... is unlikely to be considered in any way responsible but in those cases where rape occurs between friends or casual acquaintances, the victim is likely to find herself under suspicion or held to be responsible to a greater or lesser extent (Katz & Mazur, 1979). Rape is an exceedingly traumatic experience for most women; victims have been found to suffer persistent effects for many years afterwards (Burgess & Holstrom, 1974; Morgan & Zedner, 1992). Post-traumatic stress disorder is more likely to develop following rape than from any other trauma (National Victim Centre, 1992). Date rape or acquaintance rape is traditionally thought to be less traumatic than "real" rape but it has been shown that these victims' show the same psychological stress as other rape victims (Coss & Cook, 1993). Characteristics of the rapist Rapists form a heterogeneous group of individuals and home, social, cultural and psychological factors combine in a variety ...

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