Female Victims Of Sexual Assault

Last week, the White House released a short, celebrity packed, 60-second public service announcement (PSA) on the topic of sexual assault. 1 is 2 Many addressed those who are in control of preventing sexual assault as its intended audience was those who can put a stop to sexual violence: the perpetrators or would-be offenders. Although this one minute announcement completed the task of bringing sexual assault to the forefront of discussion, it failed to encompass the central issues concerning the culture of sexual assault: societal misperceptions, the victims, and the justice system. Sexual assault is a phenomenon that has been around for centuries; the culture of sexual assault is rooted in both legal practices and societal perceptions.

Sexual assault is not just a crime against an individual, it affects families, the community, and society as a whole. In recent years, our society has shifted to one of rape culture and rape myth. Rape myths are erroneous, stereotypical, and prejudicial beliefs about rape victims and reasons of sexual assault. Rape myths can impact survivors of assault, as well as the behavior and effectiveness of family, friends, medical and social services, and law enforcement (Rape Victim Advocates, 2016). Rape impacts our society by attacking the cohesion and mutual protection that makes a society. When we allow such crimes to go without the most vigorous and vigilant investigation and punishment, we allow for whole segments of society to be diminished, we are sending the message that society is okay with rape (Abbey,

Rape is a crime in which one person forces another person with threats, physical force or deception to have sex or sexual contact. In many cases rape is often through penetration, but victims are submitted to rape under different circumstances, such as oral sex, therefore rape has many muddled definitions. The various definitions of rape is a consequence of different cultural backgrounds and stereotypes. Sexual assaults have an effect on everyone either directly or indirectly, especially when victim blaming. Rape is not biased, for it can occur to any person despite their age, gender, religion, education level, sexual orientation or ethnicity. “According to the Department of Justice the average number of rape cases reported annually is approximately 89,000, but many victims are fearful to report their case to the police, for they do not want to be blamed for their assault.” (The Offender 's) Victim blaming in rape cases is a direct correlation to stereotypes. Some stereotypes that affect victim blaming is sexual orientation, promiscuity, gender roles, and race. “These contributing factors are stemmed from the much larger problem of society 's idea of gender and race stereotypes.” (Gill)

Furthermore, people need to understand that women could be offenders of the same sex crimes just as male offenders. The majority of the public has a gender bias that women could not possibly commit sex crimes. The gender bias leads female sex offenders to become obscure due to prevalent social cultural norms that define female sexual behavior (Duncan, 2010). In fact, victims are considered to be less protected because females are less likely to be identified due the majority of people having a hard time believing women could be a sexual predator. Victimization is more unlikely to be reported, prosecuted, and convicted because of the prevalent gender stereotypes (Duncan, 2010). Victims of sexual assault are already reluctant to face their abuser in court and with male social norms being classified as being dominant in relationships. More importantly very few males will admit to being victimized by a women sexual predator. There are stereotypes, which include women who fit the role of nurturing caretakers and mothers, that are difficult to view women as potential sexual predators and other crimes committed against children (Mallicoat, 2012). Because of this gender bias, women could never commit such a vile act against their ward; it leads to preventions of recognizing and reporting of

One way rape victims are handled improperly through the criminal justice system is by victims characteristics. This may include the victim's age, job, risky behavior such as drinking or using drugs. When a victim portrays any of these characteristics, most times it is often thought of that they provoked the offender or made the opportunity easier. This attacks the reputation of the victim, most times this determines whether chargers will be filed or not. This is an accuse for people to blame the victim for her action.

This idea plays largely into the concept of “real rape” v. the reality of rape. Regarding “real rape,” it is often viewed as a violent assault involving a stranger (Rees, 2010). Rape myths are often false ideas of the experience of rape that are held by individuals regardless of the accuracy. Rape myths play a large role on how women perceive their experiences, sometimes leading them to be unsure if what they experienced should be labeled as rape or sexual assault (Heath, Lynch, Fritch, & Wong, 2013; Hockett, Saucier, & Badke, 2016). Heath, Lynch, Fritch, and Wong’s (2013) research found that victims that were physically harmed report the experience more often to the police, supporting the idea of “real rape” and other rape myths that prevent women from reporting their cases to the police. This notion plays largely into the idea of “real rape,” when, in reality, rape is often perpetrated by an individual known to the

Social Media and local news coverage of high profile famous cases of sexual assault can give a misleading perceptions of the actual cause of the problem. Some of these articles talk about the stereotype with ‘stranger danger’ sexual assault and how it is actually not true.Most people who experience sexual assault are assaulted by someone who they actually

(Doherty et al. 87) It is believed that a man is not a “real man” if he cannot defend himself against a woman, and that a man should initially have been “too strong to overpower”. (Mitchell et al. 369) On that same point, men are also expected to be stronger mentally. Meaning that men have the expectancy to cope with sexual assault easier women because they are “emotionally tougher”. (Davies et al. 277) “It is difficult to imagine even a dominant woman coercing an unwilling man into a sexual situation or to imagine a man being unwilling if the opportunity for sex occurred”. (Smith et al. 102) Another claim is that men are sexual initiators, and that they are more sexually assertive than women. By believing that men are only interested in sex it initiates the belief that all male victims enjoyed their assault. One of the major claims against male victims is on the matter of arousal. This topic raises doubts, hesitation, and generally uncertainty that leads most victims to refrain from reporting their assault. (¨Male Victims of Rape and Sexual Abuse¨ 381) Society believes that a man cannot be aroused when he is in position of fear, anxiety, and confusion. This often prompts people, who generally do not believe the victim, to form the question of whether the victim “wanted

