What is Date Rape?

“Date Rape” is the term used when rape or sexual assault occurs during or after an arranged social occasion, for example like a movie or dinner date, or attending a party together.

Sometimes date rape involves the victim having their drink spiked with “date rape drugs” such as rohypnol, GHB, or ketamine, each of which only take between 15 and 30 minutes to have an effect.

Always be aware of drink spiking, and don’t accept drinks from others, make sure you open any containers yourself, keep your drink with you at all times, don’t share drinks, and don’t drink anything that tastes or smells not quite right (sometimes GHB makes drinks taste salty).

If you feel drunk and you haven’t had that much to drink, tell someone, and get help right away.

If you think it’s possible that you’ve been drugged (you may wake up feeling hungover and have no memory of what happened, or your clothes may be torn or not on right, or if you feel like you have had sex but cannot remember it), you should get medical help right away, and call the Police and tell them what you remember.

In Tasmania you can contact the Sexual Assault Support Service on their rape crisis response number which operates 24/7 on 03 62311817.

You can also call and speak with a counsellor 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by calling the nationwide 1800Respect helpline on 1800 737 732.