Rape

Rape is a crime where the victim is forced into sexual activity, in particular sexual penetration, against his or her will. The word originates from the Latin rapere: to seize or take by force. The Latin term for the act of rape itself is raptus.

Originally, the word rape was akin to rapine, rapture, raptor, and rapacious, and referred to the more general violations, such as looting, destruction, and capture of citizens that are inflicted upon a town or country during war, eg. the Rape of Nanking. Today, some dictionaries still define rape to include any serious and destructive assault against a person or community. This article, however, focuses primarily on sexual assault.

History

The concept of rape, both as an abduction and in the sexual sense, makes its first appearance in early religious texts. In Greek mythology, for example, the rape of women, as exemplified by the rape of Europa, and male rape, found in the myth of Laius and Chrysippus, were mentioned. Different values were ascribed to the two actions. The rape of Europa by Zeus is represented as an abduction followed by consensual lovemaking, similar perhaps to the rape of Ganymede by Zeus, and went unpunished. The rape of Chrysippus by Laius, however, is represented in darker terms, and was known in antiquity as "the crime of Laius", a term which came to be applied to all male rape. It was seen as an example of hubris in the original sense of the word, i.e. violent outrage, and its punishment was so severe that it destroyed not only Laius himself, but also his son, Oedipus.

In antiquity and until the late Middle Ages, rape was seen in most cultures less as a crime against a particular girl or woman than against the male figure she "belonged" to. Thus, the penalty for rape was often a fine, payable to the father or the husband whose "goods" were "damaged." That position was later replaced in many cultures by the view that the woman, as well as her lord, should share the fine equally.

Rape, in the course of warfare, also dates back to antiquity, ancient enough to have been mentioned in the Bible.

The Greek, Persian and Roman troops would routinely rape women and boys in the conquered towns.

Rape, as an adjunct to warfare, was prohibited by the military codices of Richard II and Henry V (1385 and 1419 respectively). These laws formed the basis for convicting and executing rapists during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453).

In modern times many changes have occurred in the perception of sexual assault. In some countries the feminist women's liberation movement of the 1970's created the first rape crisis centers. This movement was led by the National Organization for Women (NOW) [1]. One of the first two rape crisis centers, the D.C. Rape Crisis Center [2], opened in 1972. It was created to promote sensitivity and understanding of rape and its effects on the victim.

Marital rape first became a crime in the United States in the state of South Dakota in 1975. It was not considered a crime prior to that year because, historically, a woman was considered to be the property of either a father or husband. A husband could not steal his own property. A related and archaic view according to religious factions was that the woman gave permanent consent when she married the man. In the 1980s, date or acquaintance rape first gained acknowledgment. On July 5, 1993, marital rape became a crime in all 50 states, under at least one section of the sexual offense codes. The Rape and Incest National Network (RAINN) [3] was founded in 1994 by a panel of people including Scott Berkowitz and the musician Tori Amos. In the United States, RAINN operates a 24 hour hotline that victims can use to get counseling.

On September 2, 1998 the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda made sexual violence a war crime. Current topics being debated are the peripheralized victims of rape — male rape victims, LGBT domestic violence and rape victims, marital rape victims and child sexual abuse victims. Other issues emerging are the concept of victim blame and its causes, date rape drugs and their effects as well as the psychological effects of rape trauma syndrome.

Non-sexual usage of term

In its original sense, dating back to antiquity, "to rape a person" meant to capture the person for the purpose of enslavement, and was common in ancient warfare. In this context, the willingness of the victim is irrelevant to the categorization of the act as "rape". The "Rape of the Sabine Women" was a "rape" in this context. In Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock, the word "rape" is used hyperbolically in a similar context, exaggerating a trivial violation against a person.

Though the sexual connotation is today dominant, the word "rape" is still sometimes used in a non-sexual context. For example, environmental destruction is sometimes described as "raping the earth", and the Rape of Nanking describes a violation both against a town, as well as the people. In "the rape of the Silmarils" in J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Silmarillion", the word "rape" is used with its old meaning of "seizing and taking away".

Sometimes, the word rape is used to dysphemistically describe forms of non-sexual unwelcome conduct ("My team got raped on the field yesterday."). It is argued by some that this usage is demeaning or disempowering to the victims and survivors of real sexual rape, because it ends up by weakening the force and horror of the word. Such metaphorical and hyperbolic usages are common with other words ("It was absolute torture" to mean ordinary embarrassment; or "I'm starving" to mean ordinary hunger), but survivors of rape and their supporters may find this type of usage deeply offensive, since it normalizes the term "rape" to cover mundane events.

Law

Common law

In the common law of the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States, "rape" traditionally describes the act of a man who forces a woman to have sexual intercourse with him. Until the late 20th Century, forced sex by a husband against his wife was not considered "rape", since a woman (for certain purposes) was not considered a separate legal person with the right of refusal, or sometimes was deemed to have given advanced consent to a life-long sexual relationship through the wedding vows. However, most Western countries have now legislated against this exception. They now include spousal rape (vaginal intercourse), and acts of sexual violence, such as forced anal intercourse which were traditionally barred under sodomy laws, in their definitions of "rape". The term "rape" is sometimes considered "loaded", and many jurisdictions recognize, in its stead, broader categories of sexual assault or sexual battery.

U.S. Law

In the United States, there is no national rape law; instead each state drafts its own laws to deal with sexual aggression. More than half the states use narrowly defined, traditional laws that focus on the institutional, gender-specific (male perpetrator/female victim), and sexual nature of the crime. The remaining minority of states use liberalized laws that place greater emphasis on the individual, gender-neutral, and violent nature of sexual coercion. However, even with all the advances that have taken place, current laws in approximately 12 states still have not acknowledged female-perpetrated sexual coercion as a potential variation of sexual aggression (Sloan, 1992)

English law

Under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which came into force in April 2004, rape in England and Wales was redefined from non-consensual vaginal or anal intercourse, and is now defined as non-consensual penis penetration of the vagina, anus or mouth of another person. The changes also made rape punishable with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Although a woman who forces a man to have sex cannot be prosecuted for rape under English law, if she helps a man commit a rape she can be prosecuted for the crime. A woman can also be prosecuted for causing a man to engage in sexual activity without his consent, a crime which also carries a maximum life sentence if it involves penetration of the mouth, anus or vagina. The statute also includes a new sexual crime, called "assault by penetration", which also has the same punishment as rape, and is committed when someone sexually penetrates the anus or vagina with a part of his or her body, or with an object, without that person's consent.

