Rape



Rape

Introduction

Defining rape is a complicated exercise as different definitions abound in legal, media, academic, and political discourses. Feminists are not in agreement on whether rape should be considered a sex crime or a crime of violence. A rigid definition has normative significance, so the definition of rape requires a degree of flexibility and contestation. That said, rape can be defined as the assault by a person involving sexual contact with another person without that person's consent. This definition is not explicit about the range of sexual contact or abuse involved, nor is it explicit about the gender of the survivor/victim and perpetrator (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2006). This ambiguity lends itself to a number of factors. For instance, this definition of rape is cautious not to explicitly identify perpetrators of rape as “men” as a result of the debates concerning the multiple forms of rape, including male-to-male rape (Parrot & Bechhofer, 1991). Additionally, the explicit identification of “men” as perpetrators bears the potential to individualize rape, rescinding responsibility for these acts of violence from the state or patriarchal cultural practices. On the other hand, some argue that “gender neutrality regarding definitions of rape assumes that rape can be desexualized and that the social norms of heterosexist and patriarchal societies can automatically change”. These assumptions are deeply flawed and potentially injurious to women (Fisher, Cullen & Turner, 2000).

Rape is a widespread international problem. Globally, acquaintance, date, and marital rape appear to be more common than stranger rape. Women and girls are at greater risk of being raped than boys and men. Rape statistics are heavily contested, due to underreporting and the crisis of defining rape in the first place. Rape is also a common feature of war violence, and evidence suggests that the rate of rape is higher in zones of armed conflict. Mass rape during wartime has been documented in Liberia, Uganda, Nicaragua, Japan, Peru, Cambodia, Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Yugoslavia, Mozambique, and many other countries, and some would argue that rape is a feature of all armed conflict. The social context in which rape is perpetrated impacts upon the forms that it takes and the manner by which it is perceived. Due to the public and concentrated violence of mass rape in war, greater moral outrage is expressed, as compared to rape during peacetime. This violence is relegated to the private domain, discursively constructed as a symptom of dysfunctional relationships between individual men and women, and this privatization ultimately masks the social relations of power that create the conditions for violence against women.

Discussion

Date Rape

Acquaintance rape and date rape are terms describing rape that occurs between people who know each other. In this entry, the term rape includes non-consensual sexual intercourse and other non-consensual sexual acts. Acquaintance and date rape are the most common forms of sexual victimization, and it is estimated that between 60% and 80% of rape victims know their rapists (Parrot & Bechhofer, 1991). Although these forms of rape have been brought closer to the forefront of societal issues ...