Rape

For other uses, see Rape (disambiguation).

Rape is the act of making someone partake involuntarily in sexual acts through violence, force, threat of injury, other duress, or where the victim is unable to decline due to the effects of drugs, and/or alcohol. Rape is committed by both male and female rapists against same sex and opposite sex adults or children. Rape is generally considered one of the most serious sex crimes.

There is no universally understood hard distinction between rape and other forms of sexual assault. The criminal laws of some jurisdictions explicitly consider all kinds of sexual activity equivalent to reproductive intercourse, whereas others use the term "rape" only, for example, in the case of penile-vaginal penetration. Forcible or non-consensual sex acts, such as forced fellatio or coerced cunnilingus, that do not meet the criterion for rape in a jurisdiction are often called sexual assault instead.

The related term statutory rape refers to circumstances where a sexual act is automatically considered rape by the law, regardless of whether it was coercive or consensual. Such laws are common. They exist in order to prevent adults from having sex with minors, who are more easily influenced and therefore are protected by being automatically deemed unable to give legally effective informed consent.

The word originates from the Latin verb rapere: to seize or take by force. The Latin term for the act of rape itself is raptus. The term in its original meaning has no sexual connotation in particular, and is still used in its generic sense in literary English, see rape (word).

Definitions of rape

The Rape of the Sabine Women, a 1582 sculpture by Giambologna.

Rape is, in most jurisdictions, a crime defined as sexual intercourse or penetration without valid consent by both parties.

In some jurisdictions, rape is defined by penetration of the anus or the vagina by a penis, while in other jurisdictions, the penetration of either the vagina or the anus need not be by a penis, but can be by other objects such as a finger or a hand-held object, or the forcing of a vagina or anus onto a penis by a female.

Some jurisdictions expand the definition of rape further to include other sexual acts without valid consent, including oral copulation and masturbation. The lack of valid consent does not necessarily mean that the victim explicitly refused to give consent; generally, where consent was obtained by physical force, threat of injury, or other duress, or where consent was given by a person whose age was below the age of consent, a person who was intoxicated by drugs or alcohol, or a person who was mentally impaired by illness or developmental disability, the consent is considered invalid.

(When the sexual activity involved a person whose age was below the age of consent, the crime defined is often known as "statutory rape," although a number of jurisdictions use terms such as "unlawful sexual intercourse" to avoid the forcible connotation of the word "rape.") In addition to common forms of physical rape, there are also other phenomena that can be classified as rape despite a lack of physical abuse.

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 [1] and national governments. If the victim is under the age of consent in the relevant country the rapist may be charged with child abuse.

• For Crisis assistance and other information in the United States, see RAINN - The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network

Effects of rape

In the first few days and weeks following the assault, it is very normal for a rape victim to experience intense and sometimes unpredictable emotions. This individual may have repeated strong memories and nightmares of the event that are difficult to ignore. Victims are often severely traumatized by the assault for the first few weeks and months following the incident.

The victim may have difficulty concentrating, sleeping, eating, and normally functioning. She (or he) may feel jumpy or on edge.

The victim may also experience severe, highly distruptive symptoms that make it incredibly difficult to function in the first month following the assault [2]

These problems may disrupt the victim's daily life and prevent them from seeking assistance or telling friends and family members, resulting in Acute Stress Disorder. Symptoms of this are:

• feeling numb and detached, like being in a daze or a dream, or feeling that the world is strange and unreal
• difficulty remembering important parts of the assault
• reliving the assault through repeated thoughts, memories, or nightmares
• avoidance of things (places, thoughts, feelings) that remind the victim of the assault
• anxiety or increased arousal (difficulty sleeping, concentrating, etc.)

Rape Trauma Syndrome is experienced by rape victims and can be divided into phases.

During the Acute Phase survivors may feel shock, disbelief, or in some way frozen and may attempt to disconnect himself or herself from the person who was raped. Survivors may feel humiliated, confused, dirty, ashamed, or in some way at fault for the assault, particularly if the assailant was an acquaintance. Victims often experience extreme nightmares, heightened anxiety, frequent flashbacks, and a strong attempt to disconnect from one's emotions. They may be in denial, trying to convince themselves that the assault did not actually occur. It is common for a victim of acquaintance rape to try to irrationally protect the perpetrator.

Victims may respond to the rape in either an expressive or controlled style. The expressive style involves obvious outward emotions such as crying, shaking, rage, tenseness, ironic and uncomfortable laughter (part of their denial), and restlessness. A controlled style occurs when the victim appears to be quite calm and rational about the situation, even if he or she were facing severe internal turmoil. There is no single response to rape; every individual deals with his or her intensely traumatic emotions differently.

