NCJ Number
44701
Date Published
1977
Length
7 pages
Annotation
THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF SEXUAL ASSAULT AND THE CONSEQUENCES SUFFERED BY RAPE VICTIMS ARE DISCUSSED BY A WOMAN WHO WAS RAPED AT GUNPOINT.
Abstract
RAPE IS VIEWED AS 'AN AGGRESSIVE ACT AGAINST WOMEN AS WOMAN' -- A RITUAL OF POWER, A SYMBOLIC ENACTMENT OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ATTITUDES. AS THE INCIDENCE OF RAPE INCREASES, ATTENTION IS FOCUSED ON UNDERSTANDING THE RAPIST, NOT THE VICTIM, AND THE SOCIAL PATTERNS THAT PERPETUATE THE CRIME ARE CONTINUED. EARLY MYTHS TEACH RAPE AS A LEARNED CULTURAL ACTIVITY. SOCIAL CUSTOMS, E.G., THE GIVING OF THE BRIDE IN MARRIAGE, REINFORCE THE IDEA OF WOMAN AS PROPERTY TO BE USED FOR MAN'S PURPOSES. THE BASIC EXPERIENCE OF THE RAPE VICTIM IS ISOLATION: RAPE DESTROYS SIMULTANEOUSLY THE SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND THE SENSE OF PERSON. ALTHOUGH THE SOCIAL COMMUNITY IS THE APPROPRIATE CENTER FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE SPIRIT LOST BY THE RAPE VICTIM, SHE USUALLY IS SHAMED INTO SILENCE AND/OR SELF-IMPOSED ISOLATION. THE ELEMENT OF CHANCE IN MOST RAPES REINFORCES THE NONPERSON STATUS OF THE RAPE VICTIM. YET AT THE SAME TIME RAPE IS AN ASSAULT ON THE VICTIM'S MOST PRIVATE BEING. THE LITERARY, MYTHIC, AND HISTORIC ATTITUDES TOWARD RAPE CONTINUE. AS LONG AS MALES FEEL POWERLESS AND ALIENATED, RAPE IS INEVITABLE.