United States Uniform Crime Reports

In the United States, the Uniform Crime Reports use the term, "forcible rape", only to describe rapes perpetrated by men against women. The respective States, however, often independently expand the definition to include male-male, and female perpetrated rapes. However, since there is no single uniform standard for recognizing and reporting male-male and female-perpetrated rapes, since more than half the states use traditional gender-specific (limited to male perpetration against females) rape law, and since rape laws in approximately 12 states do not even acknowledge the possibility, much less the occurrence, of female-perpetrated rape, the statistics on these types of rape are likely to be significantly underreported as compared to rapes perpetrated by men against women.

United States Uniform Crime Report Statistics

 (Suggest a trend chart of UCR rape statistics here that includes ALL forms of rape and warns about how unreliable the official UCR statistics are.)

Types of rape

Violent rape

"Violent rape" occurs when violence beyond the rape itself is a part of the assault. This may include physical force, harm, threat of harm, including death threats, or threats against a family member. Violent rapes are likely to be reported (Bachman and Saltzman, 1995) more often than non-violent rapes on a proportional basis.

Rape of children by parents, elder relatives and other responsible elders

This form of rape is incest when committed by the child's parents or close relatives such as grandparents, aunts and uncles. It is considered incestuous in nature but not in form when committed by other elders, such as priests, nuns or other religious authorities, school teachers, or therapists, to name a few, on whom the child is dependent. Psychologists (see incest) estimate that 40 million adults, 15 million of those being men, in the United States were sexually abused in childhood often by parents, close relatives and other elders — of both genders — on whom they were dependent.

Children raped by parents and other close elders are often called 'secret survivors' by psychologists, as they often are unable or unwilling to tell anyone about these rapes due to implicit or explicit threats by the adult rapist, fear of abandonment by the rapist, and/or overwhelming shame. Since the signs of these insidious rapes are usually invisible except to trained professionals these children often suffer ongoing offenses in silence until independence from the adult rapist is attained. By that time, the statute of limitations is often long-expired, the adult victim's repressed memories are often considered inadmissable as evidence and the child-rapist is able to escape justice forever. In addition, rapists who rape their own children are considered less culpable, legally, than other rapists in most US states.

Statutory rape

National and/or regional governments, citing an interest in protecting "young people" (variously defined but sometimes synonymous with minors), treat any sexual contact with such a person as an offense (not always categorised as "rape"), even if he or she agrees to the sexual activity. The offense is often based on a presumption that people under a certain age are unable to give informed consent. The age at which individuals are considered competent to give consent is called the age of consent. The age set by each state varies in accordance with local standards, and range from 12 to 21. Sex which violates age-of-consent law, but is neither violent nor physically coerced, is sometimes described as "statutory rape", the name of a legally-recognized category in the United States. The French film Strayed, screened in 2003, depicts a rarely shown example of what would be called statutory rape, in the United States, by an adult woman against a 17-year-old male adolescent.

Acquaintance ("date") rape

The term, "acquaintance rape" (or "date rape") refers to rape or non-consensual sexual activity between people who are already acquainted, or who know each other socially — friends, acquaintances, people on a date, or even people in an existing romantic relationship — where it is alleged that consent for sexual activity was not given, or was given under duress. In most jurisdictions, there is no legal distinction between rape committed by a stranger, or by an acquaintance, friend or lover. Many warning signs of possible date rape are when the person is behaving aggressive or dragging you into an uncomfortable situation. Sometimes drugs, such as GHB, are used so it is wise to never leave a drink unattended.

Spousal Rape

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Spousal rape is also called marital rape, wife rape, partner rape or intimate partner sexual assault (IPSA). Because there is a widely held view that a woman surrenders consent upon entering a relationship, the law has been slow to criminalize this form of rape/sexual assault. It is now a crime in most parts of the West, but exemptions still apply in some places; for example a partner rape cannot be prosecuted if the couple were living together at the time of the assault.

Research has established many times over that partner rape on women by men takes place at a shockingly high frequency:

In 1975, the results of an American study on many rape situations were published. Diana E.H. Russell was so appalled by her findings on rape in marriage that she decided to conduct a research project on this area alone. From the 930 interviews conducted with women from a cross section of race and class, Russell concluded that rape in marriage was the most common yet most neglected area of sexual violence (Russell, Diana E.H. 'Rape in Marriage' MacMillan Publishing Company, USA 1990)

In 1994, Patricia Easteal, then Senior Criminologist at the Australian Institute of Criminology, published the results of survey on sexual assault in many settings. The respondents were survivors of numerous forms of sexual assault. Of these, 10.4% had been raped by husbands or de-factos, with a further 2.3 per cent raped by estranged husbands/defactos. 5.5 percent were raped by non-cohabiting boyfriends (Easteal, P. "Voices of the Survivors", Spinifex Press, North Melbourne, 1994).

David Finkelhor & Kersti Yllo's famous 1985 study estimated that 10 to 14 per cent of all married American women have been or will be raped by their spouses .(Finkelhor, D. and Yllo, K., "License to Rape", The Free Press, New York 1985)

In the UK, statistics disseminated by the Rape Crisis Federation yield the information that the most common rapists are current and ex-husbands or partners (Myhill & Allen, Rape and Sexual Assault of Women: Findings from the British Crime Survey http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/r159.pdf)

Figures on teenage girls in danger from boyfriends caused shock in research communities in the 1980s. Teen Dating violence, which often involves rape and sexual assault, continues to be on the rise. Approximately one in ten high school students experiences dating violence - that figure is 22% in college students (Wilson, K.J., When Violence Begins at Home: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding and Ending Domestic Abuse, Hunter House Inc. Publishers, California, 1997)

Other figures estimate that one in seven women is raped by a sexual intimate. For a brief overview view of partner rape, see STAR Library - Marital Rape

Spousal rape also occurs in lesbian and gay relationships. It is not known to what extent women sexually assault male partners.

Due to popular stereotypes of "real" rape, it is often assumed that if a couple have been sexually intimate, a partner rape is not as traumatic as other types of rape. However the research of Finkelhor and Yllo (1985) and Bergen (1996) reveals that victims of marital/partner rape suffer longer lasting trauma than victims of stranger rape. One reason for this is thought to be the lack of social validation that prevents a victim from getting access to support. Domestic violence services have made inroads in addressing this problem.

Group Rape

Group rape, (also known as "gang rape", or "pack rape") occurs when a group of people participate in the rape of a single victim. It is far more damaging to the victim, and in some jurisdictions, is punished more severely than rape by a single person. Gang bang has been a synonym for gang rape during the times when sexual activity in general was considered taboo, however in the advent of the porn industry and relaxed sexual tensions, it is now often used instead, as a slang term for consensual group sex. The term "group rape" is now often preferred to "gang rape", as the word "gang" can have racial connotations when used against minority defendants.

