ARNOLD S. KAHN AND VIRGINIA ANDREOLI MATHIE
Until recently rape was defined in the United States as forcible sexual intercourse by a man against a woman. In almost all cases, it was assumed the victim and assailant were strangers. In the last 3 decades, feminist scholars (e. g., Brownmiller, 1975; Millet, 1970) and researchers (e. g., Burt, 1980; Koss &. Oros, 1982) have determined that most rape victims know the identity of their attacker. Indeed, as a result of this research, three new phrases—date rape, acquaintance rape, and marital rape—have come into our language. Most states now define rape as vaginal, anal, or oral intercourse against a person’s consent. Although rape has taken on new definitions by scholars, researchers, and legal experts, the lay public may not
We wish to thank the following individuals who were members of our research team between 1991 and 1996. Without their contributions our research could never have been completed. Sarah Baker, Shera Beadner, Paula Beeghly, Suzanne Blaisdell, Kimberly Bradley, Matthew Bruffey, Rima Bruno, Jennifer Bumfield, Susan Cather, Linh Chau, Lisa Cherry, Sarah Cheverton, Lori Dolby, Gina Feria, Debra Flickstein, Kristi Graves, Corinne Gregory, Traci Hagie, Jen Haley, Carrie Hartwell, Kathryn Hastings, Kelly Heiges, Denise Higgins, Crystal Hill, Hannah Hinely, Emily Impett, Heather Jacobs, Christine Lally, Kristi Linn, Anne McCarthy, Kathleen Palm, Dan Schaeffer, Michael Schmitt, Elaine Schoka, Wendy Schuyler, Brookie Scholten, Judith Schor, Stacey Sheetz, Martha Shute, Katie Stover, Julie Stuckey, Megan Sullivan, Marian Taliaferro, Phil Travers, Jenny Walton, Lorrin Wolf, Marchelle Yoch.
recognize acquaintance and date rape as acts of rape. In this chapter we survey the research regarding what has been called the hidden or unacknowledged rape victim (Koss, 1985, 1988). Unacknowledged rape victims are women who have had an experience that would legally be classified as rape, but who do not consider themselves rape victims. We review research that has been conducted from two paradigms, logical positivism and social constructionism, and try to show how the different research paradigms provide different kinds of knowledge regarding rape acknowledgment.