So many people in the world think only some are sexually assaulted when in fact, that is not the case. Like women, men are usually silent about their cases. Most men do not want to be vulnerable and realize that they were out of control long enough to be assaulted. Stated earlier in my paper, 54 percent of cases are not reported and that includes men (Chemaly, 2012). There are many cases, that seem to occur more with men, where they are awoken by a friend who is trying to stop the whole situation. The stories that were captured on Mirror, were all from men who had been taken advantage of when they were drunk; this sounds a lot like the stories we hear about women. The story that hit me the most was titled by the quote, “I lost a lot because ‘girls can’t rape boys’” (Oakley,

In addition, rape myths originate from a wide range of cultural stereotypes, for instance gender roles, the acceptance of interpersonal violence and the misunderstanding on the nature of sexual assault (Burt, 1980: p. 217). Rape myth is the major reason for victim-blaming and stigmatisation, and having an increase of responsibility on blaming the victim and minimising the rape. Likewise, the main concern in sexual assaults is wondering whether if both parties had consented in engaging sexual activities or if both parties had the capacity to do so. Thus, the stereotype that sexually assaulted individuals who have no physical trauma will be unwilling to report to the police or to seek medical care. Still, the acceptance of rape myths can lead

Every 2 minutes an American, mostly female, is sexually assaulted, this means on average there are 288,820 victims of rape and sexual assault each year in the United States (www.rainn.org). Throughout this paper I will argue why men need to always have consent before having sex with a female. I will argue this by talking about the consequences you will receive without getting consent. I believe men should always have consent because if they do not they could be charged years for rape and be put in jail or even prison. Critics may say that most girls falsely accuse men of rape or that most of the girls are just asking for it. Even if this was true people should still want to further investigate the situation, because most of the time the victim is being honest when accusing somebody. The critics are mistaken because statistically not that many girls falsely accuse men of sexual assault. According to National Review

Few other crimes receive as much attention as sex offenses. This concern and interest is understandable, as sex crimes have a large impact on both victims and society. After a sexual assault, victims may experience a wide range of emotions, such as sadness, anger, fear, shame, guilt, or self–blame and they may go on to experience a variety of psychological, social, relationship, and physical difficulties. Certainly, these issues can interrupt and alter a person’s life. Yet many of these offenders get away with their crimes because some people put the blame on the victim, which is not the case. The victim is never in the fault, the victim is not overreacting, it was the offender who committed the crime with their own judgment.

As stated above, one reason males being raped by females is not commonly known is because victims blame themselves. Male victims of rape, like female victims, are likely to be blamed by others for their own rape (Anderson, 2004). When victims blame themselves multiple questions run through their mind to where in the end they blame themselves for the action occurring and not want to tell anyone due to fear of embarrassment. Due to stereotypes, multiple studies have shown that male victims of rape are being blame for their assault. Male victims tend to be blamed more than female victims on behavior blame measures, due to societal stereotypes that a man should be able to defend for themselves (Davies and Rogers, 2006). However, women are not expected to be able to defend for themselves. While male victims are held responsible for the rape on account of their behavior during the attack, female victims are attributed more blame on account of their internal characteristics (Doherty and Anderson, 2004). Stating that males are blamed for not being masculine enough to fight off their attacker and females are blamed for putting themselves in that situation when they should have been safer. The fact that males can be victims of rape challenges may beliefs about men’s masculinity. Males that identify as homosexual are judged to be more at fault than males that identify as heterosexual (Davis and Rogers, 2006). Homosexual males are seen as violating gender role

For most individuals, the thought of blaming the victim of a tragic experience for their own pain and suffering, seems preposterous. However, ascribing at least some of the blame to the victim is not uncommon (Niemi & Young, 2014). Victim blaming refers to individuals finding reasons to hold the victim of an incident responsible for the crime that took place (Hayes, Lorenz & Bell, 2013). For victims of sexual assault, who may already be experiencing self-blame and distrust of others, being blamed adds insult to injury (Harber, Podolski, & Williams, 2015). According to Harber et. al, victim blaming can also have long-term effects on victims, such as, increased anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. In an effort to increase support and resources for survivors of sexual assault researchers must determine why individuals are prone to blaming the victims rather than the perpetrator of a crime.

Any act of unconsented and unwanted sexual behaviour is a broad definition of how rape is described. The incidence of rape does not account for the actual number of rape crimes that occur due to prevalence of unreported crimes; only 6 out of every 100-rape crimes are reported to the police (Johnson, 2012). This is attributed to stigma about rape, biased to each gender. Approximately two thirds of the rape myths that persist in society are attributed factors that establish gender roles. These factors include: how children are socialized, and modern sexism. Rape myths work to take the blame from the rapist and place it on the rape victim.