Motives of Rape Other Than Sexual Desire
Although there are many underlying motives behind why a man would rape, three of the most conspicuous are anger, power, and sadistic purposes. When an average person hears of a rape, he frequently assumes the offender was reacting to sexual frustration or that he was a demented sex-fiend harboring insatiable and perverted lasciviousness. The rape offender is often accused of being primarily motivated by sexual desires, and by committing the act of forced assault, he is gratifying only his sexual needs. On the contrary, according to A. Nicholas Groth and H. Jean Birnbaum, "Careful clinical study of offenders reveals that rape is in fact serving primarily nonsexual needs. It is the sexual
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The power rapist attempts to compensate for his perceived inadequacies, such as lack of power, control, identity, and authority through the act of rape; he strives to create a situation which will counterbalance these shortfalls. Groth explains, "The intent of the offender is to achieve sexual intercourse with his victim as evidence of conquest, and to accomplish this, he resorts to whatever force he finds necessary to overcome his victim's resistance and to render her helpless" (26). Typically, the power rapist feels insecure about his masculinity or conflicted about his self-perception; hence the assault by way of force and/or fear is a reaffirmation of his identity. Unlike the power rapist, who uses force and fear to perpetrate the act of rape, the anger rapist avoids the utilization of fear and focuses on the actual use of force, rather excessive force, to accomplish his goal. His intention, though not often understood, is not to engage in sexual relations; rather, his aim is to express his anger using sex as the chosen weapon. Groth explains, "The anger rapist typically finds little or no gratification in the rape - - in fact, his subjective reaction to the sexual act itself is
“I felt his hands start to move down towards my shorts as if he was trying to unbutton them or pull them off. I was still crying at this point and felt so scared that I couldn't move” (Hummer, 1989). These were the words said by a freshman away at college after she had been sexual assaulted. From the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National network, statistics show that “over 90 percent of all gang rapes on college campuses involve fraternity men” (Hummer, 1989). Most often these woman may be labeled as trash, shameful, or ready for action, aside from a victim, prey, or survivor. Rape myths encourage these deprecating terms for women and cover the reality of a rape culture.
Furthermore, power and abuse of power. Those who have experienced sexual violence are victims of abuse of power. Children are vulnerable to adult abuse of power because they lack understanding and resources for self- protection. Also some children are physically overpowered and raped by men who have no concern for their well –been. As, some are sexually exploited and then intimidated into silence by being made to fear for
There are various theories when it comes to a perpetrator who commits a sexual assault and/or rape. These theories explain why the person decides to conduct in such behavior and the reason why it cannot be so easy for them to stop.
In “Riding the Bull at Gilleys,” Scully and Marolla depict the psychopathological and the socio-cultural models of rape. The psychopathological model is a representation of what psychotherapist have used for years to explain the reasoning behind rape. With this model, rape is the result of an eccentric mental dysfunction, which symptoms include involuntary and uncontrollable sexual impulses. These sexual impulses may be temporary, repetitive, long lasting or brief. This model also implies that male sexual aggression is abnormal, therefore; psychologists do not seek any other rational explanation. Mainly, the psychopathological model ignores any correlational factors linking male sexual aggression to learned social behavior.
The stereotype of who a typical sexual assault victim is, is also detrimental to abide by as male victims of sexual assault will often fear being blamed and feel emasculated as a result of their victimisation. The continuation of stereotypic types of victims when considering a certain crime can often distort the seriousness of sexual
For example, the first of the five motives, a physical one, speaks to a suspect’s choice of victims being centered on age, sex, race and gender. A recently publicized South Carolina church massacre speaks to this motive as Dylann Roof is charged because of mass murdering nine black victims because of race. Next are the psychological mass killers who are driven by the expressed desire to exert power and control over their victims. Patrick Sherill exhibits this show of force as he carried out an assault on the job because he felt mistreated by supervisors. Stephen A. Diamond is an author from “Pscychologytoday.com”. Giving an example of a sexually and socially motivated crime committed by Elliot Rodger, he explains that “Rodger had likely convinced himself that he was inherently unlovable by and undesirable to women, and his self-imposed social isolation served to perpetuate this self-fulfilling prophesy” (Diamond 6). Diamond speaks to Rodger’s case being tied to both sexual and social motivation. Lastly, an emotionally motivated killing spree stems from the suspect possessing a warped sense of love and loyalty. Biography.com shares Charles Whitman’s reasoning for killing both his wife and mother. “He thought it might have been his own selfishness or his desire to spare her from facing embarrassment over his actions” (Whitman Bio.).
