FAQs - Respekt

What is sexual violence, sexual assault and rape?

There are many different types of sexual assault and rape. They should all be taken very seriously. Below, you can find different types of sexual violence, sexual assault and rape:

Rape: Forced sexual intercourse, including vaginal, anal, or oral penetration. Penetration maybe by a body part or an object. Rape victims may be forced through threats or physical means.In about 8 out of 10 rapes, perpetrators don’t use any weapon other than physical force.Anyone may be a victim of rape: Women or men, adults or children, straight or gay.

Acquaintance rape: Rape imposed by someone that the victim knows, e.g. a friend,date, acquaintance etc

Stranger Rape: Occurs when there has been no prior contact between a perpetrator and survivor. There are 3 major categories:

  1. Blitz sexual assault: The perpetrator rapidly and brutally assaults the victim with no prior contact. Blitz assaults usually occur at night in a public place.
  2. Contact sexual assault: The suspect contacts the victim and tries to gain her or his trust and confidence before assaulting her or him. Contact perpetrators pick their victims in bars or lure them into their cars. In general, the perpetrator tries to coerce the victim into sexual intercourse.

Child sexual abuse: Sexual contact by force, trickery, or bribery where there is an imbalance in age, size, power, or knowledge.

Dating and domestic violence: Any act, attempt, or threat of force by a family member or intimate partner against another family member. Dating and domestic violence occurs in all

socioeconomic, educational, racial, and age groups. Issues of power and control are at the heart of family violence. The perpetrator uses acts of violence and a series of behaviours to gain power and control.

Drug facilitated assault: When drugs or alcohol compromise an individual’s ability to consent to sexual activity. Perpetrators use drugs and alcohol to minimize the victim’s ability to resist and their memories of the assault. Alcohol remains the most commonly used substance in sexual crimes. However, perpetrators use other substances, too, including: Rohypnol, GHB, GBL, etc.

Hate Crime: The victimization of an individual based on that individual’s race, religion, national origin, ethnic identification, gender, or sexual orientation. Any targeted group can

experience violence, rape, and sexual assault as a form of hate crime.

Incest: Sexual contact between persons who are so closely related that their marriage is illegal (e.g., parents/children, brothers/sisters uncles/aunts and nieces/nephews, etc.). This usually takes the form of an older family member sexually abusing a child or adolescent. Many experts consider incest to be a particularly damaging form of sexual abuse. This is because individuals whom the victim trusts and depends on are the perpetrators. In addition, there is often a lack of familial support. There is even sometimes pressure to keep silent from family members because they fear the family will disintegrate if the truth comes out.

Male sexual assault: Male victims of sexual assault are an often forgotten population being unseen, neglected, and underserved.

Partner rape: sexual acts committed without a person’s consent and/or against a person’s will when the perpetrator is the individual’s current partner or previous partner (married or

not), or co-habitator. Many times, there is not any physical violence associated with sexual assault, but that doesn’t mean that it does not happen. Many survivors also experience

battering or severe physical violence along with sexual violence.

Sexual exploitation by a helping professional: Sexual contact of any kind between a helping professional (doctor, therapist, teacher, priest, professor, police officer, lawyer, etc.) and a client/patient.
Sexual harassment: Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favours, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. With harassment, submission to or rejection of

such conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s work or school performance. It also creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work or school environment.

 Hostile environment: When unwelcome, severe and persistent sexual conduct on the part of a perpetrator creates an uncomfortable and hostile environment (e.g. jokes,

lewd postures, leering, inappropriate touching, rape, etc.). This type of harassment constitutes up to 95% of all sexual harassment cases.
Quid pro quo: When a perpetrator makes conditions of employment contingent on the victim providing sexual favours.

Stalking: Occurs when an individual follows a pattern of behaviour that leaves someone else feeling afraid, nervous, harassed, or in danger. This presents itself as unwanted contact like calling or texting repeatedly or following the victim around and lurking on them

I have been raped. What should I do?

Rape is a traumatising experience, and it is never the victim’s fault. Being a victim of rape has nothing to do with what someone was wearing or where they were. If one is a victim of rape in Kenya, there are laws to ensure that the victim gets justice for the injustice perpetrated upon him/her by the perpetrator. However, without taking proper steps after the ordeal, the victim may end up losing the case due to lack of evidence or poor defence on the side of the prosecution.

So what does one do?

Do not take a bath or change clothes as these two actions may alter the evidence that the police may use for prosecution purposes.

Report the incident to a police station immediately. At the police station, you will be given a form that should be filled by a qualified medical officer.

Report to the nearest health facility. While it may be very difficult, it is important to be open about the ordeal. At the health facility one is entitled to:

  1. A full physical exam including the genito-anal area with a high vaginal swab taken
  2. Immediate medical attention to any wounds sustained
  3. Post exposure prophylaxis for HIV
  4. Prophylaxis against other sexually transmitted infections
  5. Emergency contraception to prevent pregnancy
  6. Hepatitis B virus vaccination
  7. Psychosocial support

All the above services are FREE of charge. Most of the interventions listed above have a time limit of efficacy, hence reporting early is key. Optimally, a rape is reported immediately after when the physical exam might result in forensic evidence.

Remember to reach out to family and friends for support. Do not suffer alone

Hotline for gender based violence, sexual assault and rape

If you are a victim of gender based violence, sexual assault or rape, do not suffer alone. You can contact Gender-based Violence Recovery Center (GVRC), which is a non-​profit, non-​partisan; char­i­ta­ble trust of the Nairobi Women’s Hos­pi­tal (NWH). NWH a pri­vate insti­tu­tion that spe­cialises in obstet­rics and gynae­col­ogy ser­vices and seeks to pro­vide holis­tic care to women and their families, including emo­tional, phys­i­cal, sex­ual and psy­cho­log­i­cal abuse.

Contact Gender based Violence Revovery Center:

Emergency cases, hotline: +254709667000 or +254719638006
Website: http://gvrc.or.ke/

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