After the acute phase, the individual attempts to reorganize his or her life. Emotions such as fear, anger, anxiety, denial, and loss (of security) surface. The shattering of trust are inherent in sexual assault. This loss of the fundamental need for security wreaks havoc on the survivor’s life, causing the individual to feel completely powerless and without control over his or her own body. The feeling of being unsafe looms over the survivor causing a heightened state of anxiety and difficulty with intimate relationships.

The survivor often isolates themself from their support network either physically or emotionally. The survivor may feel disconnected from peers as a result of the perceived personal experience. The shattering of trust can cause intimate relationships to be diluted as survivors may have a heightened suspicion of other’s motives and feelings.

During the Reorganization phase, the survivor attempts to reorganize their life and create the world that they once knew. Despite their best efforts though, this phase is often riddled with feelings of guilt, shame, fear, and anxiety. The victim may attempt to return to normal social functioning (i.e. go out to social engagements), yet may find themself unable to do so. Their attempts to re-establish themself in relationships may be hindered by lack of trust.

Sexual assault can change the individual forever by altering their outlook. The end result can be an individual in a constant state of turmoil and in extreme cases, suicide.

[3]

Sociobiological analysis of rape

Main article: Sociobiological theories of rape

Some animals exhibit behaviors that resemble rape, in particular combining sexual intercourse with violent assault, as in ducks, geese, and certain dolphin species. It is difficult to determine to what constitutes rape among animals, as the lack of informed consent defines rape amongst humans. See also Non-human animal sexuality.

Some sociobiologists argue that our ability to understand rape, and thereby prevent it, is severely compromised because its basis in human evolution has been ignored. Some argue that rape, as a reproductive strategy, is encountered in many instances in the animal kingdom. Some studies indicate that it is an evolutionary strategy for certain males who lack the ability to persuade the female by non-violent means to pass on their genes.

American social critic, intellectual, author and teacher Camille Paglia and some sociobiologists have argued that the victim-blaming intuition may have a non-psychological component in some cases, because a few sociobiological models suggest that it may be genetically-ingrained for certain men and women to allow themselves to be more vulnerable to rape, and that this may be a biological feature of members of the species. This, of course, is a very controversial view.

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" comes in many forms, with sexual assault and the resulting psychological traumas being one of the most explicit forms. Many victims of sexual assault suffer from eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia, which also center around control issues. Therefore, some argue that it makes more sense to look at the issue of sexual assault as an invasion of privacy (Mclean, D. 1995):

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…

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.

See also

• Aggression
• Anti-rape female condom
• Causes of rape
• Child molestation
• Dissociation (psychology)
• Effects of rape and aftermath
• Gendercide
• History of rape
• Incest
• Laws about rape
• Quotes relating to rape
• Rape on college campuses
• Rape culture
• Rape by gender
• Rape pornography
• Rape and punishment
• Rape reporting
• Rape (word)
• Rapists
• Sexual assault
• Sexual harassment
• Sydney gang rapes
• Trafficking in human beings
• Violence against women
• Violence against men
• Types of rape

Media Attention

• 2006 Duke University lacrosse team scandal
• There is an ongoing problem with sexual assault in the U.S. military which has resulted in a series of scandals that have received extensive media coverage.
  • Tailhook scandal
  • Assaults on trainees at Aberdeen, MD, 1996
  • Air Force Academy sexual assault scandal
• Take Back the News

Further reading

Academic and reference books

Reference books

• Smith, M. D. (2004). Encyclopedia of Rape. USA: Greenwood Press.
• Macdonals, John (1993). World Book Encyclopedia. United States of America: World Book Inc.
• Kahn, Ada. (1992). The A-Z of women's sexuality : a concise encyclopedia. Alameda, Calif.: Hunter House.
• The Columbia encyclopedia. Sixth edition, 2001-04.
• Leonard, Arthur S. (1993). Sexuality and the law : an encyclopedia of major legal cases. New York : Garland Pub
• Kazdin, Alan E. (2000). Encyclopedia of psychology. Washington, D.C. : American Psychological Association ; Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press
• Sedney, Mary Anne, "rape (crime)." Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Scholastic Library Publishing, 2006 <http://gme.grolier.com>
• Kittleson, M., Harper, J., & Hilgenkamp, K. (2005). The Truth About Rape. USA: Facts on File
• Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture (2004) Rape as a Method of Torture Edited by Dr Michael Peel

