The Second Rape We live in a world where rape is common and is normalized to be part of a behavior and not a crime. Women are often given tips on how to avoid being raped or how to defend themselves from being rape (Gerdes). Society, in fact, is making people understand rape and cope around it when it’s unacceptable. Once society acknowledges that rape is bound to happen to any woman, rapists tend to blame the victim. There are several factors in which rape victims are being held responsible for the crime and not the rapist. Rape is a crime of sexual violence that can cause “long-term emotional devastation” in a victim although some victims may respond to it differently (Williams, 16). Victims of this act can also face physical injuries: “the National Women's Study, funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, found that more than 70% of rape victims did not report any physical injuries as a result of their assault; only 4% sustain serious injuries that require hospitalization” (Frey). But, the most disturbing impact that society puts upon women after being raped is shame making the victim feel blamed. Usually the victim may feel less open and more “fearful” and “humiliated” towards society, making them not come forward and report the crime. Victims usually blame themselves after being raped and held responsible and experience self-blame or a sense of guilt thinking something is inherently wrong with them or they done something wrong. “Many rape survivors feel as if some action on their part provoked the rape, or they did not effectively resist to avoid the rape altogether” (Williams, 46). After a woman is raped usually the perpetrator and society says, “She asked for it” which is believed that the woman’s ... ... middle of paper ... ...rapist. In any type of crime that women are the victims their life style, behavior, and appearance get questioned and become the “cause” of the crime. Works Cited Baron, Larry, and Murray A. Straus. Four Theories of Rape in American Society: A State-level Analysis. New Haven: Yale UP, 1989. Print. Beneke, Timothy. Men on Rape. New York, NY: St. Martin's, 1982. Print. Dionne, Ste´phanie, and Rebecca J. Frey,. "Rape and Sexual Assault." The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. Ed. Laurie J. Fundukian. 4th ed. Vol. 5. Detroit: Gale, 2011. 3687-3693. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 13 May 2014. "Preface to 'How Should Society Respond to Sexual Violence?'." Sexual Violence. Ed. Louise Gerdes. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 13 May 2014. Williams, Mary E. Rape. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven, 2001. Print.
Acquaintance rape, sometimes called date rape, is the most common form of this crime. Yet, until the 1980s, it was virtually unheard of (Warshaw 2). We believed that rape was fairly rare. When it did take place, we wrongfully assumed that the victim was an idealized virginal school girl and that her attacker was a ruthless and depraved psychopath, armed and lurking in the shadows (Warshaw 14). This image needs to be destroyed. Rape is common. One in four women will be raped during her lifetime. Current statistics say that a woman is raped every four seconds in this country (Anderson 213). These women will be assaulted by people they know, most often by people they trust. They will be disbelieved when they tell their story. They will...
It is very common for rape survivors to blame themselves for what happened. They believe they could of prevented the incident or even stopped it from happening. When victims finally come to the realization that it wasn’t their fault and someone else had complete control and power over them is when they really break down. It’s better for victims to believe that they had a part in the event rather the admit to themselves that they were helpless and couldn‘t do anything. Many offenders tend to express and do certain things to make victims get into the mindset that they endure. Not only do rape victims have suicidal thoughts, but they also act on these thought as well. Sexual assaults are not uncommon at all. There is no specific re...
In a study done by Grubb and Harrower (2009), they surveyed to find people’s reactions to three different types of rape. Rape by a stranger, date rape and seduction rape were in question. Their results indicated that male participants thought victims were to blame far more often than women believed. In the case of a “seduction rape,” both males and females attributed the blame to the victim, as well as in a stranger rape. But when it came down to it, 33 percent of men said they would rape someone if they could get away with it (The White House Council on Women and Girls,
Every two minutes, an American is sexually assaulted. According to the U.S. Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey, there are an average of 237,868 victims of rape and sexual assault every year. 9 of every 10 rape victims were female in 2003, and 1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of rape in her lifetime. The question people have to ask themselves is why rape is so common. It is time to accept that the rape epidemic is not just about the crimes themselves, but the cultural and political willful ignorance known as rape culture. Rape culture is an environment where rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture. Rape culture has become so common that it is nearly invisible, but it present and strong in everyday life.
