Another word that needs not be used

I have grown to absolutely abhor the way in which some feel that the word "rape" is appropriate to describe things that aren't rape. To me, it is another example of inappropriate equivocation that cheapens the act of rape. To my knowledge (and the dictionary's) the word "rape" should be used only in two instances. The first is to describe the act of forcible intercourse upon an unwilling individual. The second is to describe a violent seizure, abuse, or plundering of something (i.e. the rape of a countryside). You can see in the examples given in the link that there is, at best, a conflation of the two definitions, and at worst a blatant disrespect for the actual act of person-to-person rape.

http://jezebel.com/5409284/figure-of-speech 

Finally, frequent usage of derogatory or pejorative language has been shown to cause more negative attitudes toward the target of the comment (Simon & Greenberg, 1996). Moreover, there continue to be staggering statistics regarding instances of rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence in this country especially in colleges and universities (see RAINN website). None of these statistics includes "President Obama raping the American people's values" "Big businesses being raped" or "the private sector being raped by the government", because those are hyperboles that are being used to shock and therefore desensitize people to the actual issue of rape. This is sexism. This is unreported or confronted sexism.