Groping Called 'Sexual Assault' By Media

You know, i'm sure it's not nice to have your privates groped by some weirdo on the street but lately the media keeps calling these situations : "sexual assault".

I read a new article just yesterday which said there were '3 sexual assaults downtown.' I was understandably alarmed and then I read the 'piece' and all three women were groped whilst on the street. I"m sorry but Groping is not rape and it is alarmist and alarming to state it that way.

 

... well stated and i agree implicitly, flutterby. most of what the cops say is total garbage and should just be ignored ...

 

Neither the police nor the media stated that these incidents were rape. They only said that they were sexual assault, and unwanted groping absolutely falls under the explicit legal definition of sexual assault as defined by Justice BC: Sexual assault is any unwanted sexual contact that happens without the consent of both people. It can range from unwanted sexual touching to forced sexual intercourse.

 

That being said, while technically accurate: vaguely referring to these incidents as sexual assaults rather than unwanted groping may imply more severe assaults, like rape, in people's minds and there's really no reason as to why the media statements couldn't be more specific as to just what these incidents were right off the bat.

 

Well if they call rape 'sexual assault' and they call groping 'sexual assault', i'd say there's a problem.

 

Sexual assault is a broader term that encompasses the other words. I don't see an issue here at all.

 

As a female member of the public, I think I have a right to know whether a serial 'Groper' is on the loose or a serial 'Rapist.' This is the issue.

 

Justice BC defines sexual assault as any form of unwanted sexual contact without the mutual content of both parties, which broadly covers anything from groping at one extreme to outright rape at the other extreme. It's a broad category that encompasses a wide variety of crimes that are strictly linked by their unwanted sexual nature.

To make a parallel: An act of theft could be anything from shop-lifting a candy bar from a convenience store, pick-pocketing someone's wallet, breaking-and-entering, armed robbery, or corporate embezzlement. All are unquestionably acts of theft, but vary wildly in how egregious an act of theft they are in terms of amount stolen, violence used, etc. Likewise a physical assault could be anything from a punch in the face to beating someone nearly-to-death. One is far worse than the other, but both are still assaults.

It's technically quite correct for the police and the media to refer to these unwanted gropings as sexual assaults, as they absolutely fall under that broad category of crime. They never said that the groper was a rapist. They said that he committed sexual assaults, which the media pieces in question specified were gropings. Hypothetically, if the media pieces didn't explicitly specify just what these assaults were: then arguments about potential alarmism and not properly informing the public could be made. Also hypothetically, not notifying the public at all would have been much worse on the part of the police and the media and that's the scenario that would have truly deserved public outrage.

While a serial rapist would certainly be more severe than a serial groper, the public also still has the right to know if a serial groper is on the loose--this person is running around grabbing people inappropriately and unwantedly for sexual purposes, and who's to say that isn't just the start and that he might attempt an even worse assault with a later victim? To cite other recent events as an example, the residents of UBC certainly need to be informed by the police and the media about the increasingly brazen Peeping Tom on their campus despite no assaults having yet been committed by that individual. If anything, people should be complaining if the police and the media had remained silent about these incidents.

 

So your issue with the media reports is that they are not specific enough about the nature of these sexual assaults?

 

Generalities don't make people less alarmed, they make people more. And yes Stuntman that is the idea.

 

... groping is an act of aggression, not sex. groping takes place in sports, in wrestling and football for instance, but it has nothing to do with sex ...

 

Unwelcome touching of privates unquestionably qualifies as sexual assault or molestation, and is a jailing offense. Or should be. You must be thinking of rape when you say it is not sexual assault. No, it does not rise to the level of rape, just as beating someone up is not murder. But any assault needs carry severe jail terms.