It was 8:10 on a Tuesday morning. I was taken out of school and went to the police station. The officer continued to ask me the same 5 questions, but the ones that I remembered were “What were you wearing?” and “Why didn’t you fight back?”. I looked at them, blank-spaced, wondering why that information mattered. Those two questions determined the justice that I never received; I said no, and the guy who raped me heard that. We live in a society where we don’t take enough action to stop sexual violence. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the definition of sexual violence is “a sexual act committed against someone without that person’s freely given consent.” The most important part of this statement is the final …show more content…
To simply put it, it is an atrocious way for those with sexual desires to get what they want and disregard the feelings of others. This includes threatening to break up the relationship if one doesn’t have sex with the other. It can also be threats to one’s security of a job. Coercion also includes the manipulative guilt-trips of the person saying how if they really loved them then they would do it or they may use blackmail and say how they will tell everyone that they had done it anyway. This is possibly the most difficult part of sexual assault for the victim; it may be hard for them to say “no” to the sexual activity when the consequences seem so severe. These scare tactics can be so persuasive and so convincing to the victim that engaging in the unwanted sexual activity may appear to be the lesser of two evils for them; they give in and give the manipulator what he or she wants. The only person responsible for committing sexual assault is a perpetrator, it is never the victim’s fault. The offensive, outwardly, opines of “oh, she was asking for it,” and “but what was she wearing?” is in no way a justification for unwanted sexual activity. In the book Life, Reinvented, Erin Carpenter gives the following analogy, a holdup victim is asked questions by a lawyer. “Mr. Smith, you were held up at gunpoint on the corner of First and Main?” “Yes” “Did you struggle with the robber?” “No.” “Why not?” “He was armed.” “Then you made a …show more content…
While Mr. Smith’s robbery case may be seen as funny, victims are often challenged according to that role they played during the assault, while the perpetrator’s involvement is overlooked or excused; This is the type of logic that creates victim blaming in sexual assault cases.Very few victims reach out for support or counseling, let alone to reporting the crime that happened to them. In the article, “one in five sexual-assault cases go to court, study found by Statscan reports that an estimated that only 5 percent of sexual assaults in Canada are reported to police, and of the 93,501 police-reported sexual assaults covered by the study, 79 percent did not end up in court, either because charges were never laid, or those charges were dropped before reaching court.” These numbers show how survivors aren't getting the help they need, and that the perpetrators aren't being held accountable. It’s hard to confront someone about a situation where they were victimized and left feeling vulnerable and violated. To have that person build up the courage and actually say something about it should be supported, not brought down by questions that ask why they didn’t say anything earlier or how something like that would happen in that first place. Yet the blame gets
Since the second wave of feminism in the 1960’s women have demanded for equality rights. The R V. Ewanchuck case created many disagreement’s with feminists on the topic of rape myths. It has not only been seen as a precedent for the criminal law but as well an eye opener for the society to create awareness for this act. Since society continues to support most rape myths, it overlooks the act itself and puts the blame and responsibility on the victim as opposed to the perpetrator. This has created a rape culture within society. The term rape culture was created to demonstrate the ways in which victims were blamed for sexual assault, and how male sexual violence was normalized. Feminists are exploring the world of rape myths in Canadian law
When university or police find out about the sexual assault, they immediately blame the victim or question what the victim was wearing, drinking, or doing. “Brownmiller identified four basic rape myths: (1) All women want to be raped; (2) a woman cannot be raped against her will; (3) a woman who is raped is asking for it; and (4) if a woman is going to be raped, she might as well enjoy it” (Helgeson, 2012, p. 432). In The Hunting Ground, the rape myth, which a woman who is raped is asking for it, is seen throughout the testimonies of the survivors. Clark, herself, was told by her dean that “rape is like a football game” and asked if “looking back, what would you have done differently?” (Ziering & Dick, 2015). These rape myths affect how many victims actually report and how seriously sexual assaults are taken within universities and the justice system. For example, some women, themselves, subscribe to rape myths because they see how current cases are handled. “Women who did not physically fight off the person who raped them and who subscribed to the rape myth that “it can’t be rape if a woman doesn’t fight back” were less likely to acknowledge that they had been raped” (Helgeson, 2012, p. 434). Universities need to teach first-year students about consent and how to