Secondary victimization and victim blame

• Lamb, Sharon, The Trouble with Blame: Victims, Perpetrators and Responsibility, Harvard Univ Press, 1999.
• Madigan, L. and Gamble, N. (1991). The Second Rape: Society's Continued Betrayal of the Victim. New York: Lexington Books.
• Murray JD, Spadafore JA, McIntosh WD. (2005) Belief in a just world and social perception: evidence for automatic activation. J Soc Psychol. Feb;145(1):35-47.
• Frese, B., Moya, M., & Megius, J. L. (2004). Social Perception of Rape: How Rape Myth Acceptance Modulates the Influence of Situational Factors. Journal-of-Interpersonal-Violence, 19(2), 143-161.
• Pauwels, B. (2002). Blaming the victim of rape: The culpable control model perspective. Dissertation-Abstracts-International:-Section-B:-The-Sciences-and-Engineering, 63(5-B)
• Blumberg, M. & Lester, D. (1991). High school and college students' attitudes toward rape. Adolescence, 26(103), 727-729.
• Shaver, . (2002). Attribution of rape blame as a function of victim gender and sexuality, and perceived similarity to the victim. Journal of Homosexuality, 43(2)
• Anderson , K. J. & Accomando, C. (1999). Madcap Misogyny and Romanticized Victim-Blaming: Discourses of Stalking in There's Something About Mary. Women & Language, 1, 24-28.
• The effect of participant sex, victim dress, and traditional attitudes on causal judgments for marital rape victims. (Author Abstract). Mark A. Whatley. Journal of Family Violence 20.3 (June 2005): p191(10).
• Kay, Aaron C., Jost, John T. & Young, Sean (2005) Victim Derogation and Victim Enhancement as Alternate Routes to System Justification. Psychological Science 16 (3), 240-246.

Self blame

• Tangney, June Price and Dearing, Ronda L., Shame and Guilt, The Guilford Press, 2002
• Matsushita-Arao, Yoshiko. (1997). Self-blame and depression among forcible rape survivors. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering. 57(9-B). pp. 5925.
• Branscombe, Nyla R.; Wohl, Michael J. A.; Owen, Susan; Allison, Julie A.; N'gbala, Ahogni. (2003). Counterfactual Thinking, Blame Assignment, and Well-Being in Rape Victims. Basic & Applied Social Psychology, 25 (4). p265, 9p.
• Frazier, Patricia A.; Mortensen, Heather; Steward, Jason. (2005). Coping Strategies as Mediators of the Relations Among Perceived Control and Distress in Sexual Assault Survivors. Journal of Counseling Psychology, Jul2005, Vol. 52 Issue 3, p267-278

Causes of multiple victimization

• Follette et. al., (1996). Cumulative trauma: the impact of child sexual abuse, adult sexual assault, and spouse abuse. J Trauma Stress.9(1):25-35.
• Sarkar, N. N.; Sarkar, Rina, (2005). Sexual Assault on a Woman: Its Impact on Her Life and Living in Society. Sexual & Relationship Therapy. 20 (4), 407-419
• Parillo, K., Robert C. Freeman, & Paul Young. (2003) Association Between Child Sexual Abuse and Sexual Revictimization in Adulthood Among Women Sex Partners of Injection Drug Users. Violence and Victims. 18(4): 473-484.
• Shields, N. & Hanneke, C. (1988). Multiple Sexual Victimization: The Case of Incest and Marital Rape. In G. Hotaling, D. Finkelhor, J. Kirkpatrick, & M. Strauss (Eds), Family abuse and its consequences: New directions in research. (pp. 255-269). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
• Sorenson SB, Siegel JM, Golding JM, Stein JA. (1991). Repeated sexual victimization.

Violence Vict. Winter;6(4):299-308.

Male victims

• Dorais, Michel, Don't Tell: The Sexual Abuse of Boys, McGill-Queen Univ Press, 2002.
• Mezey, Gillian, and King, Michael, Male Victims of Sexual Assault, Oxford, 2000.

