Motives of Rape Other Than Sexual Desire
Although there are many underlying motives behind why a man would rape, three of the most conspicuous are anger, power, and sadistic purposes. When an average person hears of a rape, he frequently assumes the offender was reacting to sexual frustration or that he was a demented sex-fiend harboring insatiable and perverted lasciviousness. The rape offender is often accused of being primarily motivated by sexual desires, and by committing the act of forced assault, he is gratifying only his sexual needs. On the contrary, according to A. Nicholas Groth and H. Jean Birnbaum, "Careful clinical study of offenders reveals that rape is in fact serving primarily nonsexual needs. It is the sexual expression of power and anger" (2). No matter what induces these crimes, without a doubt, the only factor they share is rape. However, the influences and circumstances which effectuate rape are as varied and defined as each individual act. Awareness and a conscious effort on the part of all people may not stop rape; nevertheless, through understanding why a man would rape and learning how to recognize the contributing factors, we as a society may be able to prevent some such attacks.
Most people accept one of the most commonly held opinions when referring to this type of forced assault; men rape to gain power and strength over women. A man rapes with the desire to promote his status in society, while at the same time, robbing the female victim, through her body, of her strength and self-esteem. Although not the sole reason, the need to display power tends to be the most significant underlying factor in a large number of the rapes occurring in today's society. A man who commits a "power rape" ...
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...prevent an identified offender from repeating his sexual assaults. Members of society must look to medical and behavioral science professionals for help in rehabilitating the offender. Our society is dependent on these professionals to acquire the knowledge to cure the psychological handicaps in the offender that cause him to rape under certain stressful situations. In addition to educating women of all ages that rape can, in fact, happen at any time or any place, we as members of a concerned society need to get involved and become part of the solution before it happens to our daughters.
Bibliography:
WORKS CITED
Groth, Nicholas A., and Jean Birnbaum. Men Who Rape: The Psychology of the
Offender. New York: Plenum Press, 1979.
MacDonald, M.D., John M. Rape: Offenders and Their Victims. Springfield:
Charles C. Thomas, 1971.
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Sexual assault is an offense that plagues many U.S. citizens. Although some studies show that rape is on the decline, other studies report that the phenomena actually occuring is that less rape victims are reporting the crime. In fact, approximately 68% of sexual assaults go unreported to the police according to the U.S. Department of Justice in a National Crime Victimization Survey from 2008-2012. It is common knowledge that rape victims are usually severely traumatized after the event, which leaves them susceptible to various emotions such as shame, anxiety, numbness, fear, denial, and guilt. Because of this, many rape victims decide to repress their experience and let it go unheard. However, not only does this prevent them from healing emotionally,
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