Sexuality, Sexualized Violence and Sexual Assault - Essay Example

In the modern society, rape is one of the major crimes that elicit a lot of controversy mainly because it violates the sexuality of an individual. For a long period, rape has been used as weapon to subdue the weak in the society and the trend is still prevalent today. Rape involves forceful coitus without the consent of the other party. However, the definition differs from society to society. According to RAINN (2010), both males and females are potential victims of rape and in the United States, women account to about 91% of all rape victims while the rest are males.

In addition, about 99 percent of the convicted rapists are males (RAINN, 2010). Prevalence of rape in different countries varies, where some report higher rates than others do. Sweden for instance has one of the highest reported incidents of rape in developed countries and in the globe. Various factors account to this disparity in incidents of rape. These include inconsistencies in definition of rape, underreporting and ignorance (Meyer, 2006). Different societies define rape in various contexts causing disparities in reported incidents.

In some societies, it is acceptable for a man to have sex with a woman irrespective of her consent. In such situations, the channels for reporting such cases are virtually non-existent and victims are left with no option of seeking legal redress. Moreover, the society focuses more on male – female rape, overlooking other types such as male-male, female- male , and female –female sexual abuse (Malamuth, 1986). In societies with low literacy levels, many crimes including rape go unreported because of strong cultural or traditional values that prevent victims from reporting due to fear.

Hence, in conservative, third world and developing nations the incidents of rape could be higher than reported data because of ignorance, underreporting and other factors. Similarly, developed countries report high incidents of rape because victims are more informed about their rights and there are competent and broad legal definitions of the crime.Sexual violence is caused by various factors as explained by many theories to explain the phenomena. Meyer(2006) classified these into two categories, namely offender based factors and societal influence Offender based factors include biological make up of an individual such as high levels of hormones that increases aggression, including testosterone and serotonin, abusing drugs such as alcohol, in addition to sex and power motives.

Societal influence includes watching violent and sexually explicit content, cultural orientations that support sexual violence in addition to sexual expectations and myths. Therefore, sexual violence is caused by interaction of biological, environmental and biological factors (Meyer, 2006). . In United States, about 15 to 20 percent of women in the country experience sexual assault in their lifetime (RAINN, 2010). Use of drugs mainly alcohol is the leading cause of sexual assaults in the country.

In nearly 50 percent of reported sexual assaults, both the perpetrator and the victim are reported to have been drunk during the incident. Most of reported sexual assaults in the United States involve acquainted people because it mainly happens in the homes of the victims and the perpetrators (RAINN, 2010). Although the influence of media has been attributed to increasing incidents of sexual violence in the United States, using alcohol plays the major role. According to RAINN (2010), the rate of sexual violence in the United States is about 29 people per 100,000 persons.

This figure compares to an average of about 23 people in the United Kingdom but Sweden has the highest average of about 53 people. Most conservative Islamic countries report the lowest incidents of sexual violence. However, United States reports high incident of rape among developed countries because of various factors, including wide legal definition of rape and stern regulations of protecting women and children rights. This culture differs from other developed countries, which lack adequate definition of rape and vibrant civil and legal mechanisms to address the vice.

However, RAINN (2010) note that many cases of rape are unreported in the country because of various reasons, including the belief that rape is private matter that could be dealt with as such.ReferencesMalamuth, N.(1986). Predictors of naturalistic sexual aggression. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 50(5): 950-961. Meyer, J. (2006). Root causes of sexual assault. Retrieved from http://www.ccasa.org/documents/Root_Causes_Long_Version.pdfRAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network)(2010).

Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.rainn.org/statistics