Free Term Paper on Rape
Many of the attitudes, beliefs, and mistaken ideas about
rape have been with us for centuries. By looking at myths, such as “women ask
for it,” and “women secretly enjoy rape,” from a historical perspective, lead us
for better understanding how they evolved. Women are still seen as the property
of men, are protected as such. Men and women are still taught to occupy very
different roles in today’s world. Men are usually in power positions, and women
are seen as passive. This socialization process is changing, but slowly.
Rape is a forced sexual intercourse against the will of the victim (Parrot,
1988). Rape is a violent act, not a sexual act. The myth that men who rape women
are sexually pathological has begun to be dispelled and replaced with an
understanding that rape is an act of anger, power and control rather than lust.
Rape is not a very pleasant subject. When people think about rape, they
usually think of a stranger with a knife hiding in the bushes. He waits for a
woman to walk by and then attacks. But that is not the only kind of rape. The
majority of victims are raped by individuals they know or who are acquaintances.
This rape is known as “acquaintance rape.” Eighty percent of all rapes are, in
fact, acquaintance rapes. One kind of acquaintance rape is called “date rape.”
This kind of rape happens when a man and a woman go out on a date together. The
man forces the woman to have sex with him when she does not want to.
Rape
can happen to anyone. Women from different cultures, races, ages, and economic
level are all vulnerable. So no matter who you are or where you live. Most rape,
and specifically most acquaintance rape, happens between the ages of fifteen and
twenty-five. This is the time when young women are most likely to date and
therefore are most vulnerable to date rape. Acquaintance rape is not limited to
dating situations. It may be committed by friends of the family, employers,
friends, past boyfriends, and even husbands. The potential causes of rape are
varied and controversial. Among the factors that contribute to rape are:
decreased status of women within a society, pervasive media exposure of sex,
availability of pornographic materials, especially those involving acts of
violence, inadequate information or misconceptions regarding sexual behaviors,
and the prevalence of child sexual abuse. Statistics states that less than four
percent of all rapes are classified as “victim provoked” (Sigler, 1989).
In
early age boys are taught to be more aggressive than girls are. They are
expected to enjoy playing sports. Girls are expected to play less aggressive
sports. Boys are taught that they should get anything in their ways, even if it
means using violence. Girls are taught to stay away from conflicts. Boys are
sometimes taught to have a lot of girlfriends, and not to get tied down by one
girl when they are young. They are supposed to play the field. Some boys think
it is important to date pretty girls. Girls are often taught that they should
have a steady boyfriend. They are taught to guard their “reputations.” All of
these childhood “lessons” come into play in date rape (Mufson et all, 1993).
Date rape causes many serious problems. One of these problems is how the
victim feels about what has happened to her. Often women are not even sure they
have been raped. They think maybe that they asked for it, even though they said
“no.” Whether a woman says “no” in a sexual relationship means that it depends
on the woman and the circumstance. Some women mean “no” the first time they say
it; others do not mean “no” even after saying it many times. This variation
makes it difficult for woman who means “no” for the first time she says it. Some
men become desensitized to the word because many of women in their lives do not
mean it. Of a man persists in sexual advance after a woman had clearly said
“no”, she might feel angry, frustrated, ignored, unimportant, and unheard. She
may try to make him hear her and believe her by being more forceful physically
by pushing him away. She may even scream, threaten him, try to escape, or to
resort to physical violence by hitting him to make her wishes understood. Many
women do know that they want in a sexual relationship but are treated as if they
do not (Parrot, 1988).
One of the strangest things about the date rape is
that sometimes men commit date rape without knowing what they done. They think
that women really do mean “yes” when they say “no.” They think that a woman must
want sex if she goes somewhere alone with a guy. They think that if a girl
flirts with a guy, she must want sex. They think that a girl owes a guy sex if
he has spent a lot of money on her. So, when a guy like this forces his date to
have sex, he may not even know he is raping her. He thinks he is just doing what
guys are supposed to do on dates.
In many cases, date rapes begin with a
miscommunication between the persons. Studies of dating have shown that it is
common for men and women to miscommunicate their sexual interests to others.
Many studies have shown that college men are quite likely to misinterpret
college women’s behavior. When women think they are only being friendly and not
expressing any sexual interest at all, men often think the woman is making a
sexual advance. This miscommunication occurs because males tend to misinterpret
subtle aspects of friendly behavior, such as pleasant facial expressions,
standing close to male, and maintaining eye contact, as indications of sexual
interest.
