Rape by Deception
Rape is often viewed by the public as sex that is not consensual, and mostly sex that is physically forced. In fact, the dictionary definition of rape is “the unlawful compelling of a person through physical force or duress to have sexual intercourse.” In most cases, victims of rape are physically forced to have sex, while with cases of rape by deception, the victim has not been physically forced but has been tricked into consenting to have sex.
Rape by deception is when a perpetrator has gained consent to have sex with a victim but has gained that consent through deceit. The perpetrator displays him or herself as someone he or she is not. Rape by deception has also been heard of as rape by fraud or rape by impersonation.
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In Jed Rubenfeld’s “The Riddle of Rape-by-Deception and the Myth of Sexual Autonomy,” he states that “sex by deception is sex without consent, because sex obtained by deception…is ‘no consent’ at all.” (1376). Rubenfeld uses comparisons such as “a man posing to be a doctor, who lays his hands on a person, is committing battery.” The patient gave consent for a doctor to touch them so the man, who is not a doctor, is offensively touching without consent. Therefore, a person posing as someone they are not in order to gain consent to sex is committing rape, according to Rubenfeld. Both cases of Marissa Lee Fuentes and People v. Morales fall under “sex obtained by deception.” Neither of the victims consented to have sex with their perpetrator but only with the person they were portrayed to be; so does that mean that both perpetrators were convicted of rape?
Well, further laws state that it must not be just the non-consent of the victim, but it must also be forced sex in order to be deemed as rape. When Marissa Lee Fuentes attempted to press charges against her boyfriend’s brother, charges were dismissed because there was no physical force involved. Marissa was not physically forced to have sex with her boyfriend’s brother, so she was not raped by
This is particularly discouraging for acquaintance rape cases, where consent is typically a defense. As it shown, the rape shield laws can play as a strengths and weaknesses both for the victims and defendants.
Men are usually more aggressive, and women are seen as passive. Vogelman: This socialization process is changing, but slowly. Rape is non-consensual sexual intercourse that a male performs against a woman whom he is neither married to or cohabiting with. The definition of rape changes by geographic location.
Rape until 2012 was defined as “The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.” It was severely lacking was only updated by the Federal Bureau of Instigation in 2012. It left out an entire section of rape that can be committed which is man being the rape victim. This lead to misclassification of rape of males for years. So even the statistics used till 2014 were underwhelming and inaccurate when it was related to male rape or sexual assault. Rape in the United States is now defined by the Department of Justice as “Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” Male Rape or men being the sexual assault victims are rarely ever the subject of a dialogue when Sexual Assault is the topic being discussed because rape is generally seen as a heterosexual highly sexed male attack on vulnerable, attractively dressed female victim. Most rapists have alternative outlets for sexual gratification, many take little notice of their victim 's physical attributes, and some may experience sexual dysfunction during the assault.
Deviant behavior is defined as a behavior or action that is against the social norms of society. Rape is a deviant behavior that is a type of sexual assaults that usually involving sexual intercourse. This happens when one person or more initiates sexual acts against another person without that person's consent. The act can be sometimes carried out by physical force, coercion, or a person not being able to give valid consent. Someone who is unconscious, incapacitated, or below the legal age of consent would fall under that category. The term rape is sometimes used interchangeably with the term sexual assault. According to R.A.I.N (Rape, Abuse and Incet National Network, 2009) 44% of rape victims are under age 18 and 80% are under age 30. It is sad to report that every 2 minutes another American is assaulted which leaves an average of 237,868 victims, age 12 or older of sexual assault each year (R.A.I.N 2009). So who is to blame for this growing problem? It would be surprising to hear that many times people blame the victims. This is a growing concern for us all because it has led to a tremendous amount of unreported incidents which leads to the perpetrator roaming the streets waiting to strike again. Rape can lead to have severe traumatization and victim can suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder along with causing psychological harm and has been shown to cause physical injury, or have additional effects on the victim, such as acquiring of a sexually transmitted infection or becoming pregnant. Sadly following a rape, a victim may face violence or threats thereafter from the rapist.
Victims of rape are almost always asked if they were flirting, drinking, or dressing in a manner that may have been interpreted as giving consent, despite whether they did actually give consent or not.
You can most commonly find dictionaries defining rape as a sexual act committed by force especially on a woman (American Heritage). Until a few years ago it was limited to penile penetration of the vagina. Penal Code two hundred sixty-one defines rape as "an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a person who is not the spouse of the perpetrator without the lawful consent" (Roberson). Penal Code two hundred sixty-three goes on to say that "the fundamental wrong at which the law of rape is aimed is . . . the violation of a woman's will and sexuality" (Roberson). All other sexual assaults are categorized under different names, yet the result is most often the same.
