What is Sexual Assault?
The United States Department of Justice defines Sexual Assault as "means any nonconsensual sexual act proscribed by Federal, tribal, or State law, including when the victim lacks capacity to consent."
Though it is hard to define depending on which state you reside in, though the crime usually falls into one of three categories. (Jennifer Gentile Long, the chief executive officer of AEquitas: The Prosecutors' Resource on Violence Against Women, a global project she co-founded in April 2009, tells SELF those include:)
Penetration crimes
Of a body part by another body part (i.e., penal penetration of mouth, anus, vagina)
Of a body part by an object
Contact with genitalia, breast, buttocks, or other intimate body parts
Exposure of genitalia, breast, buttocks or other intimate body parts
