I SINGLE LIFE

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

OF THE

WRONG KIND

T

he court room is called to
order.
Oakland County Circuit
Judge Hilda Gage presiding.
The issue: Date Rape.
Lisa and David (not their real
names), teenagers living in Oakland
County, have known each other for
more than four years. Their families
are close friends. Last spring, Lisa of-
fered to help David move into a new
apartment down the street. They
spent the day and much of the even-
ing together. They laughed, they
drank and then they went parking.
What began as an innocent after-
noon turned into a torrid sexual scene
in a parking lot behind a factory in
Keego Harbor. And, while Lisa ad-
mits her willingness to spend time

106

FRIDAY, OCT. 30, 1987

LILA ORBACH

Special to The Jewish News

with David and even park with him,
she claims she wasn't willing to "go
all the way" — to have sex. David
claims she was willing and even ask-
ed for sex.
In any case, they did go all the
way, and that's how the police found
them, naked and shaken up as the
squad car shined its lights in their
direction. Clearly frightened and
slightly bruised, Lisa ran to the police
car screaming, "He raped me. He
raped me!'
The issue ended up in court.
According to state law, rape or
criminal sexual conduct is sexual in-
tercourse without consent and chief-
ly by force or deception. The severity
of the crime depends on the amount
of force, penetration, and injury. And, _

though most of us have images of rape
happening only in dark parking lots
by armed and dirty strangers, the
truth is rape can happen anywhere
with anyone. Studies indicate that
date rape occurs all over the country
in every socioeconomic group and at
every age. The main victims, however,
are women between 15 and 24. And
the age of the average rapist is 15 to
25.
If two people go out on a date, even
if they've known each other for years,
and one forces the other to have sex-
ual intercourse, it's rape.
Date rape, the act of rape by an ac-
quaintance or even someone thought
to be a friend, is a subject reported
more and more these days — not
because it's happening more, but