One of Canada's foremost contemporary writers, Margaret Atwood is an internationally renowned poet, literary critic, novelist, humanitarian and political activist. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1939, she spent most of her childhood in the Canadian wilderness. She has won praise and acclaim for her ability to incorporate humor, biting wit, irony and symbolism into her writing style. Her themes usually depict the very nature of human behavior and issues of power between men and women as it relates to society ("The Writer." New York Times). Her very first novel, The Edible Women, published in 1970, explored issues of oppression, self-identity and power, as it relates to the broader social content of contemporary urban life and the sexual politics involved. She further explores those issues in "Rape Fantasies" first published in Canada in 1979 in her book The Dancing Girls and Other Stories. "Rape Fantasies" has become one of Atwood's best known works as it explores the issues of power between men and women, highlighting women's fears of crime and victimization, where safety depends on the ability to find a medium between trust, suspicion, fear, and isolation ("I Just Don't Understand It." Gale).
What is sexual assault? Sexual assault is, “any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient. Falling under the definition of sexual assault are sexual activities as forced sexual intercourse, forcible sodomy, child molestation, incest, fondling, and attempted rape” (Sexual Assault).
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”.
What do you think and feel when you hear the word rape? Do you feel uncomfortable? Maybe even angry? Your certain feelings and emotions towards this word is a result of rape culture. Rape culture, essentially, is how a society as a whole sees and reacts towards rape or instances of rape. In 2013 rape was defined by the FBI as, “Penetration… of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” (Division’s Crime Statistics Management Unit 1). The definition was finally changed after the old definition deemed inappropriate by today’s standards, which beforehand, stated that physical force needed to be used for rape to be considered rape. This is good news for men and women who have been fighting for the definition to be changed, but unfortunately this does not mean that state laws are being changed the same way. Even though the FBI may acknowledge the older inappropriate definition, most states do not. Sexual assault is a commonly unreported crime, where only an average of 36% of sexual abuse is actually reported to the authorities (Planty 7). Some forms of rape can include physical harm, threats, and even death of the victim, and most victims do not want to tell others for fear of criticism, self-blame, or even the fear that their attackers will carry out on their threats. In many cases, victims do have a reason to be afraid. When someone is brave enough to come forward and say they were sexually assaulted, they are putting themselves in the position of being in not only a long legal process, but also having their motives questioned and misunderstood, which is the last thing they want after their experience. The legal system in the United States...
The 2003 Act also changes the law on consent and belief in consent. Convicting a person of rape is defined under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 s1, it is as follows; “A person (A) commits an offence if: he intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person with his penis, if person (B) does not consent to the penetration and if person (A) does not reasonably believe that (B) consents”.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Rape is one of the most intimate crimes in the world. According to nolo.com legal encyclopedia rape in nonconsensual sexual intercourse that is forced upon someone that is not wanted. Statutory rape is when a person disregards the under 18 consent law and forcefully has sex with them. According to ular.edu there are many different types of rape such as anger, power, sadistic, stranger, acquaintance, and martial rapes. These different groups show that rape can happen to anyone at any time.
Sexual assault is a term that is used interchangeably with the word rape. The decision on whether or not to use the term rape or sexual assault is made by a state’s jurisdiction. Sexual assault is more readily used in an attempt to be more gender neutral (National Victim Center). Sexual assault can be most easily described as forced or unconsentual sexual intercourse. The individual that is performing these acts on the victim may either be a stranger or an acquaintance. In 1994, 64.2 percent of all rapes were committed by someone the offender had previously known (Ringel, 1997). Regardless, this type of crime can have extreme effects on the victim.
Rape is considered to be one element in the “Big Six” of the most common sex-related crimes. It is defined as the unlawful act of sexual activity forced upon a person who did not or was unable to give willing to give consent. There are four main types of a rapist that center around their modus operandi: Power Reassurance, Anger Retaliation, Power Assertive, and Sadistic. The goals of a Power Reassurance rapist are to gain a validation of their status and to validate their sexual adequacy. They view the act as a reassurance of a mutual relationship between them and the victim, and they usually force the victim into acting out their sexual fantasies. This could be done by demanding that the victim talks dirty or by asking reassuring questions
What is rape culture? Rape culture, a term created by feminists circa 1972, ‘…is best defined as a culture in which rape is prevalent, pervasive, and is sanctioned and maintained through fundamental attitudes and beliefs about gender, sexuality, and violence…” (‘The Rape Culture: An American Epidemic’) this quote basically states that rape culture is a culture in which rape is seen as inevitable and common place , examples of rape culture include derogatory advertising , slang, jokes , and tolerance of sexual harassment . Actually, before feminists had coined the term the common belief in society was that rape, incest, and domestic abuse never happened. In a rape culture, ending the crime of rape is rarely talked about, and seen as taboo. In these cultures, society is tolerant, normalizing, and even condoning of rape through certain attitudes such as the examples above or by excusing a rapist and de validating a victim’s accusation due to the way they were dressed at the time, how much alcohol of drugs they had consumed or the victim’s general attitude to the rapist. Other examples of enforced rape culture are; sexual harassment, trivializing r...