Forced Sexual Intercourse in Intimate Relationships

Book excerpt: Published in 1997. Literature is reviewed relating to those behaviours which have traditionally been referenced as date rape, acquaintance rape, or rape by a friend or someone known to the victim. Forced sexual intercourse in intimate relationships is placed in both an historical context and a conceptual context. Limited published and unpublished data from the authors research are included in appropriate chapters. The theory chapter ends with the presentation of a rudimentary model for examining forced sexual intercourse in intimate relationships developed by the authors. The topics of domestic violence, courtship violence and forced sexual intercourse are highly controversial and tend to be dominated by those who are promoting specific political agendas. Much of the work in this field has been written from the 'feminist' perspective with recent works appearing which oppose the feminist perspective. This work is neither 'feminist' nor anti-feminist in its approach. It is analytical and, as much as possible in a politized environment, analytical and neutral.