According to the authors of “Enhancing Care and Advocacy for Sexual Assault Survivors on Canadian Campuses”, “Sexual assault has immediate and long-term health consequences for victims including suicide, HIV infection, depression, and social isolation,” (Quinlan, Clarke, and Miller). Another common side effect these victims face is post-traumatic stress disorder. Someone experiencing PTSD may have random outburst of anger, have trouble concentrating on day to day tasks, or may even have flashbacks of their attack. These consequences make it hard for victims to get back into the normal routine of everyday life (“Effects of Sexual Assault”). In a case at Amherst College a young women named Angie Epifano faced many of these consequences after she was raped by an acquaintance in one of the college’s dormitories. While immediately choosing to ignore what had happened to her Epifano soon became an emotional wreck. Before the attack Epifano had believed herself to be an extremely strong and independent individual. In an article done on Epifano’s story she stated “Everything I had believed myself to be was gone in 30 minutes,” (Epifano). Sexual assault takes away a piece of someone. With their hopes and dreams clouded by the tragedy they have endured, victims face a lifetime of
Sociological Analysis of Sexual Assault This essay will examine the social and cultural conditions, within the macro-diachronic and micro-synchronic theoretical models, that intensify or perpetuate sexual assault. I have chosen only one concept from each model because these are the only concepts that I feel that I can use to most accurately and comprehensively depict causes and reasons for why sexual assault is deeply entrenched in our social structure. I will thus explore, from these ideological viewpoints, some of the motivations and circumstances that lead offenders to sexual assault. I will also fuse some of the historical attitudes from which today's concepts have evolved into our contemporary understanding of these social phenomena. However, it’s important that we look beyond both offenders' motivations and history, and to the greater sociological view, if we are to correctly reconstruct acts of violence such as sexual assault.
As it is in the case of the majority of violent crimes, (Davies and Rogers, 2006) perpetrators of violent crimes, and especially sexual assault related crimes exert additional force by threatening the victim or their families. Male victims also must contend with an additional sense of shame and embarrassment in being identified with a crime that has been typically portrayed in the media as happening to women. This places men at a disadvantage in the reporting process, because their safety and the safety of others is compromised further if the crime is not reported. (Messerschmitt, 2009)
While the victim on this show was taken seriously and given a rape kit, she was still asked what she was wearing and whether or not she welcomed the man’s behavior with flirtation. These sorts of questions do touch on how many rape cases are biased against women and do not usually work in their favor. Also, motivational theories in sociology focus on social factors which drive a person to commit crimes (Wadsworth). In this case, the defense argues that the woman’s behavior, appearance, and attitude demonstrated that she wanted to have sex. As a result of these social factors and indicators, he to committed a deviant
Sexual assault is defined as any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient. Falling under the definition of sexual assault are sexual activities as forced sexual intercourse, forcible sodomy, child molestation, incest, fondling, and In the United States 80% of sexual assault victims are under the age of 30. Of that 80%, 44% are under the age of 18 (RAINN, 2016). That leaves 36% of victims between the ages of 18 and 30. These percentages become even more alarming when that 80% is of about 293,000 victims of secual assualt each year (RAINN, 2016). It is estimated that 1 in every 6 women in the US has been or will be victims of sexual assault in their lifetime. The risks of sexual assault increase on college campuses. Women ages 18-24 who are enrolled in college are 3 times more likely than women in general to suffer from sexual violence (RAINN, 2016). One would think that with all these women being sexually assaulted, one would hear more about it, or perhaps the police stations would constantly be busy. This is not the case. Sexual assault is one of the most unreported crimes, with 68% still being left unreported (RAINN, 2016). This could be because of every 100 rapists, only 2 will spend a day in jail. Of the 32 out of 100 that would be reported, only 7 are referred to an arrest (RAINN, 2016). Why would men or women want to report sexual assault when the system that is supposed to protect them fails so often, and why does this system continue to fail?