According to sexual crime profiler, Roy Hazelwood, gang rape "involves three or more offenders and you always have a leader and a reluctant participant. Those are extremely violent, and what you find is that they're playing for each other's approval. It gets into a pack mentality and can be horrendous."

"Gray rape"

There is often more difficulty in securing conviction against an assailant who is known by the victim at the time. This is due to the "gray" nature of the situation. In what is colloquially described as a "gray rape" case, the victim is unable to demonstrate non-consent although he or she expresses displeasure at the encounter. The expression "gray rape" refers to the absence of information — there is nothing "gray" in the act itself: if the act was non-consensual at the time it occurred, then it is considered rape, even if not actionably so. Contributing factors to "gray" rape include poor communication by either party, misleading or (possibly deliberate) misreading of body language, or the feeling by one party of being unsure or unable to express what one wishes (which may be due to many reasons). The standard of proof required for non-consensual sexual activity is often harder to meet (or easier to deny) than when two strangers meet, or where there has been violence.

In general, evidence suggests that 80% of all rapists know their victims [4].

Rape by gender

Rape of females by males

The rape of females by males (male-female) is the most well-known and most well-reported form of rape in the United States. Between one in three and one in six women will be sexually assaulted within their lifetimes according to RAINN and The National College Women Sexual Victimization Study. 17.7 million women have been victims of rape and attempted rape in the United States. According to the 2003 National Crime Victimization Survey nine out of every ten rape victims were female . RAINN also states that young females are four times more likely than any other group to be the victims of sexual assault. More than 32,000 pregnancies result from male-female rape every year (Holmes et al. 1996). Female victims of male rape often experience multiple victimization and are assaulted more than once in their lives. By all reasonable reports male-female rape exacts a staggering toll on women in America. However, as the most well-known form of rape in the United States, the rape of females by males is also sometimes mistaken as the only form of rape. All forms of rape (including male rape victims) are valid and deserve exploration by researchers.

Rape of males by males

It is less well-known that many men and boys have been raped by other males in the United States. Male on male rape is common in incest, incestuous rape, and other situations, (such as prison or other similar settings) where men and boys are dependent on elder males and/or are unable to escape stronger males. However, as the United States Uniform Crime Report statistics are considered unreliable (see discussion(s) above) regarding rape in general, regarding the gender the victims (in some states rape of males is considered impossible by the law), and regarding the gender of the victimizer, no sound conclusions can be made from these crime statistics, despite their official source. What can be estimated from these statistics is that rape of males, by both genders, represents a minimum of about 10% of all rapes. Since there is no known uniform gender-neutral data on all forms of rape it impossible to know how many males were raped by males as opposed to those raped by females.

Men, young men and boys suffer rape-related trauma by rape and sexual assault just as female victims do. In addition, due to male socialization to consider all male-male sexual contact to be shameful, to 'be tough and take it like a man' and to eschew victimhood in all its forms, many males who were survivors of male rape choose to suffer in silent shame rather than risk reporting the crime. These victims consider the shame of disclosure and their likely shunning by other males, as worse than the crime itself; a form of double-bind shame similar to the double-bind blame that female victims face. Incest by fathers or incestuous rape of male children by adult men in responsible roles is an especially insidious, shaming, and traumatic form of sexual crime against males that has gained widespread national attention in the United States due to the recent Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals. Male-male rape often represents deep damage to and/or destruction of the survivor's image of himself as man which leaves him helpless and alone among other men in a dangerous and uncaring world.

In any form or rape of a male by a male (or a female) the involuntary physiological response of erection or orgasm does not mean that the act was welcomed by the victim. A capable assailant, male (or female), can induce these involuntary physical responses in the majority of males with force and/or with deception. Likewise, in incest or incestuous male-male rape, 'voluntary' initiation, 'voluntary' participation and involuntary enjoyment by the victim, do not mean that the rape is consensual, less loathsome, and less traumatic to the victim.

Male-on-male rape does not, by itself, imply homosexuality. This is a common but false misperception. People will view the male aggressor as a homosexual, and may think of the recipient as having homosexual tendencies too, especially if he shows signs of sexual stimulation during the experience. A male rape victim will often experience involuntary erection when forcibly penetrated by rapists of either gender. To falsely label a male rape victim 'homosexual' just because his rapist was male is can cause him double-bind shame as described above.

Rape of males by females

Women also can commit an act of rape with force or deception to make a man (or adolescent) engage in a non-consensual penetrative sexual act. According to Court TV's Crime Library, women commit about 10% of all sexual offenses and their abuse often involves their own child or children which is incest. Several widely publicized cases of female-male rape, in the United States, involved school teachers raping their teenage male students.

Rape of males by females is widely, but incorrectly, considered impossible because male erectile response is seen as voluntary, when, in fact, it is involuntary. Therefore, male victims of rape by females often face a social, political, and legal double-standard. Female rapists are usually seen as much less culpable than male rapists by the courts. In addition, male victims of female rape often endure a double-bind because men are considered to always want sex with a woman which means that female-on-male rape can be seen, by others, as desirable. In addition, since rape by females is much less well known, the male victims often find little support from rape crisis counselors. Finally, since the incidence of female-on-male rape is on record at much higher rates (31% compared to 10%), in Canada, it is likely being substantially under-reported in the US.

In many countries, male rape is legally classified under a different law or name. However, the nature of the incident, and its consequences, are similar. It is said that male rape is taken less seriously as a result of the stereotypical views held about males in many societies, including modern Western society. Men's rights lobbyists are pushing for tougher male rape laws, and have gained some success.

A leading theory is that women rape men when they have no one to have sex with [5]. "Some people, especially women may actually go off the rails because of sex problems."

Rape of females by females

Female-female rape is just beginning to be researched by psychologists. What constitutes female-female rape is defined on a state by state basis in the United States (see Law above). Female-female rape can occur against heterosexual females, lesbians and within lesbian relationships. As in male-male rape, the victim of female-female rape is not necessarily homosexual simply because she is the target of assault by a woman. The attacker is not necessarily homosexual either. Hate crimes against LGBTQ members of society sometimes include sexual assault and are not carried out by homosexuals.

As in male-male prison rape, a number of authors have noted that women rape other women in prison.

Lesbian sexual assault is often a peripheralized subject in today's society. Lori Girshick explores the taboo subject in her book Woman-to-Woman Sexual Violence: Does she call it rape. The Network/La Red is a non-profit organization dedicated to the issue of lesbian domestic violence.

