Read a book by Randy Thornhill & Craig T. Palmer surrounding rape. Professor Thornhill is an evolutionary biologist while C.T. Palmer is an anthropologist. The fact is that rape is a crime motivated by sex. Any1 who says that rapists don't do it for sexual motives is talking rubbish-either they don't know what they're talking about or they're lying-esp. if they're a pscychologist. Here are some facts surrounding rape. 1. Rapes are found in the animal world. They're found amongst insects such as crickets, waterstriders, scorpion flies, etc. They're found amongst birds such as mallard ducks & red jungle fowl. They're also found amongst primates such as Orangutans. Males rape females for reproductive reasons in the animal world. A male who has problem getting females (such as males who lose mate fights) rape females so as to reproduce. 2. Rapists mainly target young women. Before starting, it must be said that homosexual rapes are also sexually motivated with young men & boys mainly being the victims which the authors briefly touched. Though the professors didn't discuss this, if a boy is homosexually raped, the likelihood is greater that he'll turn out homosexual-engage in homosexual activities in adulthood vs. if he wasn't- 30% of homosexuals report being homosexually raped in their youths so yes, homosexual rapes in youths can impact adult sexuality for some. Some women say that they believe they turned out lesbians because being raped by men when they were little girls caused them to hate men & this is why some lesbians believe they turned out lesbian. I've never heard straights blame childhood sex abuse for being married with kids, yet homosexuals & lesbians sometimes blame childhood sex abuse for their adult homosexuality. Since it's about men raping women, while rapists can attack women of all ages, most rapists go after women who are girls to 35 years old. 75% of women who are raped are under 30 years old, 10 to 12% of women raped are 30 to 35 years old, 7 to 9% 36 to 39 year old, with 5 to 8% of women rape victims being 40 or older with most in this group in their 40s, the last years of prettiest. Menopausal women, those 50 & older make up 1 to 2% of rape victims. After 40, the woman's chances of getting raped starts going down significantly. If a man robs a 45 year old woman, he'll take her money. But if the same man robs a 25 year old woman, then he is more likely to commit rape in addition to robbery. This is true in wars. Soldiers who win a war steal, loot & rape young women. Men rape young women because the woman has something which the man wants & that is sex-which he takes by force or by threatening force. 3. Most rapists don't do added violence. This is esp. true of acquaintance rapes-date & marital. If a man rapes a woman, he'll use the force or threat of this to get sex. It's like a bank robber. Most bank robbers will only use the needed force or threat to get the $ & then leave. Another reason most rapists don't use added violence is because of biology related to reproductive success. In the animal world, if a male kills a female in addition to sex, then his reproductive success has failed. Yes, some rapists do kill their victims just as some robbers kill their victims, but these are in the minority & the most likely reason is to kill any witnesses. 4. Poor men are more likely to commit rape. Yes, rich men sometimes commit rape if they lack sex restraint. However the reason poor men are more likely to commit rape (with most of their victims poor women) is because poor men are more likely to have problems getting women. Women are drawn to men based on the man's phoenotype (good genes) & resources that a man has. Poor men are more likely to have problems getting women who are interested in them & they may not even be willing to pay a prostitute. So they resort to rape for their sexual motives. In the animal world, males have to impress females such as win mate fights, provide nuptial gifts such as food to impress the females. If the females aren't impressed, then some males rape so as to reproduce. Anyhow, if any of you have read the 2000 book by Thornhill & Palmer, the fact is that rape is a crime motivated by sex. Rapists motives are sexual & to say that rape is about power but not sex is rubbish. 84% of rapists say that sex is a main motive. Power which is force or threat of force is a means to get sex. Rapists mainly go after fertile women because this is who they want to have sex with & are attracted to. Though Thornill & Palmer briefly touched this, it must be said that most sex abuse cases are men touching a woman's boobs or butt against her will (frottage such as in elevator) & almost all the victims are women between 18 to 35 years old. The man grabs the woman's butt or boobs against her will because of sexual motives & these are the sex abuse cases where more men are in jail for. Anyhow, if you've read Thornhill & Palmer's book or want to share views, then please do.
