Rape as a Cultural Outcome - Essay Example

? Is Rape a Product of Sexual Desire or the Exercise of Power? BY YOU YOUR SCHOOL INFO HERE HERE Is Rape a Product of Sexual Desire or the Exercise of Power? Introduction There are many connotations associated with rape when attempting to understand the driving motivations behind its performance. Conflicting theorists in psychology and sociology have established many different models to describe what encourages and stimulates inherent desires to perform acts of sexual aggression against another. There are some theorists that believe rape is absolutely a manifestation of power in which the aggressor seeks to gain control and dominance over another to satisfy their own disturbed conceptions of supremacy. Other theorists take a different perspective, iterating that rape is actually a product of repressed or overt sexual desire occurring in one with the inability to control their impulsive desires. Some researchers even attempt to place motivation on drug and alcohol consumption; however, there is not enough evidence that alcohol and drug dependency maintains predictive characteristics that will influence decisions to perform rapes. Research evidence on the subject tends to point toward rape as being a blend of exertion of power and dominance whilst also being influenced by cultural dynamics and the rule of law. There is not enough distinct knowledge literature on the subject that can concretely justify that rape is only a construct of desire, as there have been ample research studies conducted using diversified samples that illustrate rape is a multi-faceted activity that represents both inherent motivations for exerting power and satisfying cultural models of acceptable masculinity, with much less emphasis on rape as a product of satisfying intrinsic sexual desires. This paper describes the many intricacies of the act of rape in order to determine whether power or sexual ambition should be considered the primary motivation for sexual aggression against others. Rape As a Cultural Outcome Cultures that operate under Westernised models of social order often have distinct role expectations for male and female citizens. Societies such as the United Kingdom and the United States, as two relevant examples, tend to teach males to be more competitive and aggressive whilst reinforcing the need for passive responses from females in society (Pacific Union College, 2008; Henslin, 2005). There are some cultural misconceptions pre-existing in Western societies where men in masculine social circles believe that men have the absolute right to demand sex when providing females with gifts or social recreation (Henslin, 2005). In cultures with very robust disparities between what is considered acceptable masculine behaviour versus feminine behaviour, it is more likely that acts of rape will be defended by male reference groups. Long-standing, acceptable cultural models that illustrate different standards for males versus females serve as the foundation for what motivates some acts of rape against others. Though there are multitudes of legalities established by democratic governance systems to define rape and its consequences for perpetrating sexual violence, the micro-level connotations of social reference groups determine the acceptability of performing sexual aggression. In this case, it is neither the exertion of power against others nor the fulfilment of whimsical sexual desires; instead, it is the consequences of cultural judgment that serves as motivation to carry out rape. Psychologists and sociologists alike tend to agree that the power of peer assessment and criticism are powerful predictors of future behaviour for many in society (Weiten and Lloyd, 2005). Individuals who gain positive development of self-esteem and self-respect by adhering to reference group opinion would most likely justify performing violent rapes by citing social consensus. In some countries such as Nigeria, in which women are considered to be lesser entities compared to the patriarchical cultural model in place, rape is a common occurrence in which there are very few (if any) consequences for performing these acts. In countries such as this, where female equality is far from being an accepted cultural premise, women will often be raped as a means of chastising their perceived immoral behaviours. For instance, males in authority positions may label the woman a gold digger, or a frivolous and immoral adulterer, thus performing acts of rape as a means of enacting cultural justice. ‘It is a sad indictment of our society that women can come out in public and contemptuously intimidate a fellow woman traumatized by rape, while singing praises in support of the alleged perpetrator’ (Ndinda, 2006, p. 328). In countries with powerful patriarchical hierarchies of leadership and authority, even women serve as judgment resources for another female who has been accused of acting according to improper moral and ethical codes. In this scenario, rape occurs as a justice tool to satisfy male-driven and female-driven cultural beliefs regarding adultery or frivolity that goes against long-standing cultural values and principles. As illustrated by the research on cultural constructs and their relationship to rape and its prevalence, it is clear that rape does not always occur to satisfy strong sexual desires or even to illustrate power. Instead, collectivist nations such as Nigeria robustly support satisfying the opinion and values of the majority group and thus condone