Factors increasing men's risk of committing rape

Sexual violence is found in almost every country. Research suggests that in all classes and in all age groups sexual violence occurs. The prevalence of sexual violence however remains under researched. Data on sexually violent men also show that most direct their acts at women whom they already know. [Heise L, Moore K, Toubia N. Sexual coercion and women’s reproductive health: a focus on research. New York, NY, Population Council, 1995.] [Violence against women: a priority health issue. Geneva, World Health Organization, 1997 (document WHO/FRH/WHD/97.8).] Among the factors increasing the risk of a man committing rape are those related to attitudes and beliefs, as well as behaviour arising from situations and social conditions that provide opportunities and support for abuse.

Individual factors

Alcohol and drug consumption

Alcohol has been shown to play a disinhibiting role in certain types of sexual assault [Miczek KA et al. Alcohol, drugs of abuse, aggression and violence. In: Reiss AJ, Roth JA, eds. Understanding and preventing violence. Vol. 3. Social influences. Washington, DC, National Academy Press, 1993:377–570.] , as have some drugs, notably cocaine. [Grisso JA et al. Violent injuries among women in an urban area. New England Journal of Medicine, 1999, 341:1899–1905.] Alcohol has a psychopharmacological effect of reducing inhibitions, clouding judgements and impairing the ability to interpret cues. [Abby A, Ross LT, McDuffie D. Alcohol’s role in sexual assault. In: Watson RR, ed. Drug and alcohol reviews. Vol. 5. Addictive behaviors in women. Totowa, NJ, Humana Press, 1995.] The biological links between alcohol and violence are, however, complex. [Miczek KA et al. Alcohol, drugs of abuse, aggression and violence. In: Reiss AJ, Roth JA, eds. Understanding and preventing violence. Vol. 3. Social influences. Washington, DC, National Academy Press, 1993:377–570.] Research on the social anthropology of alcohol consumption suggests that connections between violence, drinking and drunkenness are socially learnt rather than universal. [McDonald M, ed. Gender, drink and drugs. Oxford, Berg Publishers, 1994.] Some researchers have noted that alcohol may act as a cultural break time, providing the opportunity for antisocial behaviour. Thus people are more likely to act violently when drunk because they do not consider that they will be held accountable for their behaviour. Some forms of group sexual violence are also associated with drinking. In these settings, consuming alcohol is an act of group bonding, where inhibitions are collectively reduced and individual judgement ceded in favour of that of the group.

Psychological factors

There has been considerable research in recent times on the role of cognitive variables among the set of factors that can lead to rape. Sexually violent men have been shown to be more likely to consider victims responsible for the rape and are less knowledgeable about the impact of rape on victims. [Drieschner K, Lange A. A review of cognitive factors in the aetiology of rape: theories, empirical studies and implications. Clinical Psychology Review, 1999, 19:57–77.] Such men may misread cues given out by women in social situations and may lack the inhibitions that act to suppress associations between sex and aggression. [Drieschner K, Lange A. A review of cognitive factors in the aetiology of rape: theories, empirical studies and implications. Clinical Psychology Review, 1999, 19:57–77.] They may have coercive sexual fantasies [Dean KE, Malamuth NM. Characteristics of men who aggress sexually and of men who imagine aggressing: risk and moderating variables. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1997, 72:449–455.] , generally encouraged by access to pornographydubious [Malamuth NM, Addison T, Koss MP. Pornography and sexual aggression: are there reliable effects and how can we understand them? Annual Review of Sex Research, 2000, 11:26–91.] , and overall are more hostile towards women than men who are not sexually violent. [Koss M, Dinero TE. Discriminant analysis of risk factors for sexual victimisation among a national sample of college women. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1989, 57:242–250.] [Malamuth NM. A multidimensional approach to sexual aggression: combining measures of past behavior and present likelihood. Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 1998, 528:113–146.] [Ouimette PC, Riggs D. Testing a mediational model of sexually aggressive behavior in nonincarcerated perpetrators. Violence and Victims, 1998, 13:117–130.] In addition to these factors, sexually violent men are believed to differ from other men in terms of impulsivity and antisocial tendencies. [Crowell NA, Burgess AW, eds. Understanding violence against women. Washington, DC, National Academy Press, 1996.] They also tend to have an exaggerated sense of masculinity. Sexual violence is also associated with a preference for impersonal sexual relationships as opposed to emotional bondingdubious, with having many sexual partners and with the inclination to assert personal interests at the expense of others. [Malamuth NM. A multidimensional approach to sexual aggression: combining measures of past behavior and present likelihood. Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 1998, 528:113–146.] [MalamuthNMet al. The characteristics of aggressors against women: testing a model using a national sample of college students. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1991, 59:670–681.] A further association is with adversarial attitudes on gender, that hold that women are opponents to be challenged and conquered. [Lisak D, Roth S. Motives and psychodynamics of selfreported, unincarcerated rapists. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1990, 55:584–589.]

