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Theories of rape
Psychological effect of rape on its victim
Media violence and human behavior
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There are several theories as to why people rape; some include biological factors or personal factors that lead the sub-conscious choice to commit such a heinous crime on an individual. In this case the theory of power and control will be analyzed and discussed. To begin, the act of rape can be committed by anyone, male, female, transgender, etc. But in most cases it is carried about by the male gender on women, visible minorities or LGBTQ+ men and women. 99% of sex offenders in single-victim attack were male. (Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center) At a young age, boys are taught through social media, video games, movies, and television that having the dominant role in society and romantic/intimate relationships is what they are good at and that is the way men should …show more content…
Some believe that media is sending out a message that it is okay to be violent towards women and other men because that is what the male gender’s role is. As the Feminist’s Perspective on Rape says that rape is by an, “Anger and the desire for dominance and control; on this view, the rapist is a violent criminal like other violent criminals, not just a guy seeking sex a bit too vigorously.” (Whisnant) This quote explains why people are confused about why men rape, uneducated people believe that men rape because they were lead on to believe that they were going to have sex at the end of the night or date and that the date was “asking” for it. In reality there are several kinds of rapists for example, disadvantaged men, which is the type of rapist that is motivated by rape, specialized rapists, a rapist that is aroused but sexual violence and rape, and the opportunistic rapist, which is the classic date rape situation, meaning the attacker thought they were going to have sex and when they are turned down, decide to use power and control to get what they believe they
Killbourne mentions, “Many boys grow up feeling that they are unmanly if they are not always “ready for action,” capable of and interested in sex with any woman who is available,” (285). The constant need for physical attention in pre-pubescent and teenage boys has always been in an issue that all generations have witnessed. Boys are pressured into lusty situations by their peers and peer pressure leads them in to what become habitual actions. Stalking, assault, affirmative action and other acts of degrading women are all actions that are completely avoidable when individuals are properly informed of consequences and how these actions can affect others, especially women. The news is a source filled with negative instances of gender-related which include domestic violence, rape, and many other violent
In today’s society, there is evidence that gender roles hold high standards in forming an identity, whether that gender is male or female. These standards put pressure on either gender to uphold them and commit to specific behaviors/actions that validate their very being. For men, this includes being considered masculine, or portraying the sense that they are authoritative over others, in which this includes displaying attitudes that contribute to female subordination. According to Pascoe (2016) in his article “Good Guys Don’t Rape” men are given the opportunity to challenge rape yet reinforce rape attitudes at the same time that are contained within rape culture and masculinity considered “norms.” Pascoe, illustrates that rape can be seen
Cross-cultural research has shown that rape is most common in cultures that are dominated by males and violence. This means cultures in which males dominate the political decisions and cultures adhering to the male ideology of toughness, interpersonal violence and war (Groth 7). In a culture of people with more traditional or sexist gender role, attitudes are more tolerant of rape than are people with more nontraditional attitudes. Traditional men are more likely to report that they would commit rape if they knew they would not be caught; some researchers have found that a traditional man is much more likely to commit a rape than a nontraditional man is. Many attitudes in our culture perpetuate rape, for example: A husband is entitled to have sex with his wife," "A 'real man' never passes up a chance to have sex," and, "A women who 'leads a man on' deserves what she gets (Growth 7). “ Some media depictions may promote rape. Many movies make violence appear attractive and some movies convey myths about rape. Such as slasher films that make violence seem exciting, or movies suggesting that women like to be forced to have sex or that women's only value...
In order to deal with the occurrence of sexual assault in our society, we must examine its causes more deeply. We must understand the sociology of sexualized violence in order to effectively explain its groups and individual dynamics.
The prevalence of rape can be attributed to the pursuit of hegemonic masculinity insofar as a means of attaining and maintaining power over females and other males. Given cultural values that are conducive to male sexual violence, men enact violence in order to ensure gender dominance within their specific society (Connell, Pg. 840). A cultural value that...
Many of the attitudes, beliefs, and mistaken ideas about rape have been with us for centuries. By looking at myths, such as “women ask for it,” and “it would do some women good to get raped,” from a historical perspective, lead us for better understanding how they evolved. Women are still seen as the property of men, are protected as such. Men and women are still taught to occupy very different roles in today’s world. Men are usually more aggressive, and women are seen as passive. (Vogelman) This socialization process is changing, but slowly.
