2. Race: Rapes are most frequently intraracial (within races), but interracial (between races) rapes have been on the rise. Age: Women between the ages of 16 and 20 are the more frequently raped than any other age group of women. Patterns of RapeInfluencing Factors JQ 2 Chapter 5
3. Situational factors: -Time of year -Acquaintance/Date Rapes -Stranger Rapes -Attackers look for similar characteristics in their victims Patterns of RapeInfluencing Factors- Continued JQ 3 Chapter 5
4. Gang rapes account for 40%+ rapes reported to police. Gang rapists are typically 14-19, from low-income families, and are members of street gangs. Solicit their victims in many ways: -Drive around looking for unsuspecting victim -May use force and weapons to kidnap victims -Victim has a “date” with gang member, she is then taken to a remote place where the gang rapes her Gang rapes take place at a variety of educational institutions. Gang Rape JQ 4 Chapter 5
5. Most frequent form of rape Victim knows her attacker Most frequently attackers use verbal aggression and psychological coercion to persuade the victim. More than half of all female college students experience sexual assault and 15% experience forcible rape at the hands of a date. The more sexually active the attacker is, the more likely he will be to date rape. Acquaintance/Date Rape JQ 5 Chapter 5
6. Gillen and Muncer (1995) set to find out the perceptions people view as causes of date rape, identification of relationship between causes, and differences in perceptions of date rape between men and women. Men and women had very different opinions about causes of rape. Men blamed date rape on women’s drunkenness and flirtatiousness while the women blamed it on men’s drunkenness and their need for domination. Perceptions of Causes of Date Rape JQ 6 Chapter 5
7. Rape-free schools: Imposes hefty penalties for committing rape. Rape-prone schools: Schools that are known for partying. Alcohol can certainly effect decision making. -Aggression is more socially acceptable of men. -Fraternities and comparable social organizations are thought to influence rape decisions. -Male athletes are more likely than any other male students to rape. Campus Rape JQ 7 Chapter 5
8. Do victims ask for it? Where does this concept come from? -The idea of victim precipitation is a “biased, male-centered view of the event”(Thio, p. 91). Many young adults feel it is acceptable to finish the sex act if the victim initially consents but changes her mind. Victim Precipitation JQ 8 Chapter 5
9. Survivor’s responses vary due to degree of violence in rape and whether the rape was committed by an acquaintance or stranger. Survivors may also suffer further abuse at the hands of the police and courts. Consequences of Rape for the VictimJQ 9 Chapter 5
10. All victims go through 2 phases of disorganization: -Acute disorganization: shock, humiliation, blame, embarrassment, and extreme fear -Lingering disorganization: phobic reactions such as fear of men and fear of sex (may last several months-years) The victims may take the event harder if there has been a life changing event within the past year, such as a divorce, death in the family, loss of job, etc. Victims suffer from greater rates of divorce and unemployment after the rape. Survivor’s Response JQ 10 Chapter 5
11. Victims of stranger rape: More likely to have persistent depression and fear Survivors of acquaintance rape: More likely to blame self and have more distrust for men Survivor Responses Continued JQ 11 Chapter 5
12. Police: -Accused of being insensitive to victims and asking inappropriate questions Courts: -Rapist is seen as “innocent until proven guilty” -Victim is seen as “guilty until proven innocent” Reporting to Police and Pressing Charges JQ 12 Chapter 5
13. Treating women like men’s property Husbands raping their wives Using women in masculinity contests Myth that women ask for it Sex researchers suggest anywhere from 30-60% of women have rape fantasies Socializing girls to be victims Social expectations Media Culture of Rape JQ 13 Chapter 5
14. “Women, by existing, triggers in men the desire to pursue ‘easy, anonymous, impersonal, encumbered sex’ with an ‘endless’ succession of women’”(Segal, 2001, p. 88-89; quoting Charles Darwin’s view or rape). Boys are taught that heterosexual activity makes they more manly. “Sexually motivated aggression may well provide some alleviation of men’s dread of their own weakness, while blaming and punishing women for its existence” (Segal, p. 89). Why Men Rape JQ 14 Chapter 5
