Last week The Sydney Morning Herald reported on a man’s sentencing for the crime of attempting to have sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent. In the headline he was a “sex attacker”. In the article what he did was a “sex attack”. The words “attempted rape” did not appear anywhere in the article and neither the SMH nor the journalist were at fault for failing to use that phrase.
The word rape doesn’t exist in the NSW crimes act. It’s been replaced with “sexual assault” and “attempted sexual intercourse without consent”. These are words that mean rape or attempted rape without actually using those terms. The result of this that “rape” and “sex” have become interchangeable terms in media and public discussion of rape.