Susan Griffin’s Rape: The All-American Crime touches on many issues within American society. She begins by recounting how she was taught to be afraid of strange men from such a young age that she had not yet learned what it was she was so afraid of, and then goes into her experience with harassment, an experience shared by every woman at some point in her life. Griffin recounts the belief that all rapists are insane and the proof that they are just normal men and dispels the myth that rape is normal activity that is prohibited by society. However, she goes on to clarify that our culture views rape: “as an illegal, but still understandable, form of behavior” (Griffin 514). It seems that the wrongness of rape is determined by the situation in
When looking mainly at gender studies have shown that men will look more harshly on the victim and women will look more harshly upon the rapist (Acock&Ireland, 1983). Men’s more accepting attitude and increase blame on the victim is because of
It is not a topic that is brought up often, especially at schools or at gatherings, yet it is crucial that everyone be educated, or at least informed on a topic that affects women every day. “Given that sexual violence continues to occur at high rates in the United States, it is vital that we understand attitudes and cultural norms that serve to minimize or foster tolerance of sexual violence” (Aosved, 481). Growing rates of sexual violence goes to prove that it is not taken seriously by many, especially when myths excuse the actions of the perpetrator and instead guilt victims into thinking they are responsible for the horrible act. Burt (1980), in her article titled, “Cultural myths and support for rape” attempts to make sense of the importance of stereotypes and myths, defined as prejudicial, stereotypes, or false beliefs about rape, rape victims and rapists- in creating a climate hostile to rape victims (Burt, 217). Examples of rape myths are such sayings as “only bad girls get raped”; “women ask for it”; “women cry rape” (Burt, 217). This only goes to prove that rape myths against women always blame and make it seem like it is the women’s fault she was raped and that she deserved it for “acting” a certain way. McMahon (2007), in her article titled, “Understanding community-specific rape myths” explains how Lonsway and Fitzgerald (1994) later described rape myths as “attitudes and beliefs that are generally
Palmatier, Tara. “Our so called “Rape Culture”.” A Voice for Men. N.p., 29 Oct 2013. Web. 5 Feb
Blaming the victim of rape is a well-documented phenomenon which may be subtle in its presence, such as when one makes unrealistic statements about what the victim could have done to protect themselves; alternatively, it may take the form of outright displacement of the blame for the entire crime, an example being one saying the victim was asking for it. As a result of this widespread and sometimes subtle presence in the cultural psyche, victim blaming not only finds itself in the minds of random citizens whose beliefs alone have little effect on the lives of others, but in the decisions made by those in the Criminal Justice System who find themselves involved in rape cases. As a result of the ubiquitous and fallacious attitudes towards rape that seep into the Criminal Justice System from larger society, victim blaming creates bias in a system which should be without anything of the sort.
When one first thinks of a pressing American public health issue, they perhaps may think of the spread of an infectious disease, or perhaps the issue of water contamination in regards to lead, or maybe even the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. However, the mention of a critical public health issue in America rarely incites a discussion on the rise of sexual assault. Sexual assault is a broad term, often used interchangeably with the term rape- however, while rape is an aspect of sexual assault, the two terms are not synonymous. Sexual assault is defined as “any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient” (U.S. Department of Justice). Sexual assault includes rape, incest, child sexual
In 1983-1984 Diana Russell did a study of community women in San Francisco that revealed that 24% of women had experienced a completed rape and 44% had experienced a completed or attempted rape. A national random survey of college women found that one in four had experienced rape or attempted rape in their lifetime and 84% of the women knew their attacker (Koss, Gidycz, and Wisniewski, 1987) (Campbell and Wasco, 2005).
Victim Blaming – Final Paper According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), an American is sexually assaulted every two minutes. However, most of these assaults are never talked about, reported, or given justice. One of the biggest reasons for the silence that surrounds sexual assault is due to victim blaming According to UsLegal's website, victim blaming is defined as "a devaluing act where the victim of a crime, an accident, or any type of abusive maltreatment is held as wholly or partially responsible for the wrongful conduct committed against them" (USLegal). In essence, victim blaming occurs when, instead of the attacker being blamed for their crimes against the victim, the victim is blamed and is at fault because they "provoked the attacker" and that they "had it coming to them."
Rape is known as one of heinous crimes a person can commit to someone else. Even though US’s justice system recognizes that rape is a serious threat to women’s physical and mental safety as well as their autonomy, our justice system gravely fails to convict and persecute the perpetrators, making women vulnerable to these sexual crimes. Hence, many women, especially those who are victims of rape, live in fear, which seriously curtails their freedom of movement and confidence in everyday life (Chamallas, 2013). Not only our justice system fails to protect women from rape, but also our society’s skeptical attitude towards rape severely affects rape victims to come forward or report their terrible experiences. The general public views rape as a myth rather than as a fact, and believes that women cry rape just to get public attention, sympathy, and compensation from the perpetrators. Even if the rape did happen, most people still blame women for being irresponsible. Due to the lack of our justice system in convicting rapists and our society’s misconception of rape, the conviction rate of rape is very low even though it is a common crime in our country.
According to statistics, 90% of rape victims are female, and over 98% of rapists are male. Because of our patriarchal society, the majority of all rapes happen to women. A patriarchal society is a predominantly male based society, meaning that men are deemed to be more superior t...
It is not uncommon in this day and age to hear someone say, “Well if she wasn’t dressed like that,” or “she was drunk and asking for it,” when you hear the unfortunate story of another girl being the victim of sexual assault or rape. It is likewise as common for these crimes to go unreported, due to the victims feeling they will not be believed, or become subject to further shame and humiliation. This is because of the idea of “rape culture,” a term coined in the 1970’s during the second wave of feminism. It suggests that the reason that these actions and concepts are so commonplace is because they are things ingrained into our collective psyches from a very early age. As a victim and survivor myself, I believe that this needs to change. The only way it will, however, is if we as a country take a stand now and put a stop to what perpetuates it further.