15. Wartime has been a time when rape was accepted and encouraged throughout history. These rapes were dehumanizing and brutal. Some cultures believed that these women were now of no value. They were thrown out of their homes or even killed. The men of the families believed that the women brought dishonor and shame and thus were justified. Sexual violence increased during wartime and believed to be part of the conflict. “Least condemned and most silenced” 15 Chapter 5 Global Perspective on Wartime RapeMelinda Brown
16. In the United States, a woman is sexually assaulted or raped every six minutes. 85% of victims know their attackers and 84% of rapes will go unreported. 16 Chapter 5 Why Men Rape Woman MB
17. What are some of the perceived reasons men rape women? Personality defect – “sexual inadequacy” “a rapist cannot relate successfully to women” (Thio, p100-101) Inadequacy feeling leads to fantasies which leads to the act of rape Emotional disturbance – causes rapist to have difficulties with relationships which when under stress can lead to sexual violence. (Thio,p100) This theory defines only a small number of rapists. 17 Chapter 5 Psychological Theory: Sexual Inadequacy MB
18. Rape is higher in some societies than others. Why? Theorists believe sexual permissiveness is reason. When a man lives in a society that uses sex to sell, open to premarital sex, etc. get frustrated when told no. They take rejection personally. When a man lives in a society where it is wrong and frowned upon to have premarital sex, men see rejection in a different light. Hormones – men are flooded with them especially teenage boys thus is main cause associated with date rape. 18 Chapter 5 Social Psychological Theory: Sexual Permissiveness MB
19. Sexual inequality – rape is a way to show dominance, intimidation, and place women in society. Power – male over female Societies allow rapes as punishment and ceremonial rites Colleges that value masculinity and male dominance have higher numbers of rape (Thio, p102) Research shows that not all men gain sexual gratification during rape (no ejaculation) (Supriya) 19 Chapter 5 Feminist Theory: Gender Inequality MB
27. Reasons Public has little, no sympathy for convicts Rapists (in prison) go unpunished “Wolves” (rapist) are not segregated from “punks” (victims) Rape used as a prison-management tool to pacify violent inmates so that they willnot turn against the staff. 21 Chapter 5 Males as Victims cont. MB
28. Outside Prison 3.8% men suffer rape (Thio, p104) College survey say 12 to 48% men have had nonconsensual sex (not considered rape) Pleading, demands, blackmail 22 Chapter 5 Male as Victims cont. MB
29. Male vs female offenders Male usually strangers and use force Females usually acquaintances and use pressure Male victim acts same as female - shock, denial, shame, anger, depression 23 Chapter 5 Male as Victims cont MB
30. Women raping men If a woman can overpower a man rape is possible in sexual encounter (Thio, p105) Multiple attackers Older women with teenage boys, female babysitter forcing younger boy 24 Chapter 5 Male as Victims cont MB
31. Does not discriminate by race, class, age Rape because young victims unable to give consent 25 Chapter 5 Child Molestation MB
32. Basic Facts: Girls more likely than boys to be molested Majority of molesters are male Molesters more likely to be acquaintances to victims Molesters usually unmarried, rarely dates, lives alone or with parents Most have “relative lack of human attachments and social relations.” 26 Chapter 5 Child Molestation MB
33. Social Profile Older men over 35 Have been abused as children More gentle and passive Less likely to use physical force and penetration (mostly fondle) Less capable of interacting with adults of opposite sex Most commit offense to same victim over and over for long periods of time 27 Chapter 5 Child Molestation MB
34. Most molesters are not gay Usually married Relatively same as ones that molest girls 28 Chapter 5 Child Molestation MB
35. Male molester characteristics: Usually married Emotionally disturbed Lack human attachment Cannot feel empathy Want to control and dominate less-powerful Obsessed with own fantasies 29 Chapter 5 Child Molestation MB
36. Female molester characteristics Rare (not a lot of research done) Usually cooperating with male Gender difference of victims between men and women Men more likely to become rapist Women internalize feelings, give into other types of abuse. 30 Chapter 5 Child Molestation MB
