Understanding Sexual Assault: Culture, Theories, Male Victims, and Child Molestation, Study notes of Sociology of Deviance

Download Understanding Sexual Assault: Culture, Theories, Male Victims, and Child Molestation and more Study notes Sociology of Deviance in PDF only on Docsity! 1 SOC 3290 Deviance Lecture 22: Sexual Assault 2 Now that we have examined patterns of sexual assault, as well as considered its consequences, today we will continue with this topic by considering four additional matters: (1) The culture of sexual assault; (2) Theories of Sexual assault; (3) Males as Victims; (4) Child molestation. Each will be dealt with in turn. The Culture of Sexual assault: While many cultures condemn sexual assault as a serious crime, these self-same societies often have a hidden culture of sexual assault that encourage men to sexually assault women. Of course, this doesn't affect all men the same. Those who are immature, irresponsible, and lacking on social conscience are those most influenced by it. But what is the nature of this sexual assault culture? It is found chiefly in prevailing attitudes toward women as well as through the concept of male/female sex roles. Treating Women Like Mens' Property: While the law against sexual assault appears to protect females, in many ways it protects the interests of the male. This is because the female is treated like a piece of property that before marriage belongs to her father and after marriage belongs to her husband. Traditionally, if a man sexual assaults a woman, he is in effect considered to be committing a crime against her father or husband - as the case may be. The laws against sexual assault exist to protect the male as the possessor of the female body, and not the right of the female over her own body (e.g. traditionally, a man could not legally sexual assault his own wife). Thus, sexual assault has been viewed as an offence one male commits against another - aggrandizing his manhood at the expense of another. The traditional absence of marital sexual assault laws, and the rarity of husbands currently being imprisoned for raping their wives, reflects this treatment of women as mens' property. This component of sexual assault culture also comes across in other ways (e.g. sexually assaulted women being regarded as "despoiled" or "ruined"). These words carry the connotation that a sexually assaulted woman is like "damaged goods."Further, once a man's wife has been sexually assaulted, he often tends to feel as if she is less "lovable" than before - even though she deserves more. It is thus not surprising that sexual assault has the tendency to strain or wreck the victim's relationship - 75-85% of such marriages break down within 2 years after the crime. 2 Keeping with this line of reasoning, it is also generally accepted that the more an object has been used, the less valuable it is considered. Thus, the more a woman has "been around" the less valuable a property she is judged to be. A woman with little value in this sense may be referred to as a "cheap woman" - among other things. Moreover, if a man ravages a relatively "cheap" woman, he can more easily get away with it. This may be why it has been difficult for a rapist to be convicted if his victim is known to have engaged in sexual relations with more than two men - and it is virtually impossible for the rapist to be convicted if his victim is a known prostitute. Moreover, since poor or minority women are considered less valuable in our society than white or rich women, raping the former carries a lesser risk of conviction than raping the latter. Indeed, many convicted rapists themselves do not feel guilty for having sexually assaulted such "cheap" commodities. More broadly, throughout human history, conquering armies sexually assaulted the population of the vanquished as if they were part of the "spoils of war" (e.g. Germany and Japan in WWII, Pakistan in Bangladesh, Serb armies in Bosnia, Hutus in Rwanda). Following such actions, the women were often regarded as damaged property, valueless, and thrown out of their homes by family. Lastly, the widespread availability of pornography - especially the type that shows violence against women - reinforces the popular image of women as mens' sex objects. By degrading women in this way, pornography increases mens' callousness toward women. Studies have shown that repeated exposure to pornography tends to cause men to trivialize sexual assault - advocating less serious punishment for rapists and expressing less sympathy for victims. This doesn't mean that it causes sexual assault, but that it does make certain men more dangerous to women (e.g. already violent, angry men). Since women are culturally defined as mens' property, men may find it difficult to respect women as human beings. It is through a lack of respect for women that men are encouraged to sexual assault women. Thus, Scully and Marolla (1985) found that the overwhelming majority of rapists they interviewed thought that they would never go to prison for what they did, because they viewed women as sexual objects that they