Rape Chapter 11

In chapter eight, the opening paragraph began by speaking on the taboo subject of sexual assault. Rape is a sexual invasion of the body by force, an incursion into the private, personal inner space without consent. It gave an alarming statistic stating that 50 to 90 percent of all rapes or attempted rapes go unreported and in most instances of incest and molestation are never reported. Date rapes and stranger rapes are not reported out of shame, humiliation, guilt, cultural taboos, and the fear of secondary victimization by medical and legal authorities. It talked about how evidence suggests that crises resulting from sexual abuse and rape are more intense and differ in nature, intensity, and extent from other forms of crisis. I can …show more content…
They characterize rape as a social phenomenon and theorize four different causes: gender inequality, pornography, social disorganization, and legitimization of violence. Gender inequality is the economic, political, and legal status of women in comparison to men. Pornography reduces women to sex objects. It also promotes male dominance, and encourages sexual violence against women. Social disorganization diminishes social control and undermines freedom of individual behavior and self-determination. Legitimization of violence is the support the culture gives to violence, as portrayed in the media, the laws permitting corporal punishment in schools, and violence in sports, the military, and video …show more content…
There are currently numerous court cases currently happening because of this unfortunate situation. According to a 2003 U.S. Department of Justice report, rape is the most common violent crime at U.S. universities, it occurs to about 35 per 1,000 female college students per year. However, fewer than 5 percent of these rapes are reported to police. The book stated that women may decline to report rape out of shame, self-reproach for drinking too much, or fear of social isolation from the perpetrators and her friends. It was not a surprised that ninety percent of the college women who are raped know their perpetrators and most rapes occur in social situations. I say that it was not surprising because every individual that I know that has been raped knew their perpetrators. It was interesting to read that date rape survivors in college have been found to be more likely to have experienced stress, maltreatment, and negative home environment/neglect during childhood than were women who reported no date rape experience. Another interesting statement from the section was about how it was found that women who were raped while intoxicated were not less emotionally affected and did not blame themselves any more than women who were raped by force while not