37. John Jay study states 4% U.S. priests accused of sexual conduct with minor (Jenkins) Some would disappear when really investigated 31 Chapter 5 Pedophile Priests MB
38. Reasons: Most emotionally troubles; sexually immature, socially incompetent Failure to dismiss offending priest Fewer men interested in becoming priest Can’t marry, will not ordain women Standards of recruitment lowered 32 Chapter 5 Pedophile Priests MB
39. Gottschall, J.(May 2004) Explaining Wartime Rape. Journal of Sex Research. Vol. 41, Issue 2, p.129 – 136 Jenkins, P.(June 2010) Myth of a Catholic Crisis The Truth about “pedophile priests” American Conservative, p.26 – 30 Thio, A. (2010) Deviant Behavior Tenth Addition. Allyn & Bacon, Boston, MA. 33 Chapter 5 References- Melinda Brown (p. 99-109)
40. Gillen, K., & Muncer, S. (1995). Sex differences in the perceived causal structure of date rape: A preliminary report. Aggressive Behavior, 21(2), 101- 112. Segal, L. (2001). Nature's way? Inventing the natural history of rape. Psychology, Evolution & Gender, 3(1), 87-93. Thio, A. (2010). Deviant Behavior (10th edition ed.). Boston: Allyn & Beacon. References – Jenn Queensland (P. 83-99) 34 Chapter 5
Editor's Notes
Thio (2010) notes patterns emerge when studying rape. Society may feel that rape is largely interracial, but the truth is most rapes are intraracial, within the same race. However, the number of interracial rapes are slowly, but steadily rising over the years. Age is another influencing factor of rape found in our text. Women of all ages are thought to be vulnerable to rape. Women between the ages of 16 and 20 are the most vulnerable; but women of all ages, including infants and elderly, are still vulnerable.
Situational patters of rape include the time of year that rapes most frequently occur, being summer. It is Thio’s interpretation that rapes happen more frequently in the warmer summer months because it provides men and women with the opportunity for more social interaction and contact with more potential victims. Another interesting misunderstanding of rapes is that most rapes are perpetrated by a stranger. This is not the case. In acquaintance/date rapes, the victims know their attacker. This is the most popular type of rape because most rape victims usually trust their attacker as they are a mutual friend, acquaintance, or lover. The attacker in acquaintance rapes usually try to woo their victims with sweet talk, alcohol, etc., to elicit their consent. When they do not obtain this consent, the attackers continue to push forward. Stranger rapes happen much less frequently. In stranger rapes, the rapist attacks a complete stranger. As we will learn later, there are differences in victim coping and responses to the different types of rape. Thio also explains that most rapes are planned and are not spontaneous acts of violence. Attackers carefully plan their attack in some cases and most have a system to choosing/testing their victims. Some attackers look for women that appear submissive or passive, while others seek out women that have “too much confidences or assertiveness” to “put them in their place.” Rapists have ways of testing their victims. One might ask for the time or directions. Depending on how the woman being tested responds, she may or may not be raped. It is also important to know that that most of rapes are not substantially physically violent, but are very much so mentally. Most rapists do not use weapons, but are likely to make threats about hurting and/or killing the victim (Thio, 2010).
Gang rapes are very prevalent. Thio (2010) gives illustration of a study conducted by Amir that revealed 43% of reported rapes were gang rapes. Surprisingly, most gang rapists are young, between the ages of 14 and 19, are from low-income families, and have joined a street gang. Men from middle- and upper-income families are much less frequently the perpetrators of gang rape; although gang rapes have been found to occur at a variety of educational institutions from religious to Ivy League schools. Thio suggests it may be hard for some men to resist participating in gang rape as their masculinity or sexual orientation might be in question. Also there is likely a factor of camaraderie, where the men stick together because of social bonds, such as a gang or fraternity. Thio offers the example of camaraderie when US soldiers raped Vietnamese women in Vietnam.
