Rape Is Not a Metaphor

PHARMACEUTICAL RAPE is not a metaphor for sexual rape. It is a serious, life-altering violation with parallels to child sexual abuse and rape. This is a new definition meant to challenge the current, widely accepted societal assumptions about pharmaceutical harms, their prevalence, causes and consequences. It provides an alternative framework for defining and interpreting serious adverse events that are prevalent in society and rooted in corporate pharmaceutical behavior. Through this definition it is hoped that pharmaceutical violence will begin to be publicly recognized as the serious public health problem that it is.