Sexual Assault

Any unwanted sexual activity carried out by force, manipulation or coercion. If you are raped or sexually assaulted, it is NEVER your fault even if you were drunk or using drugs.

• Rape is always a violent act carried out in a sexual manner. Rape or sexual assault are about power and control, not about sex or love
• You must be 18 years old to say ‘yes’ to sex, no matter how old the other person thinks you are.
• If one or both of you are under 18 years old, the older one can be charged with sexual assault if you have sex or if you are sexually assaulted.
• A person must be capable of agreeing to have sex. If you are drunk, drugged, passed out, or are disabled mentally or physically you may not be capable of saying ‘yes’ to sex. Having sex with you in these cases may be against the law.
• If you say ‘yes’ to having sex and then say ‘no’ and the other person won’t stop, it is sexual assault.

Rape or sexual assault is NEVER your fault even if you were drunk.

• It’s harder to say ‘no’ when you are drunk and it’s a lot easier for someone to rape you or to ignore you when you say ‘no’ when you are drunk.
• It’s easy for someone to add drugs that you can’t taste to your drink. These drugs can make it so you don’t remember what happened or so you pass out. Then you have no way to stop them from raping or sexually assaulting you.
• You may have been sexually assaulted while drinking if:
  • You have a gut feeling you had sex but can’t remember clearly what happened.
  • You remember part of the night but not all of it.
  • Feel like you were or still are a whole lot more drunk or affected than you normally would be.
  • Wake up in a strange place or with someone you barely know and don’t remember how you got there

If you were drinking underage or using illegal drugs and want to report a sexual assault to law enforcement, the police will only investigate the sexual assault not your use of alcohol or drugs, though they may ask you questions about it.