Acquaintance rape occurs when the victim knows her attacker. This is the most frequent form of rape. It is thought that these rapists long to have a romantic, if not only physical connection, with their victim. This makes them less likely to weapons in their pursuit. These men often use verbal aggression and psychological coercion in trying to coerce the victims into complying with their desires. Date rape has shown to be common, unfortunately, among female college students. It appears through Thio’s illustration that more than half of the female college student population will experience sexual assault at the hand of a date, while approximately 15% will be raped. Perhaps a not-so-surprising claim is that the more sexually active a man is, the more likely he will be to date rape.
Gillen and Muncer (1995) set out to examine perceived causes of date rape and differences, if any, between men and women. They suggest that only about 5% of date rapes are reported to police. This is largely due to the societal attitude that date rape is not as serious of an offense as stranger rape. In their study, they had a group of college students, both male and female, offer their perceptions as to what causes date rape. A second group of students were then asked if they saw a relationship between the causes. The results of indicated there were several perceived causes of date rape, including misunderstanding by men of behavior, male attitude that date rape is unimportant, need by males for domination, female flirtatiousness, and failure of communication. These were the top five causes that the data indicated. There was a substantial difference in the perception of date rape among men and women. Twenty-nine percent of females endorsed all the causes that were offered; whereas only 9% of men did so. Male participants had a tendency to blame the female for the date rape because of female drunkenness and flirting. The women saw the main cause of date rape to be men’s drunkenness and need for dominance.
It is no secret there are rape-prone and rape-free schools. Rape-free schools are intolerant of the behavior and impose hefty penalties. Rape-prone schools are often found in those that have a reputation for partying. Excessive alcohol use is seen to influence the opportunity for rape. An additional attribute of rape-prone schools include fraternities. Because there is a “brotherhood” in the fraternity setting, whistle-blowing and interfering is discouraged. Many of these fraternities also emphasize masculinity, pressuring men to “prove” themselves to the others. Interestingly, many college rapists and victims do not consider the act rape. Perhaps this is due to the presence of alcohol. The differences between –prone and –free schools is the societal attitude that aggression is more socially acceptable of men. This may explain why male athletes are more likely to rape than other male students (Thio).
The idea of victim precipitation is that the victim in some way contributed, or did not fight back hard enough, to the event. Perhaps the woman agreed to have a drink, come in, or go for a walk. Another example would be beginning to have sexual intercourse and the woman changing her mind, only to have her request denied by the attacker. Victim precipitation is thought to be a male-centered view of rape as it takes blame away from the male and places some, if not all, blame on the victim. Thio recalls a study by Amir where he found 19% percent of rapes to be precipitated by the victim. Shockingly, results from a study indicated that 50% of young men consider it acceptable to “finish” if a girl initiates sexual intercourse yet changes her mind. In a similar study of high-schoolers, 76% felt the same way (Thio 2010)!
The consequences of being raped vary according to individual and their experience. The amount of violence endured and the type of rape experienced is likely to have unique consequences for the victim. Though victims many times report these acts of violence to the police, there are times when the police and courts seem to question the victim.
Victims responses vary from individual to individual. Some victims might go on about their business like nothing happened; on the other extreme, some victims cannot get over the event and suffer from long term problems and/or kill themselves. These are extreme cases. Most individuals suffer from shock, disbelief, anger, anxiety and depression. Victims’ responses are also likely to be greater if the victim has experienced a life changing event within the previous 12 months. Regardless of unique situations, rape survivors experience 2 phases of disorganization, acute disorganization and lingering disorganization. Acute disorganization is what is felt initially after the event. The victim feels out of control, in fear, humiliated, etc. Once this phase is over, they move on the lingering disorganization. This includes being untrusting of people, fearful of getting intimate, etc. Because of these common responses, rape survivors suffer from greater rates of divorce and unemployment as well (Thio, 2010).
As stated previously, the type of rape experienced influences survivor’s responses. Survivors of stranger rape more often struggle with persistent fear and depression. They may also have interpersonal problems stemming from stranger rapes being more physically violent. Whereas, survivors of acquaintance rape may suffer from more self blame and have more distrust in general for men.