could use for pleasure as a "man's right." Using Women in Men's Masculinity Contests: In a society that places a high value on competition, men are pressured to engage in a masculinity contest to prove their male prowess and to earn a macho reputation among peers. To come out a winner, a man has to make out with the largest number of women possible at the least cost. This contest is comparable to such competitive sports as football, baseball, etc. In any of these sports the players need an object - such as a ball - to push around and score. Here the woman becomes the ball needed to score. Such a dehumanizing attitude towards women can further be found in the language that men use for sexual intercourse as if it were merely a game of violence and conquest (e.g. 5 have a higher rate of sexual assault. This unusual conclusion is explained through the idea of relative frustration: when encountering the same experience of being rejected by a woman, men in a sexually permissive society feel more frustrated than men in a sexually restrictive society in which premarital and other non-marital sex is prohibited. This is because in a sexually restrictive society men are able to take a woman's rejection in stride - it isn't him, but society's restrictive rules. In a sexually permissive society, in contrast, such rationalizations aren't so readily available, and the man may more likely take it personally, become angry, and engage in sexual assault. In short, a sexual atmosphere of sexual permissiveness produces a great number a sexual assaults because it generates a great deal of relative frustration by causing men to take a woman's rejection personally. This may be why the U.S., Canada, etc have higher rates of sexual assault than in the past, and in comparison to traditional societies. Yet a third group of theorists question the assumption that sexual assault is sexually motivated. To these feminist theorists (e.g. Susan Brownmiller, 1975), sexual assault is seen as primarily motivated by the man's desire to dominate the woman because of gender inequality. On this view, sexual assault serves to intimidate women, "keeping them in their place" to maintain sexual inequality. The evidence on sexual assault as an expression of male dominance exists everywhere. Most sexual assaults involve men raping women. Men generally have greater physical, political and economic power than women. Thus, sexual assault is essentially an expression of male power over women. Indeed, Sanday (1981) has found that in sexual assault- prone societies, male dominance is a key feature. The same is true of campuses where masculinity and male dominance are highly valued (Schwartz, 1995). Nevertheless, the feminist theory has drawn fire for exaggerating the influence of male dominance on sexual assault - not all men would use sexual assault to intimidate all women, and it is easy to think of numerous men who do not want to dominate women by raping them - especially their mothers and daughters). Thus, it would be fairer to say that sexual assault is a primary expression - rather than the sole expression - of male dominance. Males as Victims: Many in society feel that men by nature are simply too big, strong and in control to be sexually assaulted. Yet, there is growing evidence that at least 10,000 American men are sexually assaulted each year. The risk of a man being sexually assaulted is still considerably less than that of a woman (urban surveys suggest that men make up 1 in 10 sexual assault victims, while other studies assert that 12-48% of male college students have been pressured to have non-consensual sex). Most of these involve women using verbal pressure rather than force. In the fewer cases where men are sexually assaulted by men, however, most offenders use physical force - with sodomy being the most common mode of assault. Male assailants are more likely than female assailants to use physical force because their victims are much more likely to be strangers. In contrast, female assailants are more likely to use verbal pressure because their victims are more likely to be their acquaintances. 6 In those rare cases where men sexually assault other men, still nearly half of assailants know their victims as peers, coworkers, subordinates or dates. These sexual assaults include attacks by men meeting their victims at parties or bars, gang sexual assaults in the military, and seduction with pressure by authority figures like psychiatrists, doctors, priests, and teachers. Most victims are in their late teens/early 20's, and slightly more than half of both victims and offenders are heterosexual. The rapist in such cases assaults his victim mostly out of anger, with the intent being to punish or dominate rather than to derive sexual pleasure. The male victim reacts in many of the same ways to same-sex sexual assault as the female does to heterosexual sexual assault. The reactions include shock, self-blame, shame, anger and depression. However, due to male sex-role socialization, the male victim is more likely to control his emotion by denying or minimizing the trauma of