What Shapes A Rapist?

Case A: A male college swimmer sexually assaulted a fellow student in a dark alley. The girl was unconscious and he did not stop until two men confronted him and held down the attacker. The offender was a Dean’s List Scholar at his university and loved by all of his peers.

Case B: A 25 year old college dropout snuck into the home of an 80 year old woman and raped her. He left her beaten up and bleeding. His family always referred to him as troubled. He was unable to keep a job and had numerous run-ins with the law.

Case C: A 41 year old man with two kids and a wife followed a young girl home from a bar one night and sexually assaulted her in her apartment. He was a very loving husband and father and CEO of a major hospital in the area.

Case A, B and C provide examples of the wide array of accused rapists that appear in courtrooms throughout the country. All three of these cases present very different men that lead very different lives, but who all committed the same crime. Focusing in on the cases, we ponder what could have caused these men in these various situations to all commit the same heinous act? What was the motivating force behind their actions? Researchers have been exploring various rape cases from different angles and comparing and contrasting them with one another to try to answer these questions. Finding some pattern or common underlying factor can help us better understand rape so that we are able to decrease the frequency of its occurrences.

Surrounding rape causal research, most researchers have focused on every aspect of the event except the perpetrators themselves. In order to understand rape, however, we must understand what causes people to rape. What shapes a rapist? This is a daunting question, one filled with many dark ruminating factors. As unpleasant of an inquiry as this is, it is necessary to understand how a rapist is formed so we can stop the process in its tracks and prevent continued counts of rape.

There has been wide debate over whether a rapist is formed from biological and psychological precursors or whether the social and cultural factors he is exposed to have greater impact. Both sides present substantial arguments, however there is a major flaw in the biological and psychological viewpoint. This side of the argument suggests that rapists are a special breed, but there is greater reason to believe that any man can be a rapist. He does not need to have predispositions that determine his ability and likelihood to commit sexual assault. This is an important thing to clarify, because juries on rape trials need to avoid feeling like there is such a thing as a man who ‘looks like a rapist’ and one who does not.

The sociocultural debate is stronger than the biopsychological debate because it provides a more in-depth analysis of the environmental factors that a man is exposed to, which greatly influence his ideals and his opinions on women and have the potential to result in his committing rape. Because societal and cultural influences have the ability to shape a regular man into a rapist, we need to understand which of these factors have the greatest potential to influence men to rape in order to accurately understand and prevent the crime. For this particular debate, I will focus in on male rapists and how certain social and cultural factors make men more susceptible to raping women. I included the most influential sociocultural determinants- Rape Myths, Sex-Role Stereotyping, Masculinity, and the Commodification of Women to uncover what factors can potentially shape a rapist.

First, lets answer the question what is rape? There are many varying definitions for the term rape. How rape is defined is in large part based on social and cultural factors. Because societal morals and cultural backgrounds vary heavily, this causes a wide spectrum of definitions. Lacking a universal definition has posed a major threat to the treatment of rape cases by the public and also the judicial system. The existence of varying definitions has created rape myths, in which people have created societal judgments about rape without truly having a firm grasp on what rape is. For the purpose of this exploration into the mind of the rapist, we will use the definition given by the Department of Justice: “The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”

RAPE MYTHS

Rape myths are social and cultural ideologies that work in support of the rapist and against the victim. These fallacies are very prominent in society and dictate how peers form beliefs about the innocence or guilt of the accused rapist. One of the most common and arguably the most dangerous myths is the belief that rape is a “crime of passion.” This rape myth attributes acts of sexual violence to an inner burning sexual desire. The main motive of rape is not sex; but instead a combination of power, anger and sexuality. Attributing the act to an act of sexual desire diminishes the true severity of the crime. Rape is not sexual deviancy. It is not just a form of sexual behavior that falls outside of the norm. The act of rape is a heinous crime and rape myths such as these allow offenders to get away with their crimes.

While the crime of passion myth justifies the acts of the rapist, victim blaming appears in many forms. Victim blaming is a far too commonly practiced protective measure for offenders. There are different forms of victim blaming that are alluded to in most cases of sexual assault: victim masochism, victim precipitation and victim fabrication. These are the “she wanted it,” “she asked for it,” “she is lying” statements we all know too well. The finger is pointed in the direction of the victim before the accused is even addressed. A culture that is protective of offenders and judgmental of victims creates an environment in which men are more likely to rape, because they will have the support of their peers. And one in which women will fear societies ridicule and therefore will refrain from reporting rapes. This is already the case, with only 310 out of every 1000 rape cases being reported to the police and 57 of those leading to arrests (DOJ). These odds are a deterrant for women to report rapes in this country.

