General support is provided for the evolutionary theory of sexual assault (rape) and has thereby indirectly challenged the more popular feminist theory. At the core of the evolution theory is the premise that physical assault is one of several tactics that both sexes sometimes use to obtain mating opportunities, although men have been naturally selected for using it to a greater degree than have women. Roughly 30 percent of the women and 12 percent of the men in the study reported having been the victim of a sexual assault sometime in their lives. Of the assault victims, approximately 23 percent of both sexes stated that they had sexual intercourse with their assaulters on at least one subsequent occasion. The possibility that sexual assault (rape) could be comprehended as an evolved reproductive strategy has been given considerable attention in recent decades. This study's primary objective was to explore the relevance of evolutionary lines of reasoning for understanding sexual assault, and secondarily to contrast this reasoning with that supported by the feminist theory. The study consisted of 3,978 college men and 7,817 college women from 20 United States and 2 Canadian universities between 1988 and 1998 who responded to a questionnaire concerning their ever having been involved in a sexual assault, either as a perpetrator or as a victim. Tables and references