Another type of female-female rape is the rape of daughters by mothers or other female caregivers. (see parental incest). Bobbie Rosencrans, co-author of the The Last Secret: Daughters Sexually Abused by Mothers (1997), a systematic study of 93 women and 9 men sexually abused by their mothers was flooded with responses from female subjects when she began her study.

It estimated in the United States that 3-10% of all serious sexual offenses are female-female in nature. Researchers in the counseling professions believe that female-on-female sexual offenses are significantly under-reported. There is also evidence to suggest that sexual offenses committed by females against females are actively concealed and/or denied by both the offenders themselves and the wider population.

Some aspects of rape

False "Men do and Women Don't" stereotypes

In Sexually Aggressive Women, 13 contributors examine false but pervasive gender steoreotypes that hamper sound rape research, that create false impressions about rape in legal, political and social circles, and that prevent acknowledgement that females oppress, dominate and sexually offend too. One contributor notes that "Ignoring sexually aggressive women ignores that harm they cause to victims, whether male or female, and could even exacerbate victims' distress by implying that their experiences are invalid or trivial." Another contributor quotes bell hooks who wrote:

"Emphasizing paradigms of domination that call attention to woman's capacity of dominate is one way to deconstruct and challenge the simplistic notion that man is the enemy, woman the victim: the notion that men have always been the oppressors. Such thinking enables us to examine our role as woman in the perpetration and maintenance of systems of domination."

The contributer states that research on female forms of oppression would require "acknowledging the guilt-inducing fact that not only are women oppressed but women also oppress others."

Double standards

Professionals and researchers who deal with rape-victims have noted a number of social, political, and legal double standards about rape. Rape of children by their parents (see incest) is often considered much less serious than rape by strangers of adults. Rape of males by females is often considered desirable by others, criminal penalties are often much less severe and female rapists can claim such rapes are about "love" on national TV in the United States. Rape by females is often falsely held to be limited to those females who are mentally ill and who need treatment while male rapists, on the other hand, are often considered sane and fully culpable.

Drugging

Hypnotic agents such as flunitrazepam (Rohypnol) and GHB, colloquially referred to as "date rape drugs," have been used by rapists to render their victims unconscious before raping them. According to the DEA, "Victims may not be aware that they ingested a drug at all. GHB and its analogues are invisible when dissolved in water, and are odorless. They are somewhat saltish in taste, but are indiscernible when dissolved in beverages such as sodas, liquor, or beer."

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse [6], "Rohypnol can incapacitate victims and prevent them from resisting sexual assault. It can produce "anterograde amnesia," which means that individuals may not remember events they experienced while under the effects of the drug." The sedative effects of Rohypnol begin to appear approximately 15–20 minutes after the drug is ingested. The effects typically last from four to six hours after administration of the drug, but some cases have been reported in which the effects were experienced 12 or more hours after administration. In recent news it has been discovered that scientists can now detect flunitrazepam and related compounds in urine at least up to 5 days after administration of a single dose of Rohypnol and up to a month in hair.NCJRS

These drugs are extremely dangerous, and may kill or render the victim comatose. It is imperative that any investigation into the suspected use of date rape drugs involve the immediate carrying out of a blood test, as waiting too long to test for the presence of drugs may cause false negatives.

However, trying to deduce whether date rape drugs have been used from the symptoms is an approach that can cause false positives. In 2003, when the media were reporting a drink-spiking epidemic in Perth, Western Australia, 44 women had their blood tested because they believed they had been the victims of drink-spiking. The West Australian Chemistry Centre tested the blood samples and in these 44 cases, the only substance found in the victim's system was excessive alcohol. Raping someone who is incapacitated by Alcohol is also considered illegal according to a legal definition of rape at Findlaw. In large amounts, alcohol has the same effects as date rape drugs, and causes unconsciousness and memory loss. Police said that the blood-alcohol level of most of the subjects was significantly higher than what the women had themselves expected, based on their assessment of the amount of drinks consumed, and commented:

"While we can't dismiss all cases, the results suggest that a fair proportion of drink spiking is just an urban myth ... It seems that a proportion of young women are getting incredibly intoxicated, and using drink spiking as an excuse to explain behaviour they are not happy with." [7]

Whether the victim was drugged with GHB, Rohypnol or alcohol is actually irrelevent to the subject of consent. The legal definition of rape encompasses a lack of consent including the victim's inability to say "no" to intercourse, due to the effects of drugs or alcohol. Findlaw

Testing kits that claim to detect GHB, Ketamine and benzodiazepines such as Rohypnol in seconds are commercially available under names such as "The Drink Detective".

Custodial and prison rape

Research carried out by Cindy Struckman-Johnson and David Struckman-Johnson of the University of South Dakota has found that 22% - 25% of male prisoners in the United States had been the victim of sexual assault, 10% of rape, and 6% of gang rape. The Human Rights Watch report No Escape [8] reports that prison rape is routine in US prisons. Women prisoners are especially vulnerable to assault by guards and other staff members, and the incidence in the United States has been denounced by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Women prisoners are also vulnerable to other women prisoners.

Rape and sexual torture

In circumstances where torture is being employed as a means of military or governmental policy, the rape of both female and male detainees is a common element of that torture. It is used often as a means to "soften" the detainees for interrogation or to intimidate them into compliance. In societies with strong social taboos on sexuality, sexual torture is commonly used to destroy the credibility and influence of political dissidents. Rape under such circumstances often has even more profoundly negative psychological effects than under circumstances in which sexual assaults usually happen.

Sexual torture also occurs far from government and military settings. The infliction of torment is often consciously intended in violent rapes by both genders. Parent-child rape incest or other incestuous child-rape is almost always perceived as torture by the child, whether intended or not, because children usually cannot detect authentic intention in adult perpeptrators and because incestuous rape is so shaming.

Sex trafficking

Human trafficking, or sex trafficking (as the majority of victims are women or children forced into prostitution) is a term used to define the recruiting, harboring, obtaining, transportation of a person by use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjecting them to involuntary acts, the most common being forced commercial sexual exploitation (forced prostitution).

Human trafficking is not the same as people smuggling. A smuggler will facilitate illegal entry into a country for a fee, but on arrival at their destination, the smuggled person is free; the trafficking victim is enslaved. Victims do not agree to be trafficked — they are tricked, lured by false promises, or forced. Traffickers use coercive tactics including deception, fraud, intimidation, isolation, threat and use of physical force, debt bondage or even force-feeding with drugs of abuse to control their victims. Women are typically recruited with promises of good jobs in other countries or provinces, and, lacking better options at home, agree to migrate, not knowing they will be forced into prostitution.

