Rape and Psychiatric Vocabularies of Motive (From Gender and Disordered Behavior - Sex Differences in Psychopathology, P 301-318, 1979, Edith S Gomberg and Violet Franks, ed.)

• NCJ Number: 81700
• Author(s): J A Marolla; D H Scully
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 18 pages
• Sale Source: Brunner/Mazel, Inc.
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This review of psychiatric rape literature published over the past 50 years reveals the impact of the medical model of rape causation on sexual psychopath legislation, and discusses its definition of the rapist as 'sick' and not responsible for his actions, and, finally, its refocus of the blame on the victim.

Abstract

In studies influenced by psychoanalytic concepts, there are four rape motives: uncontrollable impulse, mental illness or disease, momentary loss of control precipitated by unusual circumstances, and victim precipitation. These explanations remove responsibility from everyone except the victim. The impulse theory removes a rapist's behavior from legal jurisdiction but has never been proved empirically. It has been replaced in recent literature by the mental illness theory, a more sophisticated approach which often describes the rapist as a perverted individual with latent homosexual tendencies and interprets rape as an attack on a mother figure which is symptomatic of inner conflicts. Individual theories based on the disease model are reviewed, along with beliefs regarding the relationship between alcohol use and rape. Victimology has supported victim precipitation themes in psychiatric studies, but no one has noted how easily psychoanalytic views of women can be translated into a rationalization for male sexual aggressiveness. Women are categorized as true victims and those who have an inner masochistic need to be raped, while sex offenders' mothers and wives are criticized for their behavior. Girl victims of rape are alleged to have the same motives as their adult counterparts and are often described as attractive, appealing, submissive, and seductive. Perception of fault is also affected by the belief that 'nice girls don't get raped.' A sociological theory views criminal behavior as learned behavior, and thus rapists may not be abnormal but merely conforming to their perception of male sex-role expectations. Approximately 40 references are included.