NCJ Number
145117
Date Published
1993
Length
178 pages
Annotation
This book is for men and women who want to know what men can do to end the masculine propensity to commit acts of sexual violence.
Abstract
Rape conventionally is thought of as a women's issue, but in truth, it speaks louder about the masculine than the feminine condition. The author defines rape and its accessory terms. Survivors describe the psychological and physical trauma of their experience. Not all victims are women; 25 percent of men as well as 44 percent of women will survive an attempted or completed sexual assault in their lifetime. Cultural attitudes and phenomena such as racism, homophobia, sexism, pornography, and patriarchy encourage rape. Despite feminists' attempts to shatter the societal belief that rape is primarily a sexual act, the untruth persists. To a degree, military attitudes that culminate in the rape of enemy women manifest during peacetime as well. Other psychological scenarios discussed include the male control of death as a response to the female monopoly on giving life, and the male kinship with male deities as a means of legitimizing domination. In the later chapters of the book, the author calls for men to band together to stop rape, and discusses the dynamics--psychological and otherwise--involved in doing so. List of contact organizations, 92 references