Many women turn to police to help them receive justice for the horrific event they have endured. This many times can add to the amount of stress one is feeling. Thio (2010) notes that many investigators ask inappropriate questions of the victims and are insensitive to their experience. The legal system also seems to have a different way in which they view the rapist and victim. The rapist is innocent until proven guilty, while the victim is guilty until proven innocent. What is meant by this is that many times women’s personal lives are brought into the picture trying to take some of the blame off of the rapist. It seems that many times the victim is the one on trial.
Thio (2010) begins explaining the culture of rape by stating that the same societies that condemn rape are also those that encourage it. Not surprisingly, many men view women as their property. A good illustration of this is marital rape. In the same societies that shun rape, many do not have laws that protect women from being raped by their husbands. In this sense, the woman is being treated like the man’s property. In yet another example of treating women as men’s property, it is not unheard of that women are being used in masculinity contests. In these masculinity contests, men use, have sex with, women to add to their “score”. Another interesting topic Thio discussed was the myth that women secretly want to be raped. This is another way men try to place some of the blame on the female for his actions. The rapist might say things like, “Did you see that short skirt she was wearing? She was asking for it!” This is just a myth. Finally, Thio suggests that we, as a country, are socializing girls to be victims. He explains that as a society, we teach girls to be sweet and passive and men to be aggressive and domineering. We see this time and time again in the media where sex is often associated with violence. According to Thio, “Traditionally passive or submissive women are ideal victims for rape” (p. 99).
There are many claims as to why men rape. Segal (2001) addresses the different claims as to why men rape women. He discusses Thornhill’s rape adaptation hypothesis and Darwin’s evolutionary approach. Whether the theory be that men rape women to fulfill their reproductive needs, or if it is just a way to relieve frustration, Segal points out that in society boys learn that heterosexual activity is thought to make them more manly. Boys are encouraged to have sex while girls are not. Men suffer far less social repercussions for being sexually active than that of women. Society has very different expectations of men and women. Segal’s claim is that science needs to be brought back into the study of rape. He disagrees with the evolutionary perspective that it is just nature’s way. His article was very interesting.
Rape has been around for as long as mankind. In some incidences it is considered okay for a rape to okay.Wartime rape is one of those times. It is forgiven and never punished.
Rape is common. But why do men rape women?
Personality defects and Emotional disturbances are some of the reasons why men rape women.
Sexual Permissiveness is another reason. Rape is higher in those societies where sexual permissiveness is normal.Men in societies that allow sexual permissiveness feel rejected when turned down, but in those societies where sexual permissiveness is not allowed or common; men look at it as society and not personal.
Feminist theory states that rape is a way for men to fight inadequacy feelings by showing dominance, intimidation, and put women in their place.
Can men be victims of rape? Yes, they can. Both inside prison and out. Rape in prison is allowed by prison officials because it calms the violent offenders and keeps them from turning on the guards.Many rape victims will either commit suicide or become slaves for protection. They will be raped several times.
Why is this allowed?The wolves and the punks are not separated. The public has little or no sympathy for criminals. Rapes in prison go unpunished.
Outside prisons are not as violent but still happen. Most cases are from pleading, demanding, and/or blackmail.
What is the difference between male and female offenders?Male : usually strangers and use force.Females: usually acquaintances and use pressure.
Can women rape men?Yes. If a woman can overpower a man, rape can occur.May have multiple attackers.Older women with teenage boys and female babysitter forcing younger boy are common.
Child Molestation does not discriminate.
Some basic facts about Child Molestation:More girls than boys are molested. Majority of molesters are male and are usually acquaintances. Molesters are usually unmarried, rarely date, may live with parents or alone. Can lack human attachments.
Social profile of child molesters: older men that may have been abused as children. Usually more gentle and passive, usually do not use physical force or penetration. The victim will usually remain the same.
Male characteristics: usually married but emotional disturbed. They do not feel empathy and lack human attachment. They have the need to dominate the less powerful.
Female characteristics: They are rare but only because little research done. Usually cooperating with male.
There are some cases of accused priests that are rally unfounded once looked into.
Why do priests molest?Emotionally troubled, sexually immature, and socially incompetent.It would seem that it is allowed to continue because many offending priests are not punished or dismissed.
