Student survivors expose three faces of date rape

The idea of rape is undeniably ugly in black and white. But somehow issues of acquaintance rape inhabit a boundless gray area spanning the spectrum of beliefs in sexual relations. Each instance is clouded by questions of intent and interpretation. A simple definition of acquaintance rape seems inadequate in the face of the reality: forced or manipulated sexual contact or intercourse by a friend or acquaintance.

Even statistics tell only a partial story of acquaintance rape at universities across America: one-fifth of college women experience forced sex by someone they know, and more than 80 percent of all rapes are acquaintance rapes (according to the National Institutes of Health Study and the US Department of Justice). At Yale, the statistics seem more reassuring at face value. No incidents of rape have been reported to the University Police department so far in 1996. An untold number of incidents are excluded from this statistic, however; they are either handled by Yale's Executive Committee for disciplinary action or simply dropped because of lack of evidence, publicity-wary authorities, or the victim's own shame. "When I talk to women's groups, they cannot believe that the official rape statistics at Yale are so low. They've heard of many more incidents by word of mouth. But people have to realize that acquaintance rape is almost never reported to the police," Yale Police Sergeant Patrick Wrinn said.

Amid these ambiguities, the only tangibles are often the lives disrupted by an alleged assault. In the following accounts, three female undergraduates tell of their experience with date rape. To protect their identities, their names have been witheld. Several common strands run through these accounts: the daunting prospect of reporting the violation, the survivors' former denial that rape could happen to them at Yale, and their tragic realization that fellow students could perpetrate it.

(See Date Rape)