Although many people take ‘rape’ and ‘sexual assault’ and sexual abuse to mean the same thing, and think that only women or females can be victims, yes, there is a significant difference between them, and yes, men and males can also be victims of abuse.
Rape has more to do with the female gender, as it is the purposeful penetration of the vagina with a penis without a woman’s consent.
Sexual assault or abuse is a more gender-neutral term, as both genders can be victims of sexual abuse. It does not also have to be the use of a penis, as it covers everything that anybody can use to sexually harm a person.
Sexual assault also covers the mental or emotional aspect of victims, which may just be manipulating or forcing someone to watch or participate in damaging sexual activities.
Generally, sexual abuse is the physical, psychological, and emotional violation in the form of a sexual act, inflicted on someone without their consent, especially a child or minor.
Not all sexual assaults might be violent or cause bodily harm, but they can cause drastic distress, emotional harm, and injuries that can’t be seen, all of which can take a long time to recover from.
The only thing separating sex from rape or sexual assault is consent. People are allowed to do whatever they want with their bodies but it becomes an issue when one of the parties involved was not comfortable with the sexual act.
Consent is different for children. In the UK the age of consent is 16 (the legal age when people can engage in sexual activity). The law is there to protect children from abuse or exploitation, rather than to prosecute under-16s who take part in sexual activity that everyone has agreed to.
In the United States, only adults can give consent for sex, which signifies that parties should be at least 18. In many other countries too, 18 is the lawful age to give consent. Anything below, the person is considered a minor which can lead to a sexual abuse case, even if there was consent.
It’s widely thought that in most cases of rape, the offender is a stranger. The truth is the majority of people who commit rape know their victims and, in some cases, are relatives, friends, or work colleagues, although sometimes the perpetrator is just a sick psychopath.
Rape within marriage and relationships can also occur. Remember, sex is about consent. If your partner has forced you into having sex with them, this is rape. The law treats this as seriously as any other rape or sexual assault.