There's a huge variance to both classes of crime, and there's overlap. The central issue in torture is the complete and utter lack of control by the victim. Th

There's a huge variance to both classes of crime, and there's overlap. The central issue in torture is the complete and utter lack of control by the victim. That's what's truly violating. Knowing (or believing sufficiently strongly) that there's nothing you can do to stop this outrage. This can occur in many contexts, of which sexual assault is only one. I would classify someone breaking another person's fingers methodically while telling the victim that he wants to "hear the sound" as torture. There's a level of malice and pre-meditation that's not present in a quick breaking. I sometimes think that part of what makes rape worse for the victim is all of our societal hang-ups and power-mongering about sex. In part they're a throw-back to the macho idea of protecting women's purity, and that women who have been "taken" are somehow impure. Talk about screwing the victim twice. Yes, rape is very bad. But, society makes it worse by telling women that it's the worst thing that can happen to them (rather, than other torture or death, say).