I wonder how many women over the age of 30 would really be interested in reporting a rape. Considering by that age, women know how absolutely pathetic law enforcement stats are regarding successful prosecution and how it affects relationships, family and her own ability to get on with her life. How many post 30 women are stupid enough to go into situations where rape is possible. How many post-30 women are still socialising, in situations of frequent risk regarding relationships, as opposed to how many post-30 women have married and settled in a relationship and are no longer required to expose themselves to risk by meeting new and potentially dangerous men? I could go on and on, but there are probably a few reasons why older women are caught out less often, despite the ageist fantasy that it's a personal choice by weirdo sexually aggressive twits. The theory is as full of holes as a sieve. I won't go into detail, just poke a few...how obvious is it that someone who is raped may develop a natural aversion to ever being near the gender which evokes memories of the rapist? Considering they say 2/3 or people who are raped, know their attacker? It's not really a shocker, is it? At a basic level, if you burn your hand badly, you're not going to do it twice and that is a natural instinct and much stronger according to the level of horror. Then...How difficult a leap is it to say that rapists rape to get sex? A rapist wanting sex? Is that a surprise to anybody? And...Men are supposed not to use violence or kill the raped person (I don't appreciate the negative and power allocating connotations of the term victim) because that will interfere with the possibility of reproduction? How many raped women do you know who are likely to carry the child to term and how many rapists do you think don't know that's not really a great bet? I'll stop there...timezones and all....
Rape cases are almost always he says she says such as date & marital rapes, with the woman saying that the man forced her to have sex while the man says that the woman agreed, doing the acts that she agreed to while not doing what she or he said no to. It's possible for a woman or man to 1st agree to have sex but then change mind & say no. It's also possible for a woman or man to 1st say no but then voluntarily change mind & decide to have sex. & it's possible for a woman or man to say no to 1 sex act but agree to another. Not to be graphic, but if a woman were to ask a man if he could do oral on her, there are many men who would say 'no, just normal activities'. In this case, the man wants to have penis/vaginal sex with her but he does not want to do oral sex. Rape cases must be judged by juries in deciding which story is creible. To repeat, 84% of rapists say that they do it for sexual pleasure & they do it based on whether the woman is pretty which is why they almost always go after women 18 to 35 years old because those are the prettiest years of a woman's life. While you can say that rape has other motives such as power, sex is a major motive surrounding rapes. There are men who rape women because they have problems getting women. Also most rapes are unreported-the estimate is 10 to 15% of rapes are reported to the cops.
All rapes are not the same. I've investigated rapes that were incredibily vicious and violent and I've investigated rapes between friends that were simply amazingly stupid. All rapists aren't the same. Some attack young women but some attack only mature women and some elderly women. I suspect when you lump in acquaintance "rape" and all the other new categories, most victims are relatively young but that certainly isn't a dominant feature. All rape victims aren't the same. I dealt with women who had been raped repeatedly. Not all at one time. Difference rapists, different cities, different dates. I think the record was nine times but two or three times was not that rare. The motives are not all the same and the people with a political agenda who say, "All rapes are....", or "All rapists are...." or "All rape victims are...." are doing a disservice to everyone. Lastly, a high percentage of the rapes reported were false reports, even under today's rape laws. The figures of 3% are politically generated numbers that are laughable.
Patrick T, I did not say that all rapes are the same but what most are. Most rapes are not reported in the press because they're just not interesting. What the media writes about are odd & unusual cases. Menopausal women make up 1 to 2% of rape victims, so elderly women are rarely raped because they're just not pretty to most rapists. If a man rapes a 75 year old woman, that will be reported in the news because it's odd & strange while if it's a typical acquaintance rape case where a 25 year old man is accused of raping a 25 year old woman, it usually won't make it in the press. The truth is that few rapists attack elderly women while most rapists attack young women. Even with rapes in wars, the rapists almost always go after women 18 to 35 years old. If a rapist mutilates or kills a victim, then that will make it in the press because again, it's odd & strange. Even with violent rapists, where a man rapes & kills the woman he raped, almost all of them say they did it for sexual pleasure. Sex is a large motive surrounding rape. If a woman is viciously raped & tortured, the fact that the woman was mutilated does not rule out sexual motive-what it does it put another motive as to why he did it which is sexual motive & power.
