Lansing — They could be the people standing next to you at the bar or friends from history class. They could be serial rapists.

"My fear is that term 'date rape' is a way for our society not to take rape as seriously," said David Lisak, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Lisak researches the causes and consequences of interpersonal violence at the university and spoke at the Sexual Assault Summit on Wednesday in downtown Lansing.

The summit was hosted by State Rep. Tonya Schuitmaker along with the Michigan Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence and the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan.

It was held to bring policy makers accurate, up-to-date information about the topic of sexual assault, said Kathy Hagenian, executive policy director of the Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.

During the summit, speakers discussed rape stereotypes and rape prevention.

Lisak has been studying what he calls "the undetected rapist" for 20 years and said the media feeds public stereotypes of who rapists are and what they need to look out for. But he added that these perceptions are often untrue.

"The (rapists) come across very smooth, nice guy, not dangerous at all," Lisak said. "One of the key things, of course, is the tremendous amount of planning and meditation that goes into an assault. The rapist chooses a victim and sizes up his challenge."

In acquaintance rape, the victim often blames herself for being in the situation, said Suzanne Coats, executive director of Turning Point, Inc. — a domestic violence and sexual assault resource service in Mt. Clemens — and president of the Board of Directors for the Michigan Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Violence.

Coats spoke at the summit Wednesday and describes herself as a survivor.

She said for the victim, rape is the ultimate experience of terror.

"It's like going to the ocean for the first time, sticking your foot in and getting bitten by a shark," Coats said.

Over half of acquaintance rapes occur before the victim is 18 years old, and it can be devastating to development, she said.

Acute Trauma Phase is a consequence of rape that Coats described as "intense panic and fear lived with daily.

"In order to function in this world we really need to believe we are safe," she said. "Sexual assault is a life-changing event."

Debi Cain, executive director of the Michigan Domestic Violence Prevention and Treatment Board, has worked with sexual assault survivors for more than 25 years.

"Part of my interest in volunteering after college was based so much on what I'd seen," she said. "For so long there have been so many myths and stereotypes about rapists."

According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice, more than 94,000 women were the victims of forcible rape nationwide in 2004, a 4.9 percent increase from 2000.

From January to June 2005, 52 forcible rapes were reported in Lansing, according to the most recent statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Lisak said, at most, only 10 percent of rapists are convicted, and few are even caught.

"It's not the guy in the ski mask," he said. "A non-stranger serial rapist — that is the typical rapist."