Peer and family factors

Gang rape

Some forms of sexual violence, such as gang rape, are predominantly committed by young men. [Bourgois P. In search of respect: selling crack in El Barrio. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996.] Sexual aggression is often a defining characteristic of manhood in the group and is significantly related to the wish to be held in high esteem. [Petty GM, Dawson B. Sexual aggression in normal men: incidence, beliefs and personality characteristics. Personality and Individual Differences, 1989,10:355–362.] Sexually aggressive behaviour among young men has been linked with gang membershipand having delinquent peers. [Ouimette PC, Riggs D. Testing a mediational model of sexually aggressive behavior in nonincarcerated perpetrators. Violence and Victims, 1998, 13:117–130.] [Borowsky IW, Hogan M, Ireland M. Adolescent sexual aggression: risk and protective factors. Pediatrics, 1997, 100:E7.] Research also suggests that men with sexually aggressive peers are also much more likely to report coercive or enforced intercourse outside the gang context than men lacking sexually aggressive peers. [Gwartney-Gibbs PA, Stockard J, Bohmer S. Learning courtship aggression: the influence of parents, peers and personal experiences. Family Relations, 1983, 35:276–282.] Gang rape is often viewed by the men involved, and sometimes by others too, as legitimate, in that it is seen to discourage or punish perceived immoral behaviour among woman, such as wearing short skirts or frequenting bars.

For this reason, it may not be equated by the perpetrators with the idea of a crime. In several areas in Papua New Guinea, women can be punished by public gang rape, often sanctioned by elders. [Jenkins C. Sexual behaviour in Papua New Guinea.In: Report of the Third Annual Meeting of the International Network on Violence Against Women, January 1998. Washington, DC, International Network on Violence Against Women, 1998.]

Early childhood environments

There is evidence to suggest that sexual violence is also a learnt behaviour in some men, particularly as regards child sexual abuse. Studies on sexually abused boys have shown that around one in five continue in later life to molest children themselves. [Watkins B, Bentovim A. The sexual abuse of male children and adolescents: a review of current research. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 1992, 33:197–248.] Such experiences may lead to a pattern of behaviour where the man regularly justifies being violent, denies doing wrong, and has false and unhealthy notions about sexuality.

Childhood environments that are physically violent, emotionally unsupportive and characterized by competition for scarce resources have been associated with sexual violence. [Crowell NA, Burgess AW, eds. Understanding violence against women. Washington, DC, National Academy Press, 1996.] [Ouimette PC, Riggs D. Testing a mediational model of sexually aggressive behavior in nonincarcerated perpetrators. Violence and Victims, 1998, 13:117– 130.] [Borowsky IW, Hogan M, Ireland M. Adolescent sexual aggression: risk and protective factors. Pediatrics, 1997, 100:E7.] [Dobash E, Dobash R. Women, violence and social change. London, Routledge, 1992.] Sexually aggressive behaviour in young men, for instance, has been linked to witnessing family violence, and having emotionally distant and uncaring fathers. [Ouimette PC, Riggs D. Testing a mediational modelof sexually aggressive behavior in nonincarcerated perpetrators. Violence and Victims, 1998, 13:117–130.] [Borowsky IW, Hogan M, Ireland M. Adolescent sexual aggression: risk and protective factors. Pediatrics, 1997, 100:E7.] Men raised in families with strongly patriarchal structures are also more likely to become violent, to rape and use sexual coercion against women, as well as to abuse their intimate partners, than men raised in homes that are more egalitarian. [Crowell NA, Burgess AW, eds. Understandingviolence against women. Washington, DC, National Academy Press, 1996.]

Family honour and sexual purity

Another factor involving social relationships is a family response to sexual violence that blames women without punishing men, concentrating instead on restoring lost family honour. Such a response creates an environment in which rape can occur with impunity.