This norm leads to male victims questioning their sexuality after an assault. When a woman rapes a man, society does not believe that it is “real rape”. They are pressured by society to always want sex, especially with women, they ask themselves why they didn't want it (Chapleau, Oswald, and Russell 6). Every other man would of wanted it so why didn’t I? In the event that another man assaults a man it can lead to similar thoughts. Why did I let it happen if I don’t like men? I should have stopped it. Victims begin to blame themselves for letting the rape
The main debate amongst the explanation is the key motivation that drives the offender to commit rape. Previously, majority of social scientists’ perspective of rape is seen as a sexually motivated crime; for instance, males are given the opportunity to fulfil their sexual desires that cannot be met legally, thus
Can result in a man committing rape in opposition to a girl is based on the premise that the male intercourse power is uncontrollable. Guys with this belief say that their sexual urges can not be managed and they're not accountable for their moves. Proponents of this principle “advocate each that men’s sexual strength is hard to manipulate and that women have a key role in its loss of control,” due to the fact women deny sex to guys who have to relieve their sexual
Women, girls, men, and boys are vulnerable victims of sexual assaults every day in our country. While females experience much higher rates of sexual assaults than males. The problem that this country faces is the lack of being able to track rapist, in addition to the victims that chose not to report their assault of being raped to the police. Issues of under reporting comes from the victims with multiple reasons that hinders them from reporting these heinous criminal acts. Thus, the sad realization is that the perpetrator is usually some one that you know, that you would of never of thought that they could and would, and do sexually assault you.
Rape is an experience which shakes the foundations of the lives of the victims. For many its effect is long term, impairing their capacity for personal relationships, altering their behaviour and values and generating fear, Temkin (1986:17).
Rape also known as sexual assault is having sexual intercourse or any form of sexual penetration against a person’s will or consent. It could be carried out by coercion, the use of physical power or abuse of authority. It is an act many societies, if not all discourage, and attracts different form of punishment in different geographical locations. There are many consequences of rape; some people suffer from depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Suicidal tendencies, and Anxiety Disorder. It was not a surprise when the Mr. Cosby’s alleged case of rapes were waved and flooded to the entire media channels in the USA and other countries. Majority of people can recall number of such cases where some prominent African – Americans were sued
p. 69).” rape is violence against women. It is a violation of her body and her trust. According to Burns, a sociologist at Michigan State University, “rape is forced and unwanted intercourse, where sexual assault is used as a power and sex is a method (Mousseau, 2006. p. 1).” Most rapes are committed not by strangers, but by men known to women, perhaps someone they have gone out with or are supposedly their friends. It can be someone she just met or even her fiancé, but often it is an attempt to assert power or anger. A study by the National Center for the Preventive and Control rape claims ninety percent of rapes are never reported. In those that are reported, sixty percent knew their assailants. Of these, women fifteen to twenty-five are majority of the victims. Alcohol and drugs sometimes play a significant factor, especially in date rape or acquaintance rape cases (Mousseau, 2006).
College-age adults are known to be high risk for sexual violence and most studies show that one in three women have experiences some type of sexual assault whether it was through physical force or harassment. These statics are known by most women on college campuses to ensure that women know and understand that this could happen to them. The issue is more than ensuring that women are aware of how protect themselves and know how to avoid these situations because it shouldn’t even be happening. When women are taught that they should know how to defend themselves we are saying that this type of behavior is normal and inevitable. We should shift from this dynamic and start teaching both men and women that this behavior is completely unacceptable and that sexually assaulting or harassing someone is NOT normal. This paper will mostly focus on incidents of rape and sexual assault on college campuses and what the outcome and reactions of these incidents were.
Webster’s Dictionary describes rape as the crime of forcing another person to submit to sex acts, especially sexual intercourse. Rape is a crime in which most women cannot defend themselves. The fear of rape plagues every woman at some point or another in her life. The traumatic effects of rape vary from mild to severe, from psychological to physical. This paper will evaluate rape, as well as the effects it has on women, the theory behind male dominance and patriarchy, and differences in demographics.