Due to the illegal nature of trafficking, the exact extent is unknown. A US Government report published in 2003, estimates that 800,000–900,000 people worldwide are trafficked across borders each year.

There is considerable debate as to what constitutes proper and complete consent in a sexual relationship. How explicit should consent be, how often should it be established, and what constitutes diminished capacity (usually due to drugs or alcohol) are all subjects of some disagreement. These debates take place both on moral and ethical grounds, and as a legal issue, since rape can only be convicted as a crime with intent in many jurisdictions, and the erroneous belief of consent is a common defense.

Victim blaming

"Victim blaming" is holding the victim of a crime to be in whole or in part responsible for what has happened to them. In the context of rape, this concept refers to popular attitudes that certain victim behaviours (such as flirting, or wearing sexually-provocative clothing) may encourage rape. In extreme cases, victims are said to have "asked for it", simply by not behaving demurely. In most Western countries, the defense of provocation is not accepted as a mitigation for rape.

It has been proposed that one cause of victim-blaming is the "just world hypothesis". People who believe that the world has to be fair, may find it hard or impossible to accept a situation in which a person is unfairly and badly hurt for no cause or reason. This leads to a sense that, somehow, the victim must have surely done 'something' to deserve their fate. Another theory entails the need to protect one's own sense of invulnerability. This inspires people to believe that rape only happens to those who deserve or provoke the assault (Schneider et. al., 1994). This is a way of feeling safer. If the potential victim avoids the behaviours of the past victims then they themselves will remain safe and feel less vulnerable. A global survey of attitudes toward sexual violence by the Global Forum for Health Research [9] shows that victim-blaming concepts are at least partially accepted in many countries. In some countries, victim-blaming is more common, and women who have been raped are sometimes deemed to have behaved improperly. Often, these are countries where there is a significant social divide between the freedoms and status afforded to men and women.

A more mainstream view is that everybody has the theoretical right to feel safe at all times, but that the responsibility of preventing and minimising the risk of being in a dangerous situation is largely up to the individual. On this basis, the question is not whether the victim "deserved" to be raped, because nobody "deserves" to be the victim of crime but rather whether the individual did choose to prevent or minimize the risk of being in a dangerous situation and/or the risk of harm in a dangerous situation.

Under cases of alleged date rape, however, the situation is different. Because the question at hand is whether or not the incident was consensual, or whether the alleged victim encouraged the accused or gave implied consent, becomes the critical consideration. As such, arguments about the victim's conduct are an accepted element of an affirmative defense.

In the United States, rape is unique in that it is the only crime in which there are statutory protections designed in favor of the victim (known as "rape shield laws"). These were enacted in response to the common defense tactic of "putting the victim on trial". Typical rape shield laws prohibit cross-examination of the victim with respect to issues, such as his or her prior sexual history, or the manner in which he or she was dressed at the time of the rape. Most states and the federal rules, however, provide exceptions to the rape shield law where evidence of prior sexual history is used to provide an alternative explanation for physical evidence, where the defendant and the victim had a prior consensual sexual relationship, and where exclusion of evidence would violate the defendant's constitutional rights.

Sexual fantasy

Psychologists have determined that rape fantasies are relatively common across populations. Many people assume that people aroused by rape fantasies must be more likely than others to commit the actual act, or that women with rape fantasies actually want to become victims of violent sexual assault. This does not correspond with observed scientific evidence, however; while rapists usually fantasize about rape, so do normal, psychologically-healthy people. Criminal psychologists would be more concerned about a person's tendencies if that person was incapable of achieving sexual gratification through fantasy.

Effects of rape

A proportion of violent sexual assaults end with the death or serious injury of the victim. Other consequences can include pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases. Because of the sexual nature of rape crimes, the most common effect of rape on victims, however, is serious psychological trauma such as PTSD, OCD or dissociation. This is especially true in societies with strong sexual customs and taboos. For example, a woman (and especially a virgin) who is raped may be deemed by society to be "damaged": she may suffer isolation, be prohibited to marry, be divorced if she was married, or even killed. She may also feel "dirty", as if the crime was her fault.

In the past, survivors of rape and sexual assault were often diagnosed with Rape Trauma Syndrome (RTS), then considered to be a psychological disorder. RTS is no longer considered a diagnosis, but rather a set of normal psychological and physiological reactions that a victim is likely to experience. These include, but are not limited to, feelings of guilt and shame, tension, anger, eating disturbances, and sometimes depression. The reactions are very similar to those that would be experienced by a survivor of any other traumatizing experience, and sometimes result in a diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. These traumatic responses are often cited as one of the reasons why rape goes unreported.

The process to denounce and eventually convict an offender is often hindered by similar psychological effects. Victims frequently feel shame when describing what has happened (especially if the victim is male, or if a female victim must report the incident to a male law officer). Also, the intimate questions and medical examinations required for prosecution can make the victim uncomfortable. In societies that do not accord equal civil rights to women and men, this process is even more difficult for female victims. In societies where denial, sexual stereotyping and pervasive double standards exist, victims of male-male, female-male and female-female rape often suffer double victimization when they seek support from legal, medical, and psychological professionals.

Medical emergency information

According to the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) in the United States, rape is a medical emergency [10]. Medical and law enforcement professionals have strongly recommended that a victim calls for help and reports it. A victim who seeks immediate medical attention, will not only allow prompt treatment for possibly life-threatening injuries and diseases, but will also preserve evidence. Many recommend that victims should not bathe or clean themselves before the examination, not only to prevent the loss of physical evidence, but also to not delay medical attention.

Physical injuries such as gynecologic, rectal or internal hemorrhage may have resulted. Additionally, emergency contraception and preventative treatment against sexually transmitted diseases may be required, in particular prophylactic treatments to prevent HIV infection. In many locations, emergency medical technicians, emergency room nurses and doctors are trained to help rape victims. Some emergency rooms have rape kits which are used to collect evidence.

AIDS prophylaxis is possible within 48 hours, but is not always deemed appropriate, given:

the extremely small chance of transmission in many cases (0.1 - 0.3%, or between 1 in 333 and 1 in 1000);
the lack of certainty of any effective results (it reduces, rather than removes the risk); and
the often severe side effects of drugs required.

This would usually be a clinical decision based upon circumstances. [11]

RAINN

Some groups also operate hotlines to offer advice and psychological first aid. In the United States, one of the most prominent hotlines for rape victims is operated by the organization, RAINN (The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network). RAINN is the only toll-free, completely confidential 24-hour hotline that provides this service in America. Their telephone number is 1-800-656-HOPE.

