Sexual assault: According to the Office on Violence Against Women, the term “sexual assault” means any nonconsensual sexual act proscribed by Federal, tribal, or State law, including when the victim lacks capacity to consent.xix State laws vary in the definitions used for sexual assault.
Sexual misconduct: Terminology typically related to institutions of higher education. One definition is that sexual misconduct is a broad term encompassing any unwelcome behavior of a sexual nature that is committed without consent or by force, intimidation, coercion, or manipulation. xxSexual misconduct can be committed by a person of any gender, and it can occur between people of the same or different gender. xx
Sex act (or sexual act): Contact between the penis and the vulva or the penis and the anus involving penetration, however slight; contact between the mouth and the penis, vulva, or anus; or penetration of the anal or genital opening of another person by a hand, finger, or other object.
Consent: Freely given agreement to have sexual intercourse or sexual contact as indicated by words or overt actions by a person legally and functionally competent. See the What SARTs Should Know About Sexual Violence section of the SART Toolkit for additional information related to the cultural and legal significance of consent.
Sexual violence is defined as a sexual act that is committed or attempted by another person without freely given consent of the victim or against someone who is unable to consent or refuse. It includes forced or alcohol/ drug facilitated penetration of a victim; forced or alcohol/drug facilitated incidents in which the victim was made to penetrate a perpetrator or someone else; non-physically pressured unwanted penetration; intentional sexual touching; or non-contact acts of a sexual nature. Sexual violence can also occur when a perpetrator forces or coerces a victim to engage in sexual acts with a third party. Sexual violence involves a lack of freely given consent as well as situations in which the victim is unable to consent or refuse.xx
Sexual abuse takes place when a person knowingly causes another person to engage in a sex act by threatening or placing the other person in fear, or if someone engages in a sexual act with a person who is incapable of appraising the nature of the act or unable to give consent. (https://www.nsvrc.org/sarts/toolkit/2-1)
Sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature. (https://www.eeoc.gov/sexual-harassment)
Rape is “The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”
For the first time ever, the new definition includes any gender of victim and perpetrator, not just women being raped by men. It also recognizes that rape with an object can be as traumatic as penile/vaginal rape. This definition also includes instances in which the victim is unable to give consent because of temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity. Furthermore, because many rapes are facilitated by drugs or alcohol, the new definition recognizes that a victim can be incapacitated and thus unable to consent because of ingestion of drugs or alcohol. (https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/blog/updated-definition-rape)
Person-first language: This document will use “person-first” language to honor the various ways people self-identify and to emphasize that a behavior or experience does not define the whole person. Descriptions of someone’s behavior such as “the person who sexually abused a child,” “the child who was sexually abused” or the “child who was harmed” are used rather than defining an individual by their actions or what happened to them (e.g., offender, abuser, or victim, survivor.)