RAPE - THE PRICE OF COERCIVE SEXUALITY

• NCJ Number: 44834
• Author(s): L M G CLARK; D J LEWIS
• Date Published: 1977
• Length: 222 pages
• Corporate Author: Canadian Women's Educational Press
• Sale Source: Women in Distribution
• Language: English
• Country: Canada

Annotation

EMPIRICAL DATA RELATING TO THE PROBLEM OF RAPE IN CANADA ARE PRESENTED AND ASSESSED, AND ACADEMIC THEORIES OF RAPE ARE CRITICIZED.

Abstract

DATA WERE ANALYZED ON 116 TORONTO RAPE CASES REPORTED FOR THE YEAR 1970 WHICH HAD COMPLETED THE LEGAL PROCESS BY THE TIME OF THE STUDY. RAPE IN CANADA IS A FEDERAL OFFENSE, PUNISHED BY THE COURTS IN THE PROVINCES. THE JUDICIAL PROCESS INVOLVED IN RAPE CASES IS QUITE COMPLICATED. TRIALS ARE GENERALLY BASED ON THE CREDIBILITY OF THE VICTIM, NOT ON THE TRUE NATURE OF THE CASE. THIS IS WHAT FILTERS OUT MANY OF THE CASES; MANY OF THEM ARE NOT EVEN REPORTED. THE CRIME ITSELF MOST OFTEN TAKES PLACE AT NIGHT, IN THE WARMER MONTHS OF THE YEAR. MANY OF THE RAPES INVOLVE SEXUAL ACTS OTHER THAN INTERCOURSE AND ARE COMMITTED BY SOMEONE KNOWN TO THE VICTIM. VICTIMS COMPRISE A RANDOM SAMPLE OF ALL WOMEN. THE MOST DIFFICULT ASPECT OF THIS CRIME IS GATHERING DATA ON THE RAPIST. ALTHOUGH ALL SOCIETAL CHARACTERISTICS ARE REPRESENTED AMONG RAPISTS, MOST OF THE MEN ARE UNEMPLOYED, AND CANNOT MAINTAIN SATISFACTORY SEXUAL SELF-IMAGES. THE SYSTEM OF INEQUALITIES WHICH HAS DETERMINED THE FORMATION AND APPLICATION OF RAPE LAWS IS ALSO THE ROOT CAUSE OF RAPE ITSELF. WOMEN AND MEN ARE NOT EQUAL IN THIS SOCIETY, MAKING RAPE AN INESCAPABLE BYPRODUCT OF A SYSTEM IN WHICH SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS ARE ALSO POWER RELATIONSHIPS, IN WHICH FEMALE SEXUALITY IS A COMMODITY, AND IN WHICH SOME MEN HAVE NO SOURCE OF POWER EXCEPT PHYSICAL FORCE. SEVERAL PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE RAPIST ARE DESCRIBED, THE VICTIMOLOGY OF RAPE IS DISCUSSED; THE CRIME IS USUALLY BLAMED ON THE VICTIM, AND THE VICTIM IS PUNISHED IF SHE COMPLAINS. THE AUTHORS CLAIM THAT RAPE IS GENERALLY SEEN AS A SEX CRIME, BUT SHOULD BE DEALT WITH AS AN ASSAULT AS IT IS ONE FORM OF AN UNPROVOKED ATTACK UPON A PERSON. THE LOGICAL CONCLUSION OF THIS ANALYSIS IS THAT BOTH THE LAWS AND THE PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD RAPE SHOULD BE CHANGED. IN ORDER TO ELIMINATE RAPE, HOWEVER, THE UNDERLYING SOCIAL STRUCTURES WHICH PRODUCE IT MUST BE ALTERED. TABULAR DATA AND REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED. (BAC)