Secondary Victimization

Secondary victimization is the re-traumatization of the sexual assault, abuse or rape victim. It is an indirect result of assault which occurs through the responses of individuals and institutions to the victim. The types of secondary victimization include victim blaming, inappropriate behavior or language by medical personnel and by other organizations with access to the victim post assault. (Campbell et. al., 1999)

Secondary victimization is especially rampant in cases of statutory rape. Often the minor does not feel victimized by the sexual contact, but only begins to feel like a victim when faced by the treatment they receive at the hands of law enforcement and others.

Causes of rape

According to rape researchers, the prevention of rape is likely to be successful to the extent that the causes are known. They also note that few topics generate as much heated speculation with so little empirical knowledge than research on the causes of rape. However, empirical research is beginning to replace political rhetoric with peer-reviewed science. This section studies both well-known political rhetoric about rape causeality from feminists along with empirical theories and studies about the causes of rape from scientists. As of 2006, there is no scientific theory that explains all forms of male-female rape much less the other types of rape studied in this article. No single theory of rape can be considered scientifically sound until it includes all forms and all types of rape. Given the many complex forms and modalities of rape, more than one empirical theory may be needed to explain all the causes of rape.

The pervasive double standards that offendees of male-male, female-male, and female-female rape face also occur in rape research.

A number of correlations have been found between rape and other contributing factors that are not in and of themselves direct causes of rape but might point to possible causes. Vulnerability CDC and/or pre-existing conditions such as Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome increase the likihood of rape. Childhood rape, incest or sexual abuse also increases the vulnerability to adult victims of rape. Many rapists were also themselves raped, incested, and/or sexually abused in childhood, a factor that seems connected to their offenses in adulthood. One text (The Trouble with Blame) noted that 66% of a group of convicted male serial rapists were raped by adult females in childhood. Also there is evidence to suggest that survivors of a second offense are more vulnerable than victims of only one offense, due to higher PSTD levels. These correlations, by themselves, mean nothing, but they suggest possible paths for further research into the causes of rape.

Some possible causes of rape are the promotion of specific aggressive gender roles in society and confusion over appropriate behavior according to End Abuse. Some members of society are discouraged from expressing themselves and stating that "'NO' is a complete sentence" meaning it needs no further explanation. Feminist Camille Paglia calls the statement 'No always means no.', "stupid" and "absolutely meaningless" which suggests that consent versus non-consent is far from clear here.

Researcher Lee Ellis listed three theories about why males rape females and analysed their associated hypotheses against the evidence. In his Theories of Rape, he named the then (1989) known theses for the causes of male-female rape as:

Feminist (rape is a form of social control used to "keep women in their place.")
Social Learning
Evolutionary

In 2005, a mixed gender group of Canadian research psychologists published The Causes of Rape, a wide ranging scientific study of male-female rape causality along with research on forced copulation in animals. They discounted the occurrences of and did no research on the causes of male-male, female-male, and female-female rape. However, they did note that "Few topics have generated more heated debate in the social science literature." than investigating the propensity of males to rape females. These psychologists list three general groups of female-male rape cause classes with a fourth possible grouping of less common causes as follows:

Young male syndrome
Competitive disadvantage
Psychopathy
None of the above others (such as competively over-advantaged, non-antisocial spouse, etc)

Rape and punishment

Punishment of assailants

Most societies consider rape to be a grave offense, and punish it accordingly. Punishment for rape in most countries today is imprisonment, but until the late twentieth century, some states of the US, for instance, could apply the death penalty in cases of aggravated rape, (in Louisiana, USA, for example) indicating the severity with which the crime was viewed (the death penalty is still in use in countries with a significant social divide between the freedoms and status afforded to men and women). Castration is sometimes a punishment for rape and, controversially, some U.S. jurisdictions allow shorter sentences for sex criminals who agree to voluntary "chemical castration."

In the Southern states of the U.S., the charge of rape was often used to justify vigilante groups ("lynch mobs") that would seize and kill men accused of rape, without due process or trial. Victims of lynching were typically, though not always, African American. (One historic case was the lynching of Leo Frank, a Jewish American). Members of the lynch mobs were rarely prosecuted or punished for these mob killings.

In some such communities, any sexual interaction between an African-American male and a White (Caucasian) female was viewed as rape, which resulted in a large number of (presumably) innocent men, being murdered. This resulted from the fact that it was commonly believed that no White female would ever consent to sexual relations with a Black man. Rape of Black women by White men was a practice largely ignored or simply tolerated for many years, and local governments rarely punished such rapists in these cases.

Prison sentences for rape are not uniform. A study made by the U.S. Department of Justice of prison releases in 1992, involving about 80 percent of the prison population, found that the average sentence for convicted rapists was 9.8 years, while the actual time served was 5.4 years. This follows the typical pattern for violent crimes in the US, where those convicted typically serve no more than half of their sentence [12]. Between 2002 and 2003, more than one in ten convicted rapists in Australia served a wholly suspended sentence, and the average total effective sentence for rape was seven years [13].

Punishment of victims

While the practice is condemned as barbaric by many present-day societies, some societies punish the victims of rape as well as the perpetrators. According to such cultures, being raped dishonors the victim and, in many cases, the victim's family. In some cultures rape victims are sometimes killed to restore honor to the family's name.

In the Shakespeare drama Titus Andronicus, Titus Andronicus kills his raped, maimed daughter in what he believes to be a mercy killing.

Rape and cultural views

Related article: Honor killing

Certain cultures, often patriarchal, have historically promoted a system of honor, dishonor and shame, which was applied with particular strictness to females. A victim of rape would be considered to have lost her honorable reputation and place in society, a loss of honor which entailed shame on the woman's family group as well. In early ancient Rome, ancient China, and other cultures, a pressure has existed which has led women to commit suicide after becoming victims of rape. The iconic Roman instance is that of Lucretia. Likewise, suicide of female rape victims for reasons of shame is also historically documented in Chinese and Japanese culture [14].

Rape as punishment

Though modern societies claim to recognize the practice as barbaric, rape itself is sometimes used as a form of punishment. The victim of the rape is commonly a female relative of the person targeted for retaliation. In June 2002, a Pakistani woman named Mukhtaran Bibi was sentenced to be gang-raped by a vigilante mob after her brother was (falsely) accused of rape himself. The Pakistani government, along with local religious officials, condemned this action and sentenced the rapists to death. Many such events are reported in Pakistan and other countries.

In some dictatorships, rape is, or was, used as a method to retaliate against, or to intimidate their political enemies. There are numerous allegations that this took place under the former regime of Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein. In the Abu Ghraib prison, US soldiers were using similar sexual intimidation and the threat of rape as a means of psychological torture to frighten their mostly male and muslim prisoners. The US government condemned these actions and put the soldiers responsible on trial.