rape as an act that is justifiable under concepts of social law and order. Though this might certainly be rejected in cultures such as the United Kingdom that maintains no such conceptions or allowances under the legal system, it does illustrate the complexities of culture in driving decision-making to conduct violent sexual activity. Rape As a Power Illustration There are many examples, in which rape occurs, that justify the notion that sexual aggression is a manifestation of control and dominance. For instance, in the prison system, sodomy or forced masturbation of inmates occurs as a means of gaining social prominence within the common inmate community. Sexual aggressors against other inmates are not always homosexually-motivated; rather, such acts of rape guarantee property ownership or use publicized sexual conquests to gain favour from other prison reference groups (Knowles, 1999). Rape occurring in these scenarios is enacted to gain prominence and justify manhood. This is an environment where homosexual behaviour is ‘rewritten’, where the cultural norm establishes that rape is ephemeral, highly unemotional, and where rape builds social perceptions of power and social status (Knowles, 1999). The cultural foundations in the prison system continue to applaud sexual aggression against others that is not always driven by stifled sexual urges, which serves to advance the aggressor into higher echelons of prominence and notoriety. The prison culture is one in which hypermasculine characteristics are much admired and where effeminate, homosexual behaviour is considered revulsion. Thus, when prisoners are able to force another inmate into a passive and dominated position, it establishes a distinction between the strong and the weak, thus saving aggressor reputation and advancing their social status in the prison community. In the military, rape occurs with a much higher frequency than is actually believed, with servicemen and servicewomen being routinely victimized. During periods of armed conflicts, ‘traditional power dynamics associated with the rule of law are susceptible to reconfiguration’ (Sivakumaran, 2007, p. 267). In this type of environment, rape is performed as a means of rebelling against established social orders and to re-establish conceptions of a balance of power during periods where the rule of law has been deconstructed with an armed conflict. For instance, one culture involved in the conflict believes that power stems from chastity whilst the aggressor believes in power through virility (Sivakumaran, 2007). To rebel against established cultural norms being broken down through warfare, the sexual aggressor utilises rape as a means of exerting ethnocentric dominance. Rape, in this case, would be utilised as a tool to express cultural superiority with little concern about consequence stemming from legal constructs. Yet another example of rape as a power conception occurs when an individual maintains maladjusted psychological constructs, leading to self-delusions. This type of rapist is often classified under the anger-retaliation model, in which rape is performed as a type of social justice, getting even with the victim for perceived or imaginary wrongs against the aggressor (Groth, 1979). An individual sexual aggressor fitting this profile often seeks out victims spontaneously during periods where frustration and anger begin to boil to the surface of the aggressor’s consciousness. This type of rapist uses physical violence to subdue the victim, in which the sexual encounter provides considerable psychological relief once completed (Groth, 1979). Usually this profile maintains many characteristics common under the antisocial or sociopathic criminal profile in which anger against society is a constant, underlying motivation for causing harm to others. The rapist maintaining anger-retaliation characteristics is establishing control over others, thereby using sexual aggression as a therapeutic tool for self-healing. This type of rapist is often referred to as the sadistic rapist, who takes great pleasure in witnessing and causing the victim pain and suffering and where the individual is subject to recurrent mood swings that alter behaviour from passiveness to aggressiveness. Rape As a Product of Sexual Desire There is very little consensus in the research community that rape occurs as a product of being able to curb strong sexual impulses and desires. In fact, most rapists actually have partners or spouses (ADPH, 2008). In the 1970s and 1980s, it was more acceptable for men in society to act on their sexual impulses, believing that the cultural acceptability of sexual conquests justified taking sexually aggressive actions against others (Cheney, 2009). Today, however, this socially-driven premise is no longer a construct in modern society where rape is considered to be a reprehensible activity that violates all aspects of human rights established by progressive legal systems and the United Nations charters. The only instance in which performing sexual aggression against others is justified by acting on sexual desire is in the case of the paedophile, an adult that maintains strong sexual attraction to young children. Most cultural models across the world scowl at the notion of performing sexual acts between adults and children, having significant volumes of legalities established and coordinating effective deterrents and punishments for engaging in these activities. Because of the social stigma that individuals with abnormal attractions to pre-pubescent children experience for publicising their sexual desire for youths, the paedophile will often collect child pornography to observe this material in the privacy of their lifestyle environments. