These factors may include the age of the victim, the perpetrator’s age, mental capacity, the ability under law to give consent, the use or threat of a weapon, physical injury to the victim, spousal or another legal relationship and so on. Many states now use the term “sexual assault” rather than rape in order to differentiate between a variety of legal variables regarding severity of punishment and the significance of the physical and psychological threat to the victim and/or the public. Social stigma remains a strong force in the underreporting of all forcible rapes, and studies indicate the crime is substantially underreported when it involves persons of the same gender. However, the number of reported rapes among persons of the same sex is steadily rising. Rape is usually thought of as a male-on-female crime, and this column will lean that way as well. Responding to a rape victim: Best practices for officers