There is suspicion that some rape incidents in prisons are permitted through timely guard absences (at showers, for instance). Motivations for this range from punishing troublesome prisoners to providing a deterrent to those considering a criminal act, particularly among those who have little to lose from incarceration (e.g. homeless persons in winter).

Rape and human rights

Probably for much of human history, rape, violence, and war have often occurred in connection with one another. In the twentieth century, the use of rape as a "weapon of war" has been well documented and addressed by NGOs as well as the United Nations, [15] and national governments.

Rapists

Male rapist profiles

Dr. A. Nicholas Groth, author of Men Who Rape: The Psychology of the Offender, described four types of deliberate rapists, based on their motivations and behavior patterns. Forensic scientists, criminologists, and law enforcement agencies often use these profiles to analyze rapists, and prevent future rapes.

Since rapes are predominantly perpetrated by men, a male perpetrator is assumed in these profiles:

The power-assertive rapist: This is argued to be the most common type of rapist, accounting for about 40 percent of all reported rapes. Wishing to be an alpha male, he tends to value machismo and physical aggression, and often rapes victims that he meets in places like bars, where he may pose as, or be, an authority figure. Power-assertive rapists rarely target specific people for rape and, while not intending to kill their victims, often traumatize and humiliate them.

The power-reassurance rapist: Responsible for about 27.5% of reported rapes, this type of rapist has been described by law enforcers as the "gentleman rapist". He is usually:
- of average intelligence;
- not physically aggressive;
- socially-deficient; and
- unable to develop interpersonal or romantic relationships.

Usually, he will select and stalk a victim before committing the crime. The victim is usually someone whom he knows, eg. a neighbor or work acquaintance. Power-reassurance rapists often force the victim to emulate foreplay, and take "trophies" of the rape; they may even record the event in a personal journal. Power-reassurance rapists tend to be the least violent type of rapists, often fantasizing about consensual sexual relationships with women, rather than violent conquests.

Anger-retaliatory rapist: Responsible for about 28% of rapes, this type of rapist is often a substance abuser, with impulsive behavior and anger-related pathologies. He does not target specific victims, and often feels animosity toward women in general. The anger-retaliatory rapist's attacks are usually spontaneous and brutal, and while he does not intend to kill the victim, he may beat her or him to death if she or he resists. This rapist usually has below-average intelligence, and is likely to leave more evidence than other types of rapists.

The anger-excitation rapist: This type of rapist, considered the most dangerous and elusive, accounts for about 4.5 percent of rapes. He exhibits antisocial personality disorder, and being often perceived as charming and intelligent, makes him rather difficult to catch. The anger-excitation rapist may or may not choose his victims selectively. Often sadistic, this type of rapist frequently murders his victim to prevent her or him from identifying him, or for his own self-gratification. Ted Bundy was an example of this type of rapist.

Female rapist and abuser profiles

Court TV's Crime Library lists 6 types of female-male sex offenders based on research by psychiatrist Janet Warren and psychologist Julia Hislop.

Facilitators-women who intentionally aid men in gaining access to children for sexual purposes.
Reluctant partners - women in long term relationships who go along with the sexual exploitation of a minor out of fear of being abandoned.
Initiating partners - women who want to sexually offend against a child and who may do it themselves or get a man or another woman to do it while they watch.
Seducers and lovers - women who direct their sexual interest against adolescents and develop an intense attachment.
Pedophiles - women who desire an exclusive and sustained sexual relationship with a child.
Psychotics - women who suffer from a mental illness and who have innapropriate sexual contact with children as a result.

Warning signs-potential male rapists

It is very difficult to predict who may or may not be a potential rapist because rapists have many personality types, and use many different methods. However, certain behavioral characteristics have been observed in some rapists. These should be used cautiously as "warning signs", since non-rapists and other innocent people may also exhibit similar behaviours:

Extreme emotional insensitivity and egotism;
Habitual degradation and verbal devaluation of others;
Tries to tell others what they are feeling and thinking, as though it is his or her decision and not theirs. "S/he said no, but s/he meant yes";
Consistently using intimidation in language, or threatening behavior to get his way. Uses words like "bitch" and "whore" to describe women;
Excessive, chronic, or brooding anger;
Becoming obsessed with the object of his or her romantic affections, long after his or her advances have been rejected;
Extreme mood swings;
Violent outbursts; lack of impulse control;
Aggressive and violent;
Cruel behavior, especially under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Scientific research does not support the assumption that rape fantasies are warning signs of a potential rapist. While rapists were almost invariably found to have rape fantasies, they were a very small minority compared to a far larger number of psychologically healthy and normal men who had rape fantasies but did not commit rape.

Warning signs-potential female rapists

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According to Network LaRed woman on woman rape and domestic violence abusers exhibit certain behavior.

The person screams things, throws, violates privacy, steals or breaks things.
You don't see family in order to avoid jealous behavior.
Behavior that is overly co-dependent in terms of money. Wants you to be dependent or vice versa.
Doesn't allow you access to medications or health care.
Using alcohol or drug abuse as an excuse for violent behavior.
Uses guilt to force you into decisions.
Humiliates you.
Does not respect your boundaries.
The person tries to control where you go and what you do.

There are also instances in which mothers or care givers abuse their children.

Reporting

Underreporting

According to the 1999 United States National Crime Victimization Survey, only 39% of rapes and sexual assaults were reported to law enforcement officials. For male rape, less than 10% are believed to be reported. The most common reasons given by victims for not reporting rapes are the belief that it is a personal or private matter, and that they fear reprisal from the assailant. Fisher found that:

"... many women do not characterize their sexual victimizations as a crime for a number of reasons (such as embarrassment, not clearly understanding the legal definition of rape, or not wanting to define someone they know who victimized them as a 'rapist') or because they blame themselves for their sexual assault."

Rape-related advocacy groups have suggested several tactics to encourage the reporting of sexual assaults, most of which aim at lessening the psychological trauma, often suffered by rape victims following their assault. Many police departments now assign female police officers to deal with rape cases. Advocacy groups also argue for the preservation of the victim's privacy during the legal process; it is standard practice among mainstream American news media not to divulge the names of alleged rape victims in news reports.

Psychologists who research female-male, and female-female rape suggest that significant under-reporting of these crimes is occurring. They suggest that the double standards in perception that exist between male and female rape, the taboo nature (see incest) of some female rapes, and the lack of rapist-gender reporting in many jurisdictions contribute to this alleged under reporting in the United States. Canadian researcher, Linda Halliday-Sumner suggests from the slowing emerging information about female sex crimes, that women commit about one third (or about 33%) of all sexual offenses. However, she notes that in Canada, just 19 of 4545 (or just 0.4%) of federal prisoners convicted of sex offenses were women in 1997.