I agree with Patrick. Its sounds like the OP is saying that old menopausal women don't get raped b/c they are ugly, old,and that rape is only an issue for pretty young women. Why does it always have to be about looks, it could be location, accesibility and many other factors. Young women are going to be out in places older settled women wouldn't be. Older women also make wiser decsions, and go with their gut. However if older women were in these same places the risks would be the same...cancelling out any ''looks'' factor. I'm in my late 30's(past your age limit of most reported rapes) and had a rape threat from a teen male that I was working with. I felt like I could handle it myself but b/c of company policy I had to report it to the police and file a report. I had often been hit on by some of the boys but this was another story, it was an ''almost'' concoted plan to catch me off guard..and I don't need to say more. Sure it could be that I'm still considered somewhat attractive for being an old hag(lol) but it had more to do with his mindset, his dysfunction and my location.
Traditionalist I wrote that menopausal women rarely get raped as they are 1 to 2% of rape victims. If I had said that menopausal women never get raped, then you could accuse me of absolutes but I did no such thing. But most rapists themselves say that they want women 18 to 35 years old. You wrote that you're 39 but that's not that old. If you ask most rapists who they would rather rape-a 24 year old woman vs. 50 year old woman, most would want the 24 year old woman. Even in wars, soldiers who rape almost always go after women 18 to 35 years old, while only a few go after the elderly women. During the Rape of Nanking, women of all ages were raped anywhere from little girls to elderly women, but the majority of women who were raped were 18 to 35 years old followed by little girls.
I didn't write 39, but late 30's. Anyway was this study based on the mindset of serial rapists? I don't believe every man who has ever raped falls into that category. Either way, it doesn't make it less wrong.
What does that mean Have been to rape/sex abuse trials, so I know what the prosecutor will say, what the defense lawyer will say, etc. It's possible to do a rape trial w/o calling the victim. If a prosecutor believes they can convict w/o the victim testifying, they can do so. It's for a jury to decide if proof is beyond a reasonable doubt. But most sex abuse cases are not even rapes. They usually are frottages such as a man grabbing a woman's butt or boobs against will. These cases almost never get reported in the press unless a famous man is accused of this, because it's not interesting. There are so many rape/sex abuse cases which cops deal with. The media writes about the strange & odd cases because that is what's interesting. If the press was writing about the usual rape/sex abuse cases such as a man accused of raping girlfriend or man accused of grabbing women's boobs against will , it would become boring because there are so many of them. What the media will write about are things which are odd & strange.
A lot of the chatter across this thread has been under the assumption that a rapist goes in with clear, defined intentions. The OP, as I understand it, was speaking from a social/evolutionary standpoint, and so the decision to rape young fertile womenn wouldn't necessarily be a conscious one, but one written into the genes. You might say he "chose" to commit rape, but as to the choice of a victim, it would likely be one he was attracted to, and people don't choose who they are attracted to.
I agree with PatrickT about the varying motives. The serial rapist type, I know it's stereotyping but I'm going from my own experiences, is about the power trip. The MO is usually constant, identify a vulnerable potential victim, stalk her, plan how the crime is to be committed, plan how to commit it and either remove evidence or ensure as little evidence as possible is left behind for forensic analysis, are almost as thrilling for the serial rapist as the act itself. In some cases the act itself is an anti-climax (no puns or jokes here, this is a serious topic). So I'd agree with those who argue rape is an offence regarding power - in this sort of instance. But it is also about sex and PatrickT has pointed that out. I have investigated rapes that were about a bloke forcing himself on a woman of his acquaintance simply because he didn't get sex by consent. That's not an ideological power thing, that's plain old sex. Still rape of course. Juries don't acquit suspected rapists based on the power/sex ideology argument, they simply don't believe the victims sufficiently. They are more likely to convict the serial rapist than the opportunistic rapist I think. How you get over that I don't know, rape is still rape, regardless of the circumstances but tell that to a jury and see how you go.
I tend to agree with OP on this. It makes perfect sense from a biological perspective. If the act of raping a woman has nothing to do with sex, then why is it that women who are nearing the end of fertility are almost never raped while women who are at peak fertility are raped most frequently? here's a standard fertility chart by age: http://www.babycenter.com/0_chart-the-effect-of-age-on-fertility_6155.bc What seems obvious to me is the clear correlation of fertility and likelyhood of being raped. It makes sense if you're animal brain thinks it will pass on genes this way. It doesn't make sense in terms of raw force -- we get weaker as we age. It doesn't make sense as a relation of risk taking, considering the numbers of date rapes and rapes done by people known to the victim. What else is there?