One reason that men and women often miscommunicate about sex is
that they differ in their beliefs and attitudes about sexuality. Another aspect
of dating that is related to date rape is alcohol. Drinking plays a role in
sexual aggression in a number of ways. First, some men use alcohol to reduce the
resistance of a date who has not previously consented to sexual activity. Some
men do this intentionally to trick the woman into agreeing to something that she
would not agree to when sober. Most men give the role of alcohol no thought and
simply offer alcohol no thought and simply offer alcohol to their dates as part
of the normal dating ritual. The problem is that these men believe that a woman
who contents to sex when toxicated is giving her consent. Second, alcohol lowers
inhibitions and often increases interest in sexual activity. And because it
lowers inhibitions, alcohol makes it more likely that the male will do something
– such as using force – that he would not do when he had not been drinking.
Finally, drinking allows people to attribute their behavior to the alcohol
rather than their own choices (Mufson at all, 1993).
It is also important to
acknowledge that men and women commit rape, both men and women are victims, and
rapes occur among both heterosexuals and homosexuals. No one is completely free
of the threat of rape. A recent scientific study of acquaintance rape on
thirty-two campuses conducted by Ms. Magazine and psychologist Mary P. Koss
showed that significant numbers of women are raped on dates or by acquaintances,
although most victims never report their attacks. Ms. survey states that one in
four women surveyed were victims of rape or attempted rape, eighty four percent
of those raped knew their attacker, and fifty seven percent of the rapes
happened on dates (Warshaw, 1988). The truth is, men are rape victims. Some
experts estimated that ten percent of the victims coming to rape-crisis centers
are male even though men are far less likely to seek help after being raped than
women are. But almost all male-rape victims have been raped by other men
(Warshaw, 1988).
The recovering after rape can be a very long process.
Picking up the pieces of the victims’ life after an assault can be the most
difficult challenge the victims can ever face. In a relatively short period of
time their most fundamental beliefs can be shattered, their sense of bodily
integrity, security, and basic justice can be destroyed, and they may question
their most important, intimate relationships. But in spite of all this, their
lives will continue and it is up to them to put the pieces back together.
Recovering from rape is more like being cut. To heal from a rape it is not the
traditional sense of healing, such as breaking an arm. As you heal and time
passes, the cut becomes less visible.
Many victims of a rape face
rape-trauma syndrome that means an acute reaction to a completed or attempted
sexual assault. It describes possible responses to an assault, which vary with
each individual. Rape victims are shocked and disbelieved; they face the fear
that the others will think differently of them if they know they have been
attacked. They blame themselves, and they feel the fear that no one will believe
them. Being alone and nightmares are another symptoms of rape-trauma syndrome
(Parrot, 1988).
Most women who have been raped report that they believed
their lives were in danger during the assault. The act of rape confirms a
woman’s worst fear that when her life is in danger it is possible to be totally
powerless to alter the course of events. The body and mind respond in a series
of complicated ways based on the person’s feeling of intense fear, helplessness,
loss of control, and threat. Sexual intimacy can be difficult challenge during
this phase. An assault can very easily destroy the desire to be emotionally or
physically close with another person, and the relationship does not have to be
sexual for the victim to feel uncomfortable. It is important for the victims to
give themselves time to become more comfortable with sexual intimacy. They may
feel comfortable a week after the assault, or they may be uncomfortable a year
later.
Rape is not only difficult for the survivor but also for family and
friends. They can easily feel helpless when confronted with the survivor’s pain
and anger. Often people want to protect the survivor from any more suffering, so
they try to make things as easy as possible. Some families and friends are
supportive, loving, and willing to go through a long and sometimes frustrating
process as the survivor tries to regain control of her life. Unfortunately,
there are families that are not supportive at all, even the best families.
It is important to consider that rape is a community problem. Society as a
whole suffers from rape, acquaintance or stranger, violent or not. Women can
become frightened of men and afraid of having relationship with them and men can
become worried for the women in their lives. This leads to the untrusting
relationships. Those who have been raped and their families suffer from
emotional trauma that may interfere with their lives for years. And those who
tape may think it is acceptable to violate others.
It is very important that
we are invulnerable to rape. Rape can happen to anyone at any time. Rape
prevention strategies help to decrease the risk, but the risk never drops to
zero percent. Awareness prevention is also very important for potential
assailants so that they know what constitutes rape.
Works cited
Internet - available: Rape
Culture. May 6, 1999 http://pubweb.ucdavis.edu/Documents/RPEP/rculture.htm.
Mufson, Susan, and Rachel Kranz. Straight Talk about Date Rape. New York:
Facts On File, 1993.
Parrot, Andrea. Coping with Date Rape and Acquaintance
Rape. 1st edition. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc, 1988.
Sigler,
Robert T. Domestic Violence in Context. An Assessment of Community Attitudes.
New York: Lexington Books, New York, 1989.
Warshaw, Robin. I Never Called It
Rape. The Ms. Report on Recognizing, Fighting and Surviving Date and
Acquaintance Rape. New York: HarperPerennial Publishers, 1994.