Free Custom «Rape» Essay Paper

People tend to perceive rape as an assault targeted at females. Associating rape with female victims is natural; however, it does not represent the whole picture. In fact, rape is a gender-neutral concept (Graham, 2006). Nearly 1 in 5 (18.3%) women, as well as 1 in 71 men (1.4%) report being raped Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012; Gonzales, Schofield, & Schmitt, 2006). The contexts of female-on-male, male-on-male, female-on-female and male-on-female rape may vary. Nevertheless, there are settings that facilitate certain types of crimes.

Prisons are hotbeds of same-sex rapes. Sexual assaults in correctional facilities are frequent. According to the data of the 2012 Bureau of Justice Statistics survey, about ten percent of prisoners report sexual abuse. Among the assaulters are both inmates and facility staff. Prisons for women demonstrate a similar trend for sexual violence. The causal or contributing factors that lead to prison rape are numerous but all originate from the prison culture and its hierarchy. In general, overcrowding leads to physical violence, one of the forms of which is sexual abuse. When one of the inmates is physically or morally weaker, he or she risks to become a sexual assault victim because status of the stronger is associated with sexual domination and the sense of manhood (the statement is true at least for male detention). One of the additional factors leading to the rape is the need for entertainment. When sexual intercourse is not caused by violence, boredom or status demonstration, it may be triggered by sexual deprivation, i.e. biological needs that cannot be satisfied in the normal way in the prison environment. One more reason of rape is animosity toward a particular person. An anecdotal example is the general hatred toward inmate rapists, especially those convicted of assaulting children (Martynuik, 2012).

 

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In a larger society and routine social life, males can also be raped. Unfortunately, of all the manifestations and types of rape, this one is the least studied and the most underreported. Male rapes are perpetrated mostly by males; however, it is also possible for women to rape men. The latter crimes have been researched to an even lesser extent compared to same-sex male rape. “The vast majority of male rapes are never reported, and although men constitute 5 to 10 percent of all victims, who were raped as adults, they tend to report their assaults to authorities even less than women who have been raped” (“When Men Are Raped”, n.d., n.p). The low reporting rate originates from the unwillingness of men to look weak (especially if raped by women), a tendency for raped gay males to adhere to stigmas put on them by the wider society and, by doing so, to blame themselves in what happened, etc. (Ohio State University Rape Education and Prevention Program).

In a family setting, marital rapes can occur. The statistics are striking. About twice as many females have been raped by their spouses or boyfriends as by strangers (Battered Women’s Justice Project). Among all female victims participating in the survey described in Gonzales, Schofield and Schmitt (2006), about twenty percent reported having been raped by a spouse or ex-spouse. Interestingly, the report also identified the male victims of marital rape, namely around four percent of males. Unfortunately, there are no data on the sex of offenders. Another unfortunate fact is the lack of information on the preconditions of marital rape. The scarce available materials reveal that the majority of rape incidences perpetrated against women by marital partners take place in the context of an ongoing relationship, i.e. before a breakup or divorce. “Marital rape victims often suffer from a debilitating psychological dependency that binds them to their abusive perpetrators” (Battered Women’s Justice Project, p. 10). It explains why they tend to stay in the spousal relationship even after the first instances of sex without consent. Among the prevalent contributing factors that lead to marital rape are drugs or alcohol consumed by the perpetrator of violence or by both spouses. Other cases include jealousy, demonstration of dominance and control through violence, treating a spouse as a property, and women’s unexpected or unwanted pregnancy (Gonzales, Schofield, & Schmitt, 2006; Bergen, 2006). Just like the incidences of prison rape and male rape, the problem of marital rapes is underreported. The lack of evidence and testimonies results in the persistence of the problem. According to the National Violence Against Women survey, in about ninety-two percent of the cases, the perpetrator of marital rape is not prosecuted (Battered Women’s Justice Project). As soon as society recognizes the seriousness of the issue and victims begin to admit and report every case of rape perpetrated by a spouse, the rate of this crime will be decreased (Bergen, 2006).