David Lisak

David Lisak is an American clinical psychologist. He received his PhD from Duke University, and currently teaches at the University of Massachusetts Boston.^[1] Lisak's research focuses on "the causes and consequences of interpersonal violence...motives and behaviors of rapists and murderers, the impact of childhood abuse on adult men, and relationship between child abuse and later violence."^[2]

According to Lisak's research on rapists, "date rape" or acquaintance rape does not, as is commonly thought, result from misunderstanding or failure for the parties to communicate, nor is it a one-time mistake. Over a period of 20 years, Lisak surveyed 2,000 male college students, asking them questions like "Have you ever had sexual intercourse with someone, even though they did not want to, because they were too intoxicated [on alcohol or drugs] to resist your sexual advances?" and "Have you ever had sexual intercourse with an adult when they didn't want to because you used physical force [twisting their arm, holding them down, etc.] if they didn't cooperate?"^[3] Although the situations described are legally rape, Lisak found that the men were not reluctant to talk about them, seeing them as sexual conquests to brag about, and did not think of themselves as rapists; according to Lisak, such men are narcissistic and "like nothing better" than to talk about their "sexual exploits."^[4]

Approximately 1 in 16 men, using Lisak's survey, reported that they had committed rape. Lisak found that, like imprisoned rapists, these "undetected" rapists were often repeat offenders, with serial rapists accounting for 90% of campus rapes.^[3] On average, each of these men committed approximately 6 rapes.^[5][6] Lisak also says that rapists target vulnerable victims, such as female freshmen who have less experience with drinking and are more likely to take risks, or people who are already intoxicated; they use alcohol as a weapon,^[3][4] as it makes the victim more vulnerable at the time but also impairs their credibility with the justice system should they choose to report the rape.^[7]

Lisak has also criticized the justice system's approach to rape: "Somehow all we can do is take the statement from the victim. Take the statement from the alleged perpetrator and then throw up our hands because they are saying conflicting things...That's not how we investigate other crimes." If, Lisak says, police discount the report of a victim who was intoxicated or otherwise vulnerable, they are "giving a free pass to sexual predators."^[4]

Lisak was the founding editor of Psychology of Men and Masculinity, an American Psychological Association journal.^[2] He is a founding and current board member of 1in6, Inc., a non-profit organization with the mission of helping men who have had unwanted or abusive sexual experiences in childhood live healthier, happier lives.^[8] He has also been on the faculty of the National Judicial Education Program and American Prosecutors Research Institute, served as a consultant for the U.S. military, universities, and judicial and law enforcement agencies, and appeared as an expert witness.^[9]

Selected publications

• Lisak, David; Roth, Susan (November 1988). "Motivational factors in nonincarcerated sexually aggressive men". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 55 (5): 795–802. 
• Lisak, David; Roth, Susan (April 1990). "Motives and psychodynamics of self-reported, unincarcerated rapists". American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 60 (2): 268–280. 
• Lisak, David (Winter 1991). "Sexual Aggression, Masculinity, and Fathers". Signs 16 (2): 238–262. http://books.google.com/books?id=VYj_woVgA3EC&pg=PA145. 
• Lisak, David (September 1994). "Subjective Assessment of Relationships With Parents by Sexually Aggressive and Nonaggressive Men". Journal of Interpersonal Violence 9 (3): 399–411. 
• Lisak, David (October 1994). "The psychological impact of sexual abuse: content analysis of interviews with male survivors". Journal of Traumatic Stress 7 (4): 525–548. http://www.jimhopper.com/pdfs/Lisak_%281994%29_Male_Survivor_Interviews.pdf. 
• Lisak, David; Luster, Laura (October 1994). "Educational, occupational, and relationship histories of men who were sexually and/or physically abused as children". Journal of Traumatic Stress 7 (4): 507–523. 
• Lisak, David (1995). "Integrating a critique of gender in the treatment of male survivors of childhood abuse". Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training 32 (2): 258–269. 
• Lisak, David; Ivan, Carol (September 1995). "Deficits in Intimacy and Empathy in Sexually Aggressive Men". Journal of Interpersonal Violence 10 (3): 296–308. 
• Lisak, David; Hopper, Jim; Song, Pat (October 1996). "Factors in the cycle of violence: Gender rigidity and emotional constriction". Journal of Traumatic Stress 9 (4): 721–743. http://www.jimhopper.com/pdfs/Lisak_Hopper_Song_%281996%29_Factors_in_cycle_of_violence.pdf. 
• Lisak, David; Miller, Paul M. (February 2002). "Repeat rape and multiple offending among undetected rapists". Violence and Victims 17 (1): 73–84. http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/cache/documents/1348/134851.pdf. 
• Lisak, David; Miller, Paul M. (2003). "Childhood trauma, posttraumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, and violence". In Ouimette, Paige; Brown, Pamela J.. Trauma and substance abuse: causes, consequences, and treatment of comorbid disorders. American Psychological Association. pp. 73–87. 
• Lisak, David; Beszterczey, Sara (April 2007). "The Cycle of Violence: The Life Histories of 43 Death Row Inmates". Psychology of Men and Masculinity 8 (2): 118–128. 
• Lisak, David; Gardinier, Lori; Nicksa, Sarah C.; Cote, Ashley M. (December 2010). "False allegations of sexual assualt: an analysis of ten years of reported cases". Violence Against Women 16 (12): 1318–1334. 

References

1. ^ "Clinical Psychology — Faculty". University of Massachusetts Boston. http://www.umb.edu/admissions/clinpsych/faculty.html. Retrieved 2010-12-25. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "David Lisak". University of Massachusetts Boston. http://www.umb.edu/academics/cla/dept/psychology/faculty/lisak.html. Retrieved 2010-12-25. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Shapiro, Joseph (March 4, 2010). "Myths That Make It Hard To Stop Campus Rape". NPR. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124272157. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} "Non-Stranger Rapes". CBS Evening News (CBS). November 9, 2009. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5592427n. 
5. ^ Lauerman, Connie (September 15, 2004). "Easy targets". Chicago Tribune. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2004-09-15/features/0409140334_1_sexual-assaults-orientation-acquaintance/3. 
6. ^ Lisak, David; Miller, Paul M. (February 2002). "Repeat rape and multiple offending among undetected rapists". Violence and Victims 17 (1): 73–84. http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/cache/documents/1348/134851.pdf. 
7. ^ Chan, Sewell (October 15, 2007). "‘Gray Rape’: A New Form of Date Rape?". The New York Times. http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/gray-rape-a-new-form-of-date-rape/. 
8. ^ "Board of Directors". 1in6, Inc. http://1in6.org/about-1in6/board-of-directors. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
9. ^ "David Lisak". SART Conference. http://www.sartconference.com/Articles/DavidLisak_files/DavidLisak.pdf. Retrieved 2011-01-10. 

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