SEX-ROLE STEREOTYPING

The practice of traditional gender roles has faded over time, but the ideas still remain at the foundation of our society. In these definitive roles, men take on the dominant role and women serve as their submissive. There are certain duties women are expected to fulfill. One of these roles is a woman’s expectation to please a man’s sexual desires. From this perspective, women are the child-bearers; that is their most significant role within society. Since this is seen as their main purpose, they are not viewed as having sexual desires. Men are the sexual ones. Therefore, their duty as a wife is to grant their husband sex whenever he seeks it. Men are able to claim a woman’s body to use for his own sexual needs (Berkowitz 1992). This adversarial view to gender relations creates an environment accepting of sexual violence toward women, in turn teaching men it is acceptable to take what they want from women. Viewing women as a sexual tool at the disposal of men is a traditional belief that has stuck in our culture.

The sex-role stereotypes bring up the issue of thinking rape is just an act of sexual deviancy. Adherence to these gender specific roles has a direct correlation to a man’s acceptance of rape myths and his likelihood to commit rape if he will not be caught (Berkowitz 1992). It is sickening to see the statistical likelihood of men to perform unwanted sexual acts on women as long as they are able to successfully not get caught. In a study on college students, it was recorded that over thirty percent of college men would rape if they knew they could get away with it (Berkowitz 1992). We live in a day and age where violence of any kind toward women is accepted and even encouraged. Because these acts are overlooked, a large portion of men who tend to believe rape is not all that wrong. After all, a woman’s body is a man’s right and he was just claiming what was his through a deviant way.

The belief that a man has the right to a woman’s body is particularly common in intimate partner rape. Around one in 10 women are raped by an intimate partner in their lifetime (NSVRC). This high statistic is a depiction of the severity of claims made by men to women’s bodies. As a direct result of societal influences, it is a common assumption that once a man has had intimate relations with a woman, he then has access to her body whenever he pleases. This mentality reveals the meat of the issue: men believing they have a right to a woman’s body.

Masculine sex-role socialization is a significant predetermining factor of rape. The masculine ideal minimizes women to mere objects, stripping them of their humanity. Women become simply an outlet for men to use and abuse. In addition, the masculine nature promotes a need for men to be strong against resistance. Men need to be able to fight for what they want, quite literally even when it is a women resisting their sexual acts. These lessons that society teaches on how to be a man are in fact teaching men how to be rapists.

MASCULINITY- THE GROUP MENTALITY

When we discuss power as a motivation behind rape, we do not only mean power over women. In most instances of rape, men are exhibiting their power over other men. In proving one’s masculinity, this often requires displays of violence and strength. The nature of men comparing themselves to other men is dangerous, especially when women are involved in the mix. The fact that fraternity members and sports players are responsible for the majority of college campus rapes is no surprise. The group mentality is a very powerful determinant of rape and it all relates back to the need for men to exert their alpha male status. Diverting to an example of male on male rape in prisons, we see the same theme. Men want to prove their power over other men. In prison, it is through raping weaker men; while outside of prison it is through raping women and comparing among other men. It is a power trip over other men, not an expression of sexual frustration.

Group morale, along with the need to prove their manhood, drives the motive of participants behind gang rape. Gang rape is a common term used to describe the act of multiple men raping a woman. The men most susceptible to participating in gang rapes are those in close-knit male peer groups (Baker 1997). It is a contest of men trying to show up one another, while using the victim as their measuring stick. A large part of this is attributed to competing for masculinity levels, but another huge part is the desire to fit into a group. Men will put aside their own personal morals for a place in a group. If a member of the group objects, they are usually persuaded into following along with the rest of the group. Peer pressure contributes to the reason why gang rapes are so common. If the men in the room are not themselves raping the victim, they may be taking pictures or recording the incident. Whatever their role is, men will compromise their morals and their character as long as they feel included in the group’s actions.