While families will often try to protect their women from rape and may also put their daughters on contraception to prevent visible signs should it occur [Wood K, Maepa J, Jewkes R. Adolescent sex and contraceptive experiences: perspectives of teenagers and clinic nurses in the Northern Province. Pretoria, Medical Research Council, 1997 (Technical Report).] , there is rarely much social pressure to control young men or persuade them that coercing sex is wrong.where Instead, in some countries, there is frequently support for family members to do whatever is necessary including murder to alleviate the shame associated with a rape or other sexual transgression. In a review of all crimes of honour occurring in Jordan in 1995 [Hadidi M, Kulwicki A, Jahshan H. A review of 16 cases of honour killings in Jordan in 1995. International Journal of Legal Medicine, 2001, 114:357–359] , researchers found that in over 60% of the cases, the victim died from multiple gunshot wounds mostly at the hands of a brother. In cases where the victim was a single pregnant female, the offender was either acquitted of murder or received a reduced sentence.

Community factors

Poverty

Poverty is linked to both the perpetration of sexual violence and the risk of being a victim of it. Several authors have argued that the relationship between poverty and perpetration of sexual violence is mediated through forms of crisis of masculine identity. [Morrell R, ed. Changing men in Southern Africa. Pietermaritzburg, University of Natal Press, 2001.] Bourgois, writing about life in East Harlem, New York, United States [Jewkes R. Intimate partner violence: causes and prevention. Lancet, 2002, 359:1423–1429.] [Bourgois P. In search of masculinity: violence, respect and sexuality among Puerto Rican crackdealers in East Harlem. British Journal of Criminology, 1996, 36:412–427.] [Wood K, Jewkes R. ‘‘Dangerous’’ love: reflectionson violence among Xhosa township youth. In:Morrell R, ed. Changing men in Southern Africa. Pietermaritzburg, University of Natal Press, 2001.] [Silberschmidt M. Disempowerment of men in rural and urban East Africa: implications for male identity and sexual behavior. World Development, 2001, 29:657–671.]

Bourgois, writing about life in East Harlem, New York, United States, described how young men felt pressured by models of successful masculinity and family structure passed down from their parents and grandparents generations, together with modern day ideals of manhood that also place an emphasis on material consumption. Trapped in their slums,with little or no available employment, they are unlikely to attain either of these models or expectations of masculine success. In these circumstances, ideals of masculinity are reshaped to emphasize misogyny, substance abuse and participation in crime and often also xenophobia and racism. Gang rape and sexual conquest are normalized, as men turn their aggression against women they can no longer control patriarchally or support economically. [Bourgois P. In search of masculinity: violence, respect and sexuality among Puerto Rican crack dealers in East Harlem. British Journal of Criminology, 1996, 36:412–427.]

Physical and social environment

While fear of rape is typically associated with being outside the home [Madge C. Public parks and the geography of fear. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 1997, 88:237–250.] [Pain RH. Social geographies of women’s fear ofcrime. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 1997, 22:231– 244.] , the great majority of sexual violence actually occurs in the home of the victim or the abuser. Nonetheless, abduction by a stranger is quite often the prelude to a rape and theopportunities for such an abduction are influenced by the physical environment. The social environment within a community is, however, usually more important than the physical surrounding. How deeply entrenched in a community beliefs in male superiority and male entitlement to sex are will greatly affect the likelihood of sexual violence taking place, as will the general tolerance in the community of sexual assault and the strength of sanctions, if any, against perpetrators. [Rozee PD. Forbidden or forgiven? Rape in crosscultural perspective. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 1993, 17:499–514.] [Heise L, Moore K, Toubia N. Sexual coercion and women’s reproductive health: a focus on research. New York, NY, Population Council, 1995.] For instance, in some places, rape can even occur in public, with passersby refusing to intervene. [Jenkins C. Sexual behaviour in Papua New Guinea. In: Report of the Third Annual Meeting of the International Network on Violence Against Women, January 1998. Washington, DC, International Network on Violence Against Women, 1998.] Complaints of rape may also be treated leniently by the police, particularly if the assault is committed during a date or by the victim's husband. Where police investigations and court cases do proceed, the procedures may well be either extremely lax or else corrupt for instance, with legal papers being lost in return for a bribe.

ocietal factors

Factors operating at a societal level that influence sexual violence include laws and national policies relating to gender equality in general and to sexual violence more specifically, as well as norms relating to the use of violence. While the various factors operate largely at local level, within families, schools, workplaces and communities, there are also influences from the laws and norms working at national and even international level.