Theories

• Anderson, Peter and Struckman-Johnson Cindy, Sexually Aggressive Women: Current Perspectives and Controversies, Guilford, 1998.
• Harris, Grant, et al, The Causes of Rape: Understanding Individual Differences in Male Propensity for Sexual Aggression, American Psychological Association, 2005.
• "Psychosexual Disorders." Section 15, Chapter 192 in The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy , edited by Mark H. Beers, MD, and Robert Berkow, MD. Whitehouse Station, NJ: Merck Research Laboratories, 2002.
• Brownmiller, Susan: Against Our Will : Men, Women, and Rape, Ballantine Books, 1975.
• Gavey, Nicola, Just Sex: The Cultural Scaffolding of Rape, Routledge, 2005.
• Scruton, Roger, Sexual Desire: A Moral Philoshopy of the Erotic, Free, 1986.
• Ellis, Lee, Theories of Rape: Inquiries Into the Causes of Rape, Hemisphere, 1989.
• McDonald, John, Rape: Controversial Issues: Criminal Profiles, Date Rape, False Reports, and False Memories, Charles C Thomas, 1995.
• Cothran, Helen, Sexual Violence: Opposing Viewpoints, Thompson Gale, 2003.
• Holmes, Ronald and Steven, Current Perspectives on Sex Crimes, Sage, 2002.
• Emilie Buchwald, Pamela Fletcher, Martha Roth (ed.), Transforming a Rape Culture, Milkweed Editions, 2005.
• Kanin, Eugene J. (1994). False Rape Allegations. Archives of Sexual Behavior.
• Sarah Projansky, Watching Rape: Film and Television in Postfeminist Culture, New York University Press 2001
• Thornhill, Randy and Palmer, Craig T. A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion. MIT Press, 2001.
• Roussel, D.E. and R. Bolen. (2000). The Epidemic of Rape and Child Sexual Abuse in the United States. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
• Mclean, D. (1995). Privacy and its invasion. CT: Praeger.
• Margulis, Stephen T., (2003). Privacy as a social issue and behavioral concept. Journal of social issues 59(2):243-261
• Pedersen, DM (1997) Psychological functions of privacy. Journal Of Environmental Psychology, 17:147-156

Child rape and child sexual assault

• Levesque, Roger, Sexual Abuse of Children, Indiana Univ Press, 1999.
• Pryor, Douglass, W. Unspeakable Acts: Why Men Sexually Abuse Children, New York University Press, 1996.

Female Sex Offenders

• Pearson, Patricia, When She Was Bad: Violent Women and the Myth of Innocence, Viking Adult, 1997.
• Adams, Ken, Silently Seduced: When Parents Make their Children Partners-Understanding Covert Incest, HCI, 1991.
• Anderson, Peter B., and Struckman-Johnson Cindy, Sexually Aggressive Women: Current Perspectives and Controversies, Guilford, 1998.
• Kierski, Werner, Female Violence: Can We Therapists Face Up to it?, Counseling and Psychotherapy Journal, 12/2002.
• Rosencrans, Bobbie, The Last Secret: Daughters Sexually Abused by Mothers, Safer Society, 1997.
• Miletski, Hani, Mother-Son Incest: The Unthinkable Broken Taboo, Safer Society, 1999.
• Elliot, Michelle, Female Sexual Abuse of Children, Guilford, 1994
• Hislop, Julia, Female Sex Offenders: What Therapists, Law Enforcement and Child Protective Services Need to Know, Issues Press, 2001.

Marital/Intimate Partner Rape

• Easteal, P, and McOrmond-Plummer, L, Real Rape, Real Pain: Help for Women Sexually Assaulted by Male Partners, Hybrid Publishers, 2006.
• Russell, Diana E.H., Rape in Marriage, MacMillan Publishing Company, 1990.
• Bergen, Raquel K., Wife Rape: Understanding the Response of Survivors and Service Providers, Sage Publications Inc., 1996.
• Finkelhor, D. and Yllo, K., License to Rape: Sexual Abuse of Wives, The Free Press, 1985.
• Hall, R., James, S. and Kertesz, J., The Rapist Who Pays the Rent Women Against Rape, UK.

Male Sexual Offenders

• Shapcott, David, The Face of the Rapist, Penguin Books, Auckland, 1988.
• Groth, Nicholas A., Men Who Rape: The Psychology of the offender, Plenum Press, New York, 1979.

Others

• McElroy, Wendy, Sexual Correctness: The Gender-Feminist Attack on Women, McFarland, 2001.
• Gavin de Becker. The Gift of Fear. ISBN 0-440-22619-8 , (recognising and handling dangerous people and situations)
• Doe, Jane. The Real Story of Jane Doe. Toronto: Random House, 2003.
• Ghiglieri, Michael P. (1999). The Dark Side of Man: Tracing the Origins of Violence. USA: Perseus Books.
• Kipnes, Laura, "The Female Thing: Dirt, Sex, Envy, Vulnerability", ISBN 0-375-42417-2
• Alice Sebold Lucky: A Memoir ([2002]) ISBN 0-316-09619-9 (author recounts her own rape at the age of 18)
• A Woman in Berlin: Six Weeks in the Conquered City by Marta Hillers, Translated by Anthes Bell, ISBN 0-8050-7540-2