The statistics clearly show a group of people who’re affected by the heinous acts of sexual assault. Everyone knows that sexual assault isn’t a topic that’s on the top of the list to talk about; people usually even try to go as far as to hide it or to cover it up. Though, it’s clear for certain; covering something up doesn’t make it alright – It won’t make it go away and the problem is still there. For that exact fact, it is the very reason that sexual assault is something that needs to be brought to the
Sexual assault is defined as a type of behaviour that occurs without explicit consent from the recipient and under sexual assault come various categories such as sexual activities as forces sexual intercourse, incest, fondling, attempted rape and more (Justice.gov. 2017). People often become victims of sexual assault by someone they know and trust (Mason & Lodrick, 2013) which is conflicting to the public’s perception and beliefs that offenders are strangers. Women are the main victims for sexual assault and are 5 times more likely to have been a victim of sexual assault from a male (Wright, 2017, p. 93). Men are victims of sexual assault however only 0.7% of men, compared to 3.2% of women, experience some form of sexual assault which highlights how vulnerable women are compared to men. Sexual assault is publicised and exposed in the media, however is often
Imagine you’re running, clothes soaked in tears and sweat from trying to escape the calloused hands of needy attackers. Attackers who cannot comprehend the word “no”. This is a reality for some women, men, and even children. Most of the time, victims who eventually get the courage to tell someone about their traumatizing experiences end up being silenced with statements like, “What were you wearing?”, “You were asking for it.”, and “You owe me.” People are sexually assaulted or raped every day on many occasions. Walking home from a nightclub, in the workplace
Rape is non-consensual sexual intercourse that a male performs against a woman whom he is neither married to or cohabiting with. The definition of rape changes by geographic location. In some countries a woman must prove she is pure in order to find the perpetrator guilty. Rape used to be more of a violation to the man than to the women. It was a violation of the man’s rights if his wife or girlfriend was raped. When a woman is raped her devotion to her family is questioned. Rape is a violent act, an act of possession, not a sexual act. The myth that men who rape women are sexually pathological has begun to be dispelled and replaced with an understanding that rape is an act of anger, power and control rather than lust.
Sexual coercion is “The use of non-physical, controlling, degrading, and manipulative tactics to obtain, or attempt to obtain, unwanted oral, vaginal, or anal intercourse, including forced penetration and sex with objects.” (Bagwell-Gray, Messing, & Baldwin-White, 2015, p.323). It is distinct from intimate partner sexual assault in that unwanted sex is obtained through manipulative tactics and emotional and mental control rather than physical force (Black et al., 2011; Broach & Petetric, 2006; DeGue & DeLillo, 2005; Logan, Cole, & Shannon, 2007). When thinking of coercive control in intimate partner violence, it is clear that demands and threats can be implicit. For example, Dutton & Goodman (2005) describe how women report just knowing that if they did (or did not do) an action, “x”, then their partner would respond with a subsequent punishment, “y”. In studying intimate partner sexual violence, many women report such a type of implicit threat, knowing that they have to have sex with their partners when they did not want to in order to prevent dealing with their partners’ negative reactions. Non-consent outside the context of physical force may be difficult to identify because a woman may submit to coercive sexual tactics and consent to unwanted sex to avoid the negative outcomes of refusing it (Livingston, Buddie, Testa, & Vanzile-Tamsen, 2004) or out of perceived obligation to a spouse or partner (Basile,
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,
Rape and sexual violence is a very serious problem that affects millions of people each year. Rape is someone taking advantage of another person sexually. Sexual assault can be verbal, physical, visual, or anything that forces a person to join in unwanted sexual contact or attention. ("Sexual Assault.") Rape is one of the most underreported crimes. In 2002, only thirty-nine percent of rapes and sexual assaults were reported to law officials. ("Sexual Violence: Fact Sheet.") Victims sometimes do not report that they have raped because of shame or feeling that it was their fault. It is never the victim's fault. "Victim blaming" is holding the victim of a crime to be in a whole or in partly responsible for what had happened to them. Most victims believe this. ("Myths and Facts about Sexual Violence.")
Assigning blame has become an increasingly difficult and complex concept to understand, especially in our legal court system. I associate blame with being held responsible for the consequences of one’s intentional actions. In regards to sexual assault cases, I think the blame should not be placed on the victims, but rather on the perpetrators. Victim blaming justifies the perpetrator’s actions, discourages sexual assault reportings, and can have psychological effects on the victim.