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Running head: MALE AND FEMALE RAPE Male and Female Rape Male and Female Rape Statement of Problem Male and female rape is a serious crime. The personal relationships of many women are often bound up with coercion and violence. Although there is f information about male rape, this problem also exists. According to statistics, somewhere in the United States, a woman is raped approximately every two minutes. At the same time, not all victims of sexual assaults and rapes report these crimes to law enforcement officials.
Many persons, who are raped, do not consider themselves as rape victims. The major explanation that the victims of rape prefer keeping silence and acknowledge themselves as not being rapes is based on societal stereotypes concerning sexual violence. These stereotypes involve the notions that the rape victims secretly enjoyed the rape, asked' to be raped, or lied about it. Therefore, the victims of rape, who have the feeling that these erroneous stereotypes can be applied to them, prefer keeping silence and do not report about the incident. What is even more important, the court personnel sometimes also faces difficulties whether the rape has actually occurred, because there are too many variables that play an important role in rape. Although the legal definition of rape does exist, the rape laws still differ from one state to another in the United States thus resulting in problems in defining rape.
In the light of the problem statement, the following aims are formulated for the study: to explore the phenomenon of rape, major facts about rape, the impact of stereotypes in terms of the experience of the rape victims, aspects influencing rape victim blaming, as well as the overview of the laws, policies, and programs concerning male and female rape. Review of Literature Buddy, A. M. (2001). Beyond Rape Myths: A More Complex View of Perceptions of Rape Victims. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 139. The author of the article examines personal perceptions and beliefs of cultural stereotypes concerning rape victims.
The control group comprised of students aged 18 - 21, who were offered to list their personal beliefs and perceptions of cultural stereotypes about the victims of rape, and were offered to rate a specific rape victim. According to the results of research, personal beliefs related to the victims of rape were primarily focused on perceptions of the reactions and responses of the victims to the rape, such as anxiety, depression, and other emotional responses, while the rape myths, such as the victim of rape was promiscuous, or asked for rape, were rarely mentioned. At the same time, the perceptions of cultural stereotypes tended to focus on rape myths rather than on the reaction of the victim to rape. The author claims that the victim of rape is more blamed for being raped in case she (or he) has had previous sexual experiences.
Rape victims are also blamed more when they tried to resist the rapist later than earlier, thus confirming the stereotype that these victims of rape are "engaging in token resistance. Finally, they are also blamed more in case they are raped by the person familiar to them (i. e. a date or an acquaintance) rather than by a stranger. Turner, R. D. (1990).
Date Rape: Perpetrators Are Seldom Strangers and Often Are Trusted Acquaintances. Ebony, 46 (2), 104. Renee D. Turner explores the date rape and advances the hypothesis that the rapists are often trusted acquaintances than strangers.
Although there is no official information concerning the number of rapes convicted by trusted acquaintances of the approximately 130, 000 rapes a year, a University of Arizona Medical School Survey of working women and college students report that more than 4 of 5 victims of rape were raped by acquaintances, and more than 50 % of college rape victims were raped by their dates. The study also found out that for every reported rape, about three to ten go unreported. Similar to the previous researcher, Renee D. Turner asserts that due to misconceptions concerning rape and rape victims, some victims do not label their assaults rape. According to the survey of over 6, 100 college students one out of 12 females admitted they'd been forced to have sex, but only 27 % labeled it as a "rape." Women also face the same difficulties, partially due to misconception that excessive male aggression is normal in the modern society, and, partially, due to the opinion that female should be also responsible for a man's actions. Owing to these misconceptions, the vast majority of rape victims do not report about the incident to the authorities, as they feel too guilty, or due to some other reasons.
Haws, D. (1997). The Elusive Numbers on False Rape. Columbia Journalism Review, 36, 16. The author dwells on the back side of the problem, asserting that many rape reports are false.
As it was stated in the Kansas City Star, according to police estimates, about 25 % of all rape reports in the United States are false. This information conflicts with another police findings, according to which only 2 % of 793 rapes in Dallas in 1995 were false and in Louisville about 2 % of rapes were considered false. The data varies so widely because the number is determined by the people asked. The researcher considers that sexual assault counselors tend to report the lowest figures of false rape reports. Although the frequency of false rape reports is extremely difficult to be estimated, the information is very interesting. In addition, when the policemen were replaced by policewomen, the rate of false rape reports dropped drastically, probably, due to the fact that the victims of rapes tend to be blamed by men more than by women.