sexual assault. Moreover, unlike women, the male victim tends to feel a loss of masculinity. Such experiences are far more common in prison. Indeed, same-sex sexual assault is more prevalent in prison than heterosexual sexual assault is outside (1 in 5 male inmates have been sexually assaulted vs. 1 in 10 females in society). Virtually every slightly built young man is sexually approached within 1 or 2 days of incarceration - many being repeatedly sexually assaulted by gangs of inmates. Some commit suicide, others seek protection from more powerful inmates in return for sexual (and other) services. Some are forced into prostitution so that they can earn goods for their keepers, others are offered goodies such that the gift giver later demands payment. Finally, some are lured into gambling and are forced into sex to repay debts. Male rapists and their male victims in prison may be compared in many ways to such rapists and their female victims in society. Rapists in each case are generally heterosexual, generally older, taller, heavier, and more violent than their victims. However, it is also true that, compared to sexual assaults outside prison, same sex sexual assaults in prison are far more likely to be interracial. Still, the two types of sexual assault are similar in that both involve members of a dominant group raping a subordinate group. Common sense may suggest that prison sexual assault is intended to relieve one's sexual deprivation - but that isn't the primary motivation (masturbation would be more efficient). Instead, the primary motivation for same sex sexual assault is the need to subjugate and humiliate the victim (e.g. "We're going to take away your manhood"). This doesn't mean that the sexual assault serves only to express the need for dominance - if it did, offenders would merely beat up each other. But the drive for power appears to be the stronger motivation than sex for prison sexual assault. The same is true for the majority of men who sexual assault other men in the larger society. Moving on to a more controversial question: can men be sexually assaulted by women? Alex Thio (2001) argues that they can, because sexual assault is basically an expression of power. Just as prison rapists are more powerful than their victims, and male rapists in the wider society are more powerful than their female victims, there are situations where it is the woman 7 who is in the power position and invulnerable. Thus, to the extent to which a woman can overpower a man in a sexual encounter, she is able to sexual assault him. But is this physiologically possible? Some might assume that men cannot perform sexually if frightened or anxious, but doctors have refuted this. Some men can and do have erections while anxious, and, even if not capable of engaging in intercourse, they can still be forced to perform other sex acts meant to humiliate them - fulfilling their attacker's need for asserting power and dominance. Thus, it shouldn't be surprising that there are actual cases of women using physical force to sexual assault men, but these are extremely rare. Presumably as we move toward gender equality these cases will increase, but, so far, the cases that have occurred usually involve a single victim and two or more offenders - an apparent attempt to compensate on the power dimension. Still, rather than use physical force, most female offenders resort to verbal persuasion and other non-violent methods (e.g. older women seducing teenage boys, female babysitters abusing young boys, and female college students persistently "getting fresh" with their dates until they consent to sex). We may argue, though, that the use of verbal persuasion alone doesn't legally constitute sexual assault if the victim is no longer under the age of consent. The use of physical force is quite another matter. It is sexual assault and may traumatize the male victim as much as it does the female victim. He is likely to feel a loss of masculinity, suffer sexual dysfunction, etc. But since most female offenders don't resort to physical force, most male victims are far from being traumatized. Thus, the most common effect is avoidance of aggressive women and pressured sex. Currently, even those male victims who are badly shaken by the more violent assault may not get much sympathy. Child Molestation: Child molestation can also be considered a form of sexual assault because their victims are too young to legally give consent to sex. There are many widely-ranging estimates of how common child molestation is. Yet some facts are clear: (1) girls are more likely than boys to be molested; (2) most molesters are men; (3) most molesters are not strangers, but acquainted with their victims; (4) the molester is usually unmarried, never or rarely dates, lives alone or with his parents. The impact on the victim is profound. 45 studies have shown that molested children are more likely to suffer from various problems such as PTSD, behavior problems, sexualized behaviors, and poor self-esteem. Child molesters may be compared with the type of rapists who victimize women. In this