Sexual Assault Survivors and Labeling Theory "The behavioral or sexual assault survivors often falls under public scrutiny once they have reported an attack," and an episode on "This American Life," it shows just that. The episode, "Anatomy of Doubt," brings up two cases of sexual assault and how law enforcement handles these cases. Because of how the police handled these cases, it made the victim(s) adopt a social role they were forced to play, and because of that we will be able to understand labeling theory more. In the episode, a woman by the name of Marie was raped in her apartment when she was eighteen, and because, many would say, she did not reacted he way a rape victim would react, law-enforcement and people close to her did not …show more content…
When these two police departments finally decided to connect the rapes, they have found it was a serial rapist responsible for the assaults. Because the way these women were tied with the same type of shoe laces and the detailed description the recent victim gave, law enforcements were able to find and arrest the rapist. That is when they found the camera he used to take pictures of his victims, one of them being Marie. However, the recent victim also received the same type of scrutiny that Marie had received from the police department because she was able to provide too much details of the offender. As well as have a personal conversation about …show more content…
Through the Labeling Theory that social role can be explained. The primary deviance, "the original act of crime or deviance that may derive from a wide variety of social, cultural, psychological? and physiological events," which is that Marie claimed she was sexually assaulted (Glossary, ). Then the social reaction takes place, whether positive or negative, that effect the the social role one plays. In this case, the police, the people close to Marie, and the people that started hate pages on social media about her made her start to believe that maybe the assault never took place and that maybe she made it up which led her to backtrack her story and claim that she lied. This is called second deviance, "in which society reacts to some of the people who engages in primary deviance," (). This then turns into role engulfment and/or self-fulfilling prophecy, where Marie as to fulfill the social role of a liar and having to always second guess herself and leading her to start to believe that it was all in her head, and to suppress that
Bohm and Brenda L. Vogel, the Labeling theory is used to explain why people commit crimes and conceive themselves as criminals. Overall the Labeling theory consists of social groups creating rules and then applying those rules to particular people and labeling them as outsiders. This theory is split into two types of deviances: primary deviance and secondary deviance. Primary deviance is the initial criminal act, for example, a man robs a bank. A secondary deviance is committing a crime after the first criminal act and accepting the label of a criminal. Following the previous example, after the man robs the bank, he decides to do it again because he now sees himself as a criminal bank robber and wants to continue doing it and is okay with being seen that
The theoretical study of societal reaction to deviance has been carried out under different names, such as, labelling theory, interactionist perspective, and the social constructionist perspective. In the sociology of deviance, the labelling theory of deviant behaviour is often used interchangeably with the societal reaction theory of deviancy. As a matter of fact, both phrases point equally to the fact that sociological explanations of deviance function as a product of social control rather than a product of psychology or genetic inheritance. Some sociologists would explain deviance by accepting without question definitions of deviance and concerning themselves with primary aetiology. However, labelling theorists stress the point of seeing deviance from the viewpoint of the deviant individual. They claim that when a person becomes known as a deviant, and is ascribed deviant behaviour patterns, it is as much, if not more, to do with the way they have been stigmatized, then the deviant act they are said to have committed. In addition, Howard S. Becker (1963), one of the earlier interaction theorists, claimed that, "social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitute deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as outsiders". Furthermore, the labelling theoretical approach to deviance concentrates on the social reaction to deviance committed by individuals, as well as, the interaction processes leading up to the labelling.
Sociological Analysis of Sexual Assault This essay will examine the social and cultural conditions, within the macro-diachronic and micro-synchronic theoretical models, that intensify or perpetuate sexual assault. I have chosen only one concept from each model because these are the only concepts that I feel that I can use to most accurately and comprehensively depict causes and reasons for why sexual assault is deeply entrenched in our social structure. I will thus explore, from these ideological viewpoints, some of the motivations and circumstances that lead offenders to sexual assault. I will also fuse some of the historical attitudes from which today's concepts have evolved into our contemporary understanding of these social phenomena. However, it’s important that we look beyond both offenders' motivations and history, and to the greater sociological view, if we are to correctly reconstruct acts of violence such as sexual assault.
Warshaw, Robin. I Never Called it Rape: The Ms. Report on Recognizing, Fighting and Surviving Date and Acquaintance Rape. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1994.
Labeling theory of deviance suggests that when one is labeled constantly on the basis of any minority it gives rise to deviant behavior in order to prove the strength of the minority. The minority has been labeled so by people for a long time. They have been labeled because of their race. The gang is labeled anti-social because of their criminal behavior which turns them further to deviance. The use of the labeling theory can be seen being implemented very judiciously
As mentioned in lecture, labeling theory asks two critical questions: what is crime, and who is criminal? This is the central tenet of labeling theory because the focus is on what activities constitute criminal behaviour within the context. This means that over time, the general perspective changes in regards to what can be labeled 'crime.' For instance, society is known to react negatively towards prostitution in the past; whereas the contemporary reaction is primarily to legalize it.