THE COMMODIFICATION OF WOMEN- THE MEDIA

We live in a culture that sexualizes commodities and commodifies women. In our society, women are valued more for their figures and looks. The media is the greatest source of objectifying women. Commercials, television series, movies, porn; these all manipulate the female body to draw the attention of the viewer. We see the objectification of women in all forms of the media, such as in perfume ads where women are half naked or in movies with topless girls. ‘Sex sells’ is a term often used to describe the presence of lust and nudity in the media.

Pornography is a particularly highlighted source of degrading women in the public eye. Porn wrongfully teaches men that women can be treated in any way they please for the purpose of fulfilling a sexual desire. There are various forms of pornography, including porn that idolizes physical and sexual assault on women. Many men learn sexual violence through watching pornography. The mere repeated exposure to such displays of sexual violence can train men to think this sort of sexual expression is allowed or even encouraged.

Where I believe porn to be an even greater threat is in teaching people that rape and sexual violence against women is just a form of sexual desire. Films in which women are raped and beaten circulating around does a significant amount of harm to our society. Rape is not a fetish or a role play. Rape is a crime and allowing the production and selling of rape pornography has a significantly negative impact on efforts to reduce rape in this country. Many rapists claim that pornography was their first exposure to sexual violence and it is what taught them that treating women as objects at a man’s disposal was not really wrong. Pornography serves as a teacher of sexual violence and continues to obstruct young men’s minds and instill traditional views of male dominance over women.

There is a commonly used analogy that explains the way rapists think about women’s resistance. A candy bar, sex, is stuck in the machine, the woman. The man, the rapist, wants the candy bar from the machine so he puts his dollar in and waits. Nothing happens. The candy bar will not come out of the machine so he gets angry and he starts to press the button over and over again. When that doesn’t work he starts to hit the machine and then kick the machine and before you know it he’s punching and kicking so hard until the candy bar falls beaten to the ground. Men view women as machines that hold their desired candy bars. A woman is easily accessible to them and when they are denied access, they become angry and violent.

ANGER

Anger is a common motive in rape cases. The anger usually stems from men feeling like they are losing control. As society has progressed from the old, traditional views women have gained a greater independence and status in society along men. Straying from the alpha male mentality, society is allowing women more rights independent of men. This is a source of anger for many males who wish to hold onto the upper hand and the control they believed they were granted at birth.

There is a common distinction made between what researchers have named the anger rapist and the sadistic rapist. The anger rapist chooses to use sex as a form of expressing his anger toward women. It is thought that anger rapists dial in on the use of excessive force to get their victims to cooperate. Anger is a powerful motive in rape and causes many men to commit the criminal act (Baker 1997). Where does this anger come from? The anger can stem from men feeling like they have lost control of women. Women’s rise to independence is a threat to the alpha male mentality. Some men choose to rape to make it known that they believe they still have control.

The sadistic rapist is the one outlier in the sociocultural debate. A sadistic rapist is believed to be psychotic and mentally ill. The rapists acts are cruel and deathly, resulting from his dark impulses. This is where the biological and psychological argument can be applied. The gruesome nature and inhumanity of these sadistic rapes imply a person of great cognitive ineptitude performed them. Sadistic rapes are ones in which women’s bodies are mutilated and left irreparable, most often resulting in the death of the victim. Sadistic rapists are the extreme outlier, with some biological or psychological dysfunction that made them a cruel and unusual rapist. They are safe to say far greater influenced than by societal and cultural factors. They are the kind of rapist that it is acceptable to attribute it to a psychological or biological trait.

CONCLUSION

The social and cultural aspects of our society have created a rape-friendly environment. The lessons men are taught as children and as adults, through their peers and the media, are able to impact some men so heavily as to turn them into rapists. The reason the sociocultural argument is so highly esteemed is because it does not separate men from rapists. Rapists are men. Whether we choose to believe it or not, our sons, our brothers, and our fathers all have the capability of becoming a rapist.

When looking back at the cases mentioned in the beginning, we notice the differences between all of the men. One is an esteemed student athlete, another is a college dropout with law troubles and the last is a loving husband and father. These men may show differences in their life paths, but all ended up committing an act of sexual assault on women. It is important to understand that any man is capable of raping. The only solution to the problem begins in researching and understanding these social and cultural influences and how to change our society’s perceptions so we do not accept rape as sexual deviancy, but instead acknowledge it for what it is: a heinous crime.

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