Laws and policies

There are considerable variations between countries in their approach to sexual violence. Some countries have far-reaching legislation and legal procedures, with a broad definition of rape that includes marital rape, and with heavy penalties for those convicted and a strong response in supporting victims. Commitment to preventing or controlling sexual violence is also reflected in an emphasis on police training and an appropriate allocation of police resources to the problem, in the priority given to investigating cases of sexual assault, and in the resources made available to support victims and provide medico-legal services.At the other end of the scale, there are countries with much weaker approaches to the issue where conviction of an alleged perpetrator on the evidence of the women alone is not allowed, where certain forms or settings of sexual violence are specificallyexcluded from the legal definition, and where rape victims are strongly deterred from bringing the matter to court through the fear of being punished for filing an unproven rape suit.

ocial norms

Sexual violence committed by men is to a large extent rooted in ideologies of male sexual entitlement. These belief systems grant women extremely few legitimate options to refuse sexual advances. [Wood K, Jewkes R. ‘‘Dangerous’’ love:reflections on violence among Xhosa township youth. In: Morrell R, ed. Changing men in Southern Africa. Pietermaritzburg, University of Natal Press, 2001.] [Ariffin RE. Shame, secrecy and silence: study of rape in Penang. Penang, Women’s Crisis Centre, 1997.] [Bennett L, Manderson L, Astbury J.Mapping a global pandemic: review of current literature on rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment of women. Melbourne, University of Melbourne, 2000.] Some men thus simply exclude the possibility that their sexual advances towards a woman might be rejected or that a woman has the right to make an autonomous decision about participating in sex. In some cultures women, as well as men, regard marriage as entailing the obligation on women to be sexually available virtually without limit [Jewkes R, Abrahams N. The epidemiology of rape and sexual coercion in South Africa: an overview. Social Science and Medicine (in press).] [Sen P. Ending the presumption of consent: nonconsensual sex in marriage. London, Centre for Health and Gender Equity, 1999] , though sex may be culturally proscribed at certain times, such as after childbirth or during menstruation. [Buckley T, Gottlieb A. Blood magic: the anthropology of menstruation. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 1998.]

Societal norms around the use of violence as a means to achieve objectives have been strongly associated with the prevalence of rape. In societies where the ideology of male superiority is strong, emphasizing dominance, physical strength and male honour, rape is more common. [Sanday P. The socio-cultural context of rape: a cross-cultural study. Journal of Social Issues, 1981, 37:5–27.] Countries with a culture of violence, or where violent conflict is taking place, experience an increase in almost all forms of violence, including sexual violence. [Sanday P. The socio-cultural context of rape: a cross-cultural study. Journal of Social Issues, 1981, 37:5–27.] [Smutt M, Miranda JLE. El Salvador: socializacio´n y violencia juvenil. [El Salvador: socialization and juvenile violence.] In: Ramos CG, ed. America Central en los noventa: problemas de juventud. [Central America in the 90s: youth problems.] San Salvador, Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, 1998:151–187.]

Global trends and economic factors

Many of the factors operating at a national level have an international dimension. Global trends, for instance towards free trade, have been accompanied by an increase in the movement around the world of women and girls for labour, including for sex work. [Watts C, Zimmerman C. Violence against women: global scope and magnitude. Lancet , 2002, 359:1232–1237.] Economic structural adjustment programmes, drawn up by international agencies, have accentuated poverty and unemployment in a number of countries, thereby increasing the likelihood of sexual trafficking and sexual violence. [Antrobus P. Reversing the impact of structural adjustment on women’s health. In: Antrobus P et al., eds. We speak for ourselves: population and development. Washington, DC, Panos Institute, 1994:6–8.] something particularly noted in Central America, the Caribbean [Faune MA. Centroamerica: los costos de la guerra y la paz. [Central America: the costs of war and of peace.] Perspectivas, 1997, 8:14–15.] and parts of Africa [Omorodion FI, Olusanya O. The social context of reported rape in Benin City, Nigeria. African Journal of Reproductive Health, 1998, 2:37–43.] .

References

External links