[Sundae]

Date rape is considered a category of its own because the victim knows the rapist, has consented to go out with him, has probably had a few drinks with him/ had dinner/ danced, may have agreed to a lift home from him, invited him in for coffee/ agreed to stay over in his spare room etc etc. Not all of the above will have taken place of course, but it is entirely separate to a situation where a woman is assaulted by a complete stranger for the sole purpose of violent enforced intercourse.

With date rape, the act of intercourse is rarely in question, it is the consent which is questioned. It is unlikely that in a "normal" (sorry, couldn't think of a better term) rape, the rapist will try to claim the woman consented.

Lucky to avoid....? Perhaps a flatmate came home unexpectedly, perhaps the woman managed to get out of a car where a man was pressuring her, perhaps the woman locked herself into a room to avoid a drunken man or even managed to clock him one on the nose in order to convince him what "No" meant.

I'd suggest a near-miss is a situation where a woman has felt under threat and that there is a serious potential that she will be physically overpowered, but for whatever reason no intercourse has actually taken place.