Overreporting and false reporting

A 1997 article in the Columbia Journalism Review dealing with the debate surrounding false reporting, noted that wildly different figures, from 2% to 85% of all rape reports, have been presented:

"... one explanation for such a wide range in the statistics might simply be that they come from different studies of different populations... But there's also a strong political tilt to the debate. A low number would undercut a belief about rape as being as old as the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife: that some women, out of shame or vengeance ... claim that their consensual encounters or rebuffed advances were rapes. If the number is high, on the other hand, advocates for women who have been raped worry it may also taint the credibility of the genuine victims of sexual assault." [16]

In 1994, Dr. Eugene J. Kanin of Purdue University investigated the incidences, in one small urban community, of false rape allegations made to the police between 1978 and 1987. The falseness of the allegations was not decided by the police, or by Dr. Kanin; they were "... declared false only because the complainant admitted they are false." The number of false rape allegations in the studied period was 45; this was 41% of the 109 total complaints filed in this period. In Dr. Kanin's research, the complainants who made false allegations did so (by their own statements during recantation) for three major reasons:

providing an alibi;
a means of gaining revenge; and/or
a platform for seeking attention/sympathy.

Dr. Kanin's small study is widely reported and quoted. In her work, "The Legacy of the Prompt Complaint Requirement, Corroboration Requirement, and Cautionary Instructions on Campus Sexual Assault", Michelle J. Anderson of the Villanova University School of Law states: "As a scientific matter, the frequency of false rape complaints to police or other legal authorities remains unknown" [17]. The FBI's 1996 Uniform Crime Report states that 8% of reports of forcible rape were determined to be unfounded upon investigation [18].

Sociobiological analysis of rape

Some animals appear to exhibit behaviors which resemble rape in humans, in particular combining sexual intercourse with violent assault, such as are observed in ducks, geese, and certain species of dolphins. It is difficult to determine to what extent the idea of rape can be extended to intercourse in animal species, as the defining attribute of rape in humans is the lack of informed consent, which is difficult to determine in animals.

Some sociobiologists argue that our ability to understand rape, and thereby prevent and treat it, is severely compromised because its basis in human evolution has been ignored. They argue that rape, as a reproductive strategy, is encountered in many instances in the animal kingdom, including among the great apes, and presumably also among early humans. Some studies indicate that it is an attempt by the male of the species to increase his reproductive fitness when he is lacking in ability to persuade the female by non-violent means (Thornhill & Thornhill, 1983). Such sociobiological theories, regarding rape as adaptive, are highly controversial, and are not accepted by all mainstream scientists.

Camile Paglia and some sociobiologists have argued that victim-blaming should not be totally dismissed in all cases, since some sociological models suggest that it may be genetically-inbuilt for a certain proportion of men and women to act in ways which would tend to raise the chances of rape occurring, and that this may be a biological feature of the species. This, however, is a very controversial view. A contrasting view, given by Lewis Thomas in his "The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a biology watcher", claims that rape is not only not an evolutionary benefit to the rapist, but that it is strongly maladaptive, and therefore selected against.

The role of control and loss of privacy in rape

Rape has been regarded as "a crime of violence and control" since the 1970s. According to psychological analysis literature, "control" is a key feature in most definitions of privacy:

"Privacy is not the absence of other people from one's presence, but the control over the contact one has with them." (Pedersen, D. 1997).

"Selective control of access to the self." (Margulis, 2003)

Control is important in providing:

what we need for normal psychological functioning;
stable interpersonal relationships; and
personal development. (Pedersen, D. 1997)

Violation of privacy or "control", come in many forms, sexual assault, and the resulting psychological traumas, being one of the most explicit forms. Many sexual assault survivors suffer from eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia, which also center around control issues. In some ways, therefore, it makes more sense to look at the issue of sexual assault as an invasion of privacy:

"The more comfortable a person is with talking about invasion of privacy and in insisting that he or she has privacy that deserves respect, the clearer that person’s understanding of rape will be…" (Mclean, D. 1995)

Consequently, it is important to be aware of the approach of this subject of rape through the concept of privacy because of the historical background and the need to bypass certain stigmas.

Quotes

The Supreme Court of California had this to say on a case involving a woman who was raped by a police officer:

"Along with other forms of sexual assault, it belongs to that class of indignities against the person that cannot ever be fully righted, and that diminishes all humanity."

Mary M. v. City of Los Angeles 54 Cal.3d 202,222 (1991) [285 Cal.Rptr. 99; 814 P.2d 1341]

One Supreme Court of the United States opinion included:

"We do not discount the seriousness of rape as a crime. It is highly reprehensible, both in a moral sense and in its almost total contempt for the personal integrity and autonomy of the female victim and for the latter's privilege of choosing those with whom intimate relationships are to be established. Short of homicide, it is the "ultimate violation of self." It is also a violent crime because it normally involves force, or the threat of force or intimidation, to overcome the will and the capacity of the victim to resist. Rape is very often accompanied by physical injury to the female and can also inflict mental and psychological damage. Because it undermines the community's sense of security, there is public injury as well."

Coker v. Georgia 433 U.S. 584 at 597-598 (1977) [53 L.Ed.2d 982, 97 S.Ct. 2861] (plur. opn. of White, J.; conc. and dis. opn. of Powell, J.)

Researcher Metzger wrote:

"Rape is loss. Like death, it is best treated with a period of mourning and grief. We should develop social ceremonies for rape, rituals, that, like funerals and wakes, would allow the mourners to recover the spirits that the rapist, like death, steals. The social community is the appropriate center for the restoration of spirit, but the rape victim is usually shamed into silence or self-imposed isolation." (Metzger, D. (1976). "It is always the woman who is raped." American Journal of Psychiatry, 133 (4), 405-408)

External links

Research Resources on Sexual Assault and Rape

Message Boards for Rape Survivors

Marital/Intimate Partner Rape Links

Female-female rape links

Male Survivors of male and female rapists

LGBTQ

LGBTQ and lesbian sexual assault resources

Double Standards

Victim Blame

Victim Blame: A Bibliography
"The Legal Bias Against Rape Victims (The Rape of Mr. Smith)" - excerpt from an April 1975 American Bar Association Journal article
Secondary victimization
Hate crimes against RTS disability
False Rape Allegations by Dr. Eugene Kanin
Findlaw article on false rape allegations

Women's Awareness Raising Events

Emerging Research Topics

Diversity