# Sexual assault is too damn vague
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-assault-is-too-damn-vague/647992
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 22, 2013, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-assault-is-too-damn-vague/647992 "2013-01-22T11:14:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2013, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-assault-is-too-damn-vague/647992/1 "2013-01-22T11:14:21Z")
Is there any particular reason the media has glommed on to sexual assault as a term? It is annoyingly vague, it could mean anything from a grope to violent forced penetrative rape. It would be like using assault for everything from a slap to an almost fatal beating.
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2013, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-assault-is-too-damn-vague/647992/2 "2013-01-22T12:08:26Z")
Because some days, you just don’t want that kind of detail. The laws of the states (as always) vary, and have more distinctions.
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### Author:  [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2013, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-assault-is-too-damn-vague/647992/3 "2013-01-22T12:57:28Z")
Then go read Penthouse. Not every news story has to satiate the public’s prurient appetite. :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2013, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-assault-is-too-damn-vague/647992/4 "2013-01-22T13:43:52Z")
That’s what it’s called. When my daughter was raped the charge was Aggravated Sexual Assault so there’s still a distinction.
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### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2013, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-assault-is-too-damn-vague/647992/5 "2013-01-22T13:50:37Z")
At common law, “rape” had a very specific definition: the sexual intercourse by a male, with a female not his wife, committed by force against the will of the female.
Because the will of the people in this day and age is to criminalize sexual assaults that do not fall into that narrow scope, many states have crafted broader sexual assault laws. Although the name sounds vague, the statute and caselaw of the state in question will typically paint a clear picture of the prohibited conduct.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-assault-is-too-damn-vague/647992/6 "2013-01-22T13:52:53Z")
Its a legal term. In my state it means a very specific thing. Along with aggrevated sexual assault, sexual contact, aggrevated sexual contact. The word rape is not in our law. If you read the definitions it is not vague at all.
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### Author:  [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2013, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-assault-is-too-damn-vague/647992/7 "2013-01-22T17:30:43Z")
Plus, in common usage (as opposed to legal usage) just the term “assault” is equally vague. It could mean anything from me shoving you or punching you one time to me sticking a gun in your face or working you over with a baseball bat.
Sometimes broad terminology like “sexual assault,” “assault,” or “accident” are useful.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-assault-is-too-damn-vague/647992/8 "2013-01-22T18:37:25Z")
> [@grude](#):
>
> It would be like using assault for everything from a slap to an almost fatal beating.
Both of those are assaults.