The idea that rape is about power and control comes from the second feminist movement and more specifically from the writings of feminist writers such as Susan Brownmiller, not from psychologists or psychological research. In fact more and more research is backing the idea that rape is about sex, not power and control. Unfortunately such research has been hindered and held back by the political influence of the supporters of the power and control idea. Hopefully the real motivations will be better understood, so we can improve our ability to prevent and prosecute rapes.
What would you propose we do? If it is about sex and not about power what other ways can people prevent rapes? As has already been stated, there are several reasons why men rape, but I don't think the reason changes anything. Talks of prevention would still be the same, ie, don't go to strange or dangerous places at night alone, don't leave the bar alone with some guy you just met, etc. Unless of course we start going back to the ''women shouldn't show too much leg, b/c they are inviting rape''-way-of-thinking. The blaming womens clothing has never changed or prevented anything.
What you mentioned focuses on the victim, and from a victim perspective the methods to prevent rape are all about the same. On the other hand, prevention from an offender focus will change. Reduced sexual stimulation wouldn't lessen power and control rape, but would lessen sex-motivated rape. Demeaning men would increase power and control rape, empowering them would decrease it, but neither would have much effect on sex-motivated rape. The motivation would also similarly affect the methods used to rehiblitate rapists. Overall motivation is an important consideration in crimes, and hopefully better understanding motivations can help us reduce the rate of these crimes.
Sbowisfun been looking at an article by Tornhill who you are basing your idea on. From his article http://philosophy.illinoisstate.edu/chorvath/PHI150F09/Thornhill Rape.pdf It is not sex as you can see, it is sexual violence he is talking about.
What's wrong with that? I think it might go a bit farther in reducing rapes. But first and formost, I think what we need to do is figure out a way to make it harder for rapists to rape a second and third time. Perhaps we should also make sure that women do not go to the bar at midnight, especially not dressed in strategically placed bandaids. On the guys side, castration or the threat of castration may be the thing needed.
Sometimes innocents are accused. If a man is convicted of rape, then he must go to prison but castration is mutilation. If a woman falsely accuses a man of rape, then it would be wrong to chop off her hands & IMO false rape accusations are almost as bad as real rapes. Rape/sex abuse trials must be judged individually. Patrick T, your job as a cop was to find out if a suspect did or did not commit rape & if you believe he did it, then i was your job to prove he did it. You don't have to prove why a man committed rape. But to repeat, 84% of rapists say that they do it for sexual pleasure. Unsure what else we can say about this w/o rehashing.
Guess war brings out aggression at the personal level... VA finds sexual assaults more common in war zones December 27, 2012 - About half of women sent to Iraq or Afghanistan report being sexually harassed, and nearly one in four say they were sexually assaulted, according to new research by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
so why do you think the incidence of rape is so high in the congo, and in india ... what makes men uin these places more likely to force women to have sex with them than do men in other places? why do some men rape small children, and others attack grannies who happen to be in the wrong place ... do these men consider their victims to be "pretty?"
Menopausal women are rarely raped-they make up 1 to 2% of rape victims. Worldwide it has been found including in wars that rapists almost always go after women in fertile years. Yes a man who rapes an elderly woman or little girl does find her to be pretty. Incidence of rape is not high in India & don't believe media reports that a woman is raped every 18 hours in India. Rapes among animals are done for reproduction as it's females in fertile years more likely to be raped. Incidentally with rape, while pregnancies happen in rapes, stress which is involved rapes do lower the chance of pregnancy happening. Stress has been shown to lower pregnancy possibility & as rape has stress for both the victim & the rapist (who may fear getting caught), the stress can lower pregnancy risks though they don't know how much. It's truth that rapes are sex motivated crimes just as robbery is $ motivated crime. Any1 who says otherwise is either delusional, denies what they know is true, or both. Rape is sex motivated crime which men & sometimes women (it's biologically possible for woman to rape man) do for sexual pleasure.
Gang rape victim dies... Doctor: Young woman gang-raped in India dies Fri December 28, 2012 - Diplomat says family wants privacy protected; the woman's gang rape on a New Delhi bus spawned days of protests across the country; She had "severe organ failure" tied to injuries to her body and brain, a doctor says; India's prime minister says her death shouldn't be in vain, vows action to ensure women's safety
