Date Rape and Dating Violence
Date Rape and Dating Violence In today’s society, just about everybody goes out on date to get to know people and to see if they are compatible with each other. For most people, if the time spent with the other person was enjoyable there usually will be other dates with that person, but then there are others who only want to go out on one date and to have that end in a night of sex, these types of dates are called one-night stands. Looking at these two types of dating scenarios one would think that the one-night stand would be more prone to date rape or maybe even some dating violence. That is usually not the case. Rape and intimate violence can happen to anyone at anytime. According to the Bureau of Justice in 2000, 1 in 3 teenagers have experienced violence and women ages 16 to 24 years are the highest to experience violence, roughly 20 per 1000 women. Date rape and dating violence can be thought of as two separate issues, but most times they are interrelated and therefore treated as one. Usually when violence is involved, the situation escalates to the point where many things can and will happen. An example situation could be someone has been dating a person for a month, and the female had decided to wait a while before she has sex with him. The guy could get impatient and take matters into his own hands and force the issue. If the female is adamant about not having sex, an argument would ensue, and that would lead to the guy trying to force himself on the victim and if she fights him, he will smack or hit her to get his way. This example showed intimate violence and rape, though it is not considered “date” rape, and how a situation escalates that will result in many acts of violence toward the victim. Many people believe that date rape and dating violence or intimate violence will not happen to them. That is a naive and immature attitude. Date rape can happen to anybody, especially for those that date, and especially women between the ages
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