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Home About Us Understanding Sexual Assault
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UNDERSTANDING SEXUAL ASSAULTDefinitions of Sexual Assault continue to change and evolve over time. In order to further our understanding of Sexual Assault, we must examine how it is defined linguistically, legally, culturally, and personally. The language we use to explore sexual assault on this page and in our programming is intentional. Many terms may appear to be interchangeable, but this is not always the case; to learn the difference between terms as we have used them, please take a look at our definitions.DePaul recognizes that there are many ways to perpetrate sexual violence
and it is our belief that regardless of how or why sexual violence occurs,
there is nothing a person can do to deserve or provoke an assault.
Many people have an idea of what a victim will look like, what a perpetrator will
look like, and what a sexual assault will look like; we want to broaden these
understandings to include physical force, intimidation, manipulation and/or
coercion, as well as a combination of any and all of these actions.
This may include the voluntary or involuntary use of drugs and/or alcohol
that renders the survivor unable to give consent. Though not all coercive
behaviors can be identified as illegal, most remain morally or ethically
problematic and undermine the sense of trust and loyalty that is vital
to DePaul's mission of providing a safe environment for all students.
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