Sex Crimes: Rape In The Media

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Rape in the Media

Ashley Werry
CRJ 5995 1409 001/Sex Crimes
Final Paper
Due: 11/09/14 Rape is more prevalent than most people realize, although an accurate statistic is impossible to acquire due to various reasons that rapes are not reported. Studies suggest that as many as 1 out of every 4 women is a victim of either completed rape or attempted rape (Warshaw, 1988, as cited in Holmes & Holmes, 2009). The Rape Relief Center reports that every 2 minutes in the United States, a woman is raped (Holmes & Holmes, 2009). Rape is defined as “nonconsensual sex involving coercion, empowerment or anger” (Holmes & Holmes, 2009, p. 300), and rape culture is identified as a culture where rape is normalized due to attitudes about …show more content…

Holmes and Holmes (2009) explain that one such myth is that rapes occur because of an uncontrollable sex drive, when in fact many rapists are in relationships where sex is readily available. Further, rape is a crime of violence and dominance/control (Cuklanz, 1998). Holmes and Holmes (2009) also explain that there are four types of rapists, including: (1) the power reassurance rapist who uses rape to increase his ego; (2) the anger retaliation rapist who uses rape for the sole purpose of making an individual suffer; (3) the power assertive rapist where rape is used to control a person; and (4) the sadistic rapist, the most dangerous, who wants to cause psychological and physical harm to an individual. Other myths about rape include: that women are able to resist rape; that all women want to be raped; women are passive and men are dominant; strangers commit most rapes; and that the number of women who falsely claim they have been raped is much larger than it really is. These are myths because in reality the victim is not at fault for the crime; women do not want to be raped; most rapes are committed by an individual who knows the victim; and only 5% of rapes are falsely reported (Holmes & Holmes, …show more content…

As such, the news should be held to some degree of responsibility about the way that it reports information. In a study conducted by Ardovini-Brooker and Caringella-McDonald (2002), it was discovered that the media contributes to the myth that certain circumstances – clothing, alcohol consumption, dating strangers – are reasons why a person is raped. This puts the blame on the victim as if her actions provoked the rape or that she asked for it. In addition, the authors found that the news reports rape as if the victim is responsible for proving there was a lack of consent and a rape occurred, yet no other crime involving a victim is reported in the same way (Ardovini-Brooker & Caringella-McDonald

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