists ply their victims with alcohol before assaulting them. Statistics show that 55% of all date rape victims had been drinking or were drunk when raped. A staggering 80% of rapists had been drinking before they raped.

Being Aware

Police departments across the world are taking reports of young women and men waking up without their clothing on, finding themselves in unfamiliar surroundings with unfamiliar people, or having actually been sexually assaulted while under the influence of the drug. The victims now have the not just the trauma of the assault to worry about but also the worries of unprotected sex and maybe pregnancy to deal with.

Tips to help prevent being drugged by date rape drugs