Sexual assault, including rape

Sexual assault is any unwanted or forced sexual act, activity or behaviour. 

It can include anything sexual online or using a mobile phone. Sexual assault can include:

• touching any part of your body in a sexual way when you don’t want them to
• showing you their genitals or ‘flashing’
• watching you when you are naked or doing sexual things
• taking off a condom before or during sex without your permission
• posting sexual pictures of you on the internet when you don’t want them to
• making you watch or be in pornography (videos or photos of sex or sexual things)
• doing sexual things to you when you can’t make the kinds of choices you would normally make, including somebody coercing you. For example, when you:
  • are confused about what is happening or what you are agreeing to because of alcohol or drugs
  • feel pressured or manipulated
  • are asleep or have passed out or are unconscious
  • suffer a ‘freeze response’ and can’t move your body or talk
  • are too scared to resist for fear of being harmed
  • are outnumbered.

Rape is sexual intercourse with someone without their consent and by means of fear, force, or coercion.

Consent cannot be coerced or compelled by force, threat, deception or intimidation. If someone is incapacitated, they cannot give consent. Consent cannot be assumed based on silence, the absence of “no” or “stop,” the existence of a prior or current relationship, or prior sexual activity.

Rape is a criminal offence in Australia.