In the male typologies there are separate categories for child molesters and rapists, which is largely due to fact that they offend in very different ways. However, for the female typologies there is no such distinction, because all except one of the typologies have victims who are on average less than 15 years old (Vandiver & Kercher, 2004).The Aggressive Homosexual Offender is the only typology with an adult offender, however the victims are female (Vandiver & Kercher, 2004).The lack of a typology for female offenders with male adult victims could be due to certain factors playing a part in society. In particular, in today’s rape culture there is the belief that women cannot physically rape men. One reason why this belief is held is because society views women as physically weaker than men and are unable to overpower men. The male sex drive discourse also adds to this belief if men can never refuse sex than they essentially can never be raped. This belief has various problems for both men and women. The lack of a typology that includes adult male victims minimizes and ignores real men that were victimized by women. Not including men in the victim analysis sends the message that they are not ‘real’ victims. In contrast to that, since these victims are not seen as ‘real’ victims, the female offenders are not seen as ‘real’ offenders. By
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
Oftentimes, the things individuals take for granted as preexisting facts are merely the products of social construction, which exert tremendous impacts on belief and action. Men and women are socially constructed categories inscribed by norms of masculinity and femininity that enables rape to occur. Catharine MacKinnon claims that rape is defined in a male perspective, which lacks the account of female experience. On the other hand, Sharon Marcus argues that rape is a constructed language that scripts the female body. As bell hooks points out, black men celebrate “rape culture” as a mean of expressing patriarchal dominance and endorsing female subordination. In order to redefine rape and to develop effective rape prevention, it is crucial to deconstruct the predetermined assumptions about men and women. Rape is socially constructed, through the ways how individuals possess misogynistic ideologies and endorse patriarchal power, turning the erotic fantasy of male dominance into “reality”.
When spoken of the words Sexual Assault, the immediate image created in one’s mind is of a bruised and battered young woman being tortured in a sexual manner. What if instead of that young woman was a helpless young man going through the same trauma? We’ve heard so many cases of women going through this that we usually tend to associate sexual assault with women. However we forget the fact that men too are increasingly vulnerable to this. Moreover, society has framed a mindset among people that men should conform to certain masculinity standards; physically strong, tough-skinned, authoritative, impassive, sexually aggressive and rebellious and hence we find it difficult to accept male sexual assault as a predicament.
Sexual violence is a national issue that permeates every aspect society. Sexual assault and rape is an ongoing problem, evident by the troubling statistic that roughly 20 million out of 112 million women (18.0%) in the United States have been raped during their lifetime (Kilpatrick, Resnick, Ruggiero, Conoscenti, McCauley, 2007). Despite the continuous push for gender equality, the current culture of society perpetuates victim-blaming tendencies towards innate cognitive processes and media influences.
“She asked for it.” Attitudes, beliefs, and incorrect ideas about rape have been with us for centuries. There are constantly meaningless excuses, such as "women ask for it," and "women secretly enjoy rape". Women are indeed not objects of pleasure, but it seems as though people cannot get the message. Feminism is needed to get this point across; it is needed as a representation that women are people. Rape is a violent act of power; it is not a sexual act. Rape is dehumanizing for the victim, but yet the victim is always a fault. We live in a society where victims are being blamed for “what they were wearing” or “she led him on”. Justice is not being served in any shape, way, or form. Rape culture cannot be simply defined because of the factors that can influence the situation. However, it could be best defined by Emilie Buchwald, author of Transforming a Rape Culture, “a complex set of beliefs that encourage male sexual aggression and supports violenc...
Many of the attitudes, beliefs, and mistaken ideas about rape have been with us for centuries. By looking at myths, such as “women ask for it,” and “women secretly enjoy rape,” from a historical perspective, can lead us for better understanding how they evolved. Much stems back to the idea that women are still seen as the property of men, and are protected as such. Men and women are still taught to occupy very different roles in today’s world. Men a...
Rapist are product of “defective urban cultures that espouse perverse ideals of masculinity” This idea of men having to be stronger than women has been seen through many cultures. Sexual violence is seen as one of the ways in which working class men demonstrate masculinity. There is also a link between alcohol and sexual violence against women which is a big problem in urban areas. In the modern day there has been an entry of women into the labor market. The idea that women were just here to have kids and take care of them no longer existed. Men had to change that thought of them being the only provider of the house. This brought the feeling of men being superior. Men having to show that they are more dominant. This happened in many ways and one was through sexual
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.