Social learning theory is one of the most known theories and has been studied by many. Social learning theory programs that are available are mainly crime control programs. This program involves people to think about what they have truly done and to change the negative into positive behavior. Labeling theory does not offer any real programs but as society learns more about these specific theories so has our treatment of others. Since labeling theory can occur anywhere it is believed that society give the person a different outcome. So instead of shaming a person you should use it as a learning tool not to commit the act again. This will be a way for the person to change their label and be more open to changing their outlook.
When the victim does not fit the ideal victim attributes which society has familiarised themselves with, it can cause complications and confusion. Experts have noticed there is already a significant presence of victim blaming, especially for cases involving both genders. The fear of being blamed and rejected by the public is prominent in all victims. Victim blaming proclaims the victim also played a role in the crime by allowing the crime to occur through their actions (Kilmartin and Allison, 2017, p.21). Agarin (2014, p.173) underlines the problem of victim blaming is due to the mass of social problems and misconceptions within society. The offender can have “an edge in court of public opinion” if victim blaming exists, resulting in the prevention of the case accomplishing an effective deduction in court (Humphries, 2009, p.27). Thus, victims will become more reluctant to report offences because of their decrease in trust in the police and criminal justice system, leading to the dark figure of
According to a statement addressing the sexual victimization of college women The Crime and Victimization in America states that, “ One out of four women will be sexually assaulted on a college campus.” This disturbing fact has not minimized throughout the years, instead it is continuing to worsen throughout college campuses. Sexual assault is not an act to be taken lightly. Society must stop pinpointing the individuals who commit these crimes one by one, but rather look at the problem as a whole and begin to understand the main cause of sexual assault and possible methods to reduce these acts of sexual coercion.
The purpose of this essay is to discuss the issue of rape and sexual assault in the military. The number of attacks for rape and sexual assault in the military are at an all-time high. Women have recently been allowed to fight on the front line. While this may be a huge achievement for women-kind, for this woman, it is a very scary thought. I am a junior at Texas Academy of Biomedical Sciences; a school geared towards students wishing to enter the medical field. I may be forced to join the military one day if a war breaks out and women are needed to protect the country. I would be happy to serve my country if I did not have to be scared of my fellow soldiers. Rape and sexual assault are major issues in the military and have been for many years without much effort to decrease the attacks. I am suggesting that unless the rape and sexual assault issue is fixed, the amount of people joining the military, specifically the women, will decrease greatly.
Unfortunately, law enforcement, a common preventative measure, isn’t nearly as effective as it should be in South Africa. The police aren’t able to help rape survivors because oftentimes they simply aren’t able to arrest the offender. A multitude of factors influence the amount of law enforcement in rape cases, one of which is the victim’s silence. In many cases, the victims are silent due to women not feeling safe enough to report the crime causing them to often go unreported (Smith 256). If rapes aren’t reported, the police aren’t aware that it took place and they can’t investigate meaning that they have no reason to arrest the rapist. Either that or the rape survivors blame themselves and they don’t feel justified to report it because they
Sexual abuse as a child maltreatment became a social issue in the 1970 is through the efforts of the child protection movement and the feminist movement. Historical changes occurred, whereas the perceptions of children changed from property to individuals with rights. Sexual abuse is a traumatic event for the children and the impact felt throughout the life span. Because of the secrecy of this exploitation, the true number of victims is unknown.
Through the use of conceptual perspective the authors conclude that because intimacy, interaction, and integration is scarce between strangers, the use of the criminal justice system is more common in stranger-offender victims. Donald Black’s theory of that intimate victimization is less known because victims often use family and friends to solve disputes because they have common moral sensibilities, is presented in this article. Many victims believe that the crime is not serious enough to be punishable by law. His theory also suggests that people believe that legal action is often unnecessary and costly and that legal action often results in a disruption of close ties, further vengeance, and private matters becoming public when involving intimate-offender victimization. Feminist frame work coincides with the theories of Donald Black. They also suggest that woman may not inform authorizes because they fear they will not be taken seriously, may be blamed for the act of violence, and/or they will not be protected from further abuse from their abuser. These theories share the common assumption th...
Rape is such a difficult crime to prove because it usually comes down to the victim’s word against the perpetrator’s word. In the United States, anyone who is charged with a crime is innocent until they are proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. In order to prove that the crime did indeed happen, a victim is usually humiliated and she is forced to re-live the h...
Labelling theory outlines the sociological approach towards labelling within societies and in the development of crime and deviance (Gunnar Bernburg, and D. Krohn et al., 2014, pp. 69-71). The theory purposes that, when an individual is given a negative label (that is deviant), then the individual pursues their new (deviant) label / identity and acts in a manner that is expected from him/her with his/ her new label (Asencio and Burke, 2011, pp. 163-182).