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States, child pornography ‘comes to define, fuel, and validate their most cherished sexual fantasies involving children’ (Lanning, 2001, p. 61). However, over time, the pornography no longer satisfies the growing sexual desire the paedophile maintains for children, thus they will seek out potential victims to rape or sodomize. The case of the rapist paedophile is relevant for understanding the dynamics of choosing sexual aggression to satisfy sexual desires. Because nearly all in society do not sanction or condone sexual relations with children, paedophiles have their most cherished fantasies continuously stifled by negative social outcry and threats of punishment for engaging in these acts. Over time, this constant deprivation becomes overwhelming to the paedophile, leading to impulsive sexual aggression against their chosen youth victim. Though the paedophile could, theoretically, benefit from a variety of psychological analyses and psychotherapy to cure this condition, it does not serve to negate the complicated and dynamic desires held by those attracted to children. Social shame and disgrace and the necessity to conceal these desires ultimately lead to violence against children from months or perhaps even years of sexual scarcity and deficiency. Research did not uncover any other situations in which it has been concretely determined that rape is a product of sexual desire. Some rapists, other than the paedophile, simply maintain a lack of social consciousness and simply lack the effective reasoning capacity to choose more effective sexual outlets than performing sexual aggression against non-consensual victims. Those with powerful anti-social characteristics might be more prone to act impulsively when deciding to perform rapes as they lack empathy for others and usually maintain general negative beliefs about social norms. However, these determinations are subjective and are not founded on legitimate scientific studies. A General Discussion of Findings As illustrated by the research, the majority of rapes occur domestically and internationally (and in a variety of social environments) as a means of expressing dominance and power against others. There are some studies that attempt to place blame on alcohol and drug dependency to justify why rapists use sexual aggression to build their own perceptions of power (Miczek, 1993; Belnap, 1989). Alcohol maintains known disinhibiting properties that serve to sway judgment from practical reasoning; however, it does not seem to be a factor that is universal in why certain individuals in society choose to perform violent sexual aggression against others. However, the disinhibiting properties of alcohol and drugs could, theoretically, be a motivational catalyst for acting on impulsive sexual aggressions with much more fervour than an individual who is not under the influence of chemical consumption. It would appear that the most viable constructs for why rapes are performed are to exert power and dominance against others and because of cultural connotations that continue to reinforce sexually aggressive behaviour. As illustrated by the research, these are unique and inherent characteristics within individuals, which are not universally applicable to all individuals who choose to perform rapes against the innocent. Conclusion It has been established that it is quite rare when violent rapes are performed as a means of satisfying impulsive or long-standing sexual desires. The prison environment and the social environment for paedophilia, as two examples, do tend to impose many sanctions and deprivations in a sexual context that could lead to impulsive decisions to rape another. However, a person with the ability to curb their impulses and seek out more effective sexual releases will likely not perform rapes against others in society for fear of chastisement and also the punishment-based consequences for these decisions. After analysing all of the research data on the subject, it should be determined that the majority of rapes occur as a means of exerting power against others, whether driven by maladjusted personality constructs or whether sanctioned by long-standing cultural models of masculinity versus femininity in society. Rape does not appear to be driven by the need to satisfy sexual desires, except in specific circumstances, and thus should not be considered a predictable motivation for performing sexual aggression. There are simply too many mitigating circumstances that provide explanation for why some individuals choose to rape and why others more effectively restrain such impulses. Whether differences in psychological programming or sociological environment, it is the exertion of dominance against the weak that provides the most powerful motivation to rape a victim. There is an abundance of social environments such as the prison system or social recreational environments that influence the decision to act on the desire to perform rapes against others. It would be irresponsible for a researcher to negate these powerful influencers of human behaviour to believe it is only inherent beliefs and personality constructs that determine the acceptability of performing sexual aggression against others. 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