Wakelin, A. , & Long, K. M. (2003). Effects of Victim Gender and Sexuality on Attributions of Blame to Rape Victims. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 49, 477. The authors of the article dwell on female and male rape victims.
As they claim, about 110, 000 men are raped each year in the United States. Although it is presumed that rape victims receive support and sympathy following their ordeal, the reality tends to be different, as the authorities, the public, and even the rape victims themselves often consider rape victims to be guilty. As far as the description of rape of a woman supposes that the rape victim has broken the ascribed traditional gender roles, a rape of a male is somewhat different. Due to the fact that the rules of social acceptability are stricter to women than to the men, male victims' behavior is blamed less that the behavior of female victims. The researchers explain this by the assumption that it is far more difficult for a male to be considered as attracting a rapist; therefore, there is less acceptance of rape myths concerning male rape victims. At the same time, heterosexual rape victims are blamed less than homosexual victims of rape.
Moreover, the vast majority of males reporting to the police that they were raped tend to tell that they are heterosexual as they consider they will have a greater chance to be believed. The researchers also undertake the effort to explain why do homosexual male rape victims tend to receive more blame than heterosexual ones. There are three major theories able to provide a concise explanation. The first theory involves McCreary's sexual orientation hypothesis, due to which homosexuals are expected to display the feminine gender role, thus being blamed similar to female rape victims. The second theory is based on assumption that homophobia can be accounted for differences in blame attributed to gay rape victims.
Finally, the last theory is based on the explanation about potential sexual attraction. Mitchell, D. , Hirsch man, R. , & Navy, G. C. (1999). Attributions of Victim Responsibility, Pleasure and Trauma in Male Rape. The Journal of Sex Research, 36, 369. The authors of the article devote their discussion to the extent of responsibility often attached by people to victims of rape.
The study aimed to examine the perceptions of male victims, who have been sexually assaulted by men, as they claim, the male-on-male sexual assault is often underestimated. This type of rape tends to occur in prisons, however, the authors consider that the number of such assaults among non-incarcerated persons increases drastically. According to the clinical research, male rape victims experience significant psychological and physical trauma. However, some researchers consider that male victims of rape, similar to females, are held somewhat responsible for being raped. Robinson Kurpius, S. E. , & White, B.
H. (2002). Effects of Victim Sex and Sexual Orientation on Perceptions of Rape. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 191. Bradley H. White and Sharon E. Robinson Kurpius undertake an effort to answer the question who is being responsible for rape in both male and female rapes.
The authors consider females to be better able to identify with a female rape victim than males, and consider females to be more aware of potential of becoming a victim of rape. According to them, male rape victims are blamed for being raped when they failed to behave in accordance with their gender stereotype, while female rape victims were blamed more due to specific aspects of their character. Female rape victims perceived as vulnerable, passive, and sexual were blamed more and attributed more responsibility, namely, for having provoked the aggressor. Larimer, M. E. , Lydum, A. R. , & Anderson, B.
K. (1999). Male and Female Recipients of Unwanted Sexual Contact in a College Student Sample: Prevalence Rates, Alcohol Use, and Depression Symptoms. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, Vol. 40, 295. The authors of the article explore the role played by alcohol in male victimization, pointing out that the consumption of alcohol has a dis inhibiting effect on perpetration of sexual aggression. Alcohol, therefore, is considered to be a risk factor for sexual victimization, both in males and females, as it lowers awareness of risky situations and impairs the ability to resist the aggressor. According to the authors, 53 % of female rape victims were under the influence of alcohol at the time of assault.
The researchers also found out that persons, who reported having been recipients of sexual assault events reported more depressive symptoms than did persons who had not experienced these events. Bryden, D. P. , & Leng nick, S. (1997). Rape in the Criminal Justice System. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 87. The authors of the article dwell on rape within the frameworks of the modern criminal justice system.
They place emphasis on the fact that justice system discriminates against the victims of rape, as the attrition in rape incidents is extremely high, while very few of aggressors are indeed convicted of the crime. The victims avoid reporting to police, as they feel hostile treatment from the side of authorities. Finally, the victims are afraid of vicious discriminatory attacks on their character during a trial. The authors propose to reexamine the central tenets of the rape law reform movement, that discrimination against the victims of rape pervades criminal justice...
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