ROCKPORT – A pair of sexual assault professionals speaking at a local forum Tuesday warned parents and educators of the growing “date rape phenomenon” among teenagers.

Rachel Linton and Annmarie Fitzpatrick of the Winthrop-based Sexual Assault Crisis & Support Center, serving Knox, Waldo and southern Kennebec counties, addressed a gathering of 11 at Camden Hills Regional High School on prevention of alcohol- and drug-related sexual assaults to middle school and high school youths.

Five Town Communities That Care, a nonprofit organization formed in 2003 to promote healthful youth development and to reduce problem adolescent behavior, sponsored the forum. The five-town group serves Camden, Rockport, Lincolnville, Hope and Appleton.

Community coordinator Dalene Dutton said she invited the Crisis Center after hearing about “local teenagers’ parties and the liberties people were taking at them.”

“Date rape is a crime, involving the act of forcing someone into having sex. It is usually committed by someone you know,” Fitzpatrick said. “It is a violation of your personal rights and safety, and it causes great emotional and maybe physical injury.”

“Usually this occurs when two people are on a date or after they have agreed to do something together like going to the movies, shopping or to dinner,” Fitzpatrick said.

Some of the drugs used by rapists result in loss of memory. Perpetrators can slip a drug into someone’s drink to help a victim feel euphoric and susceptible to sexual advances. Common drugs used besides alcohol are Rohypnol, known on the street as “Mexican Valium,” ketamine (ketamine hydrochloride), called “Super K,” and GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate), also known as “Georgia Home Boy” or “Grievous Bodily Harm.”

Because many rape victims feel ashamed of what has happened to them, they do not want to talk about it and keep the details inside, leading to loss of trust, fear, depression, self-mutilation, self-hatred, eating disorders, low self-esteem and suicide.

An advocacy team helps victims lift the unpleasant memories from the dark by talking them out.

Fitzpatrick urged people to read “Speak,” a 2001 novel by Laurie Halse-Anderson. Melinda, the story’s narrator, is a high school freshman ostracized by her classmates after they learn that she has called the police and got everyone arrested at a seniors’ end-of-summer party.

For several months Melinda is too ashamed to speak to tell anyone why she called police – that a popular senior raped her at the party. A subsequent attack by the same boy drives Melinda finally to speak out to tell what happened.

Citing national statistics, Fitzpatrick said that one in four girls and one in seven boys will be sexually assaulted by the age of 18, and one in three women and one in five men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime.

She said that the majority of perpetrators are heterosexual men, and victims feel guilty if someone of the same sex has violated them.

“Just because a woman has an orgasm or a man ejaculates doesn’t mean they liked the experience,” she said. Perpetrators often know which body buttons to push to arouse someone, she added.

About 75 percent of sexual assaults involve drugs and alcohol, Fitzpatrick said.

“When I go to a hospital to see a rape victim, that person is usually between the age of 15 and 20,” Fitzpatrick said.

“Sexual violence is a startling experience that unfortunately faces children at all grade levels,” added Linton.

“About 81 percent of students in grades six-12 say they have experienced some form of sexual harassment during school,” Linton said.

The agency is seeking to organize local sexual response teams to help out after an attack. A team consists of residents from judicial, law enforcement, medical and advocacy occupations.

“We come together as a team to help meet the needs of the victim,” Fitzpatrick said.

“If an eighth-grade girl were accosted, a team would intervene depending on the degree of the assault,” she said.

“If we’re talking a gross sexual assault, it would be reported to the police, and they would help her get to the hospital,” she said.

A sexual assault examiner, who is a specialized physician assistant trained in evidence collection, would be called in along with an advocate from the center. The examination is free of charge to the victim or his or her family.

After the exam is done, and the evidence is collected, the advocate follows the victim through the whole system, including an interview with a law enforcement official.

Anyone interested in serving on a sexual assault team may call the crisis center at 377-1010. The center will provide training.