Toward the Elimination of Rape - A Conceptualization of Sexual Aggression Against Women (From Prevention and Control of Aggression, P 101-144, 1983, Arnold P Goldstein and Leonard Krasner, eds. - See NCJ-104683)

• NCJ Number: 104688
• Author(s): P J Morokoff
• Date Published: 1983
• Length: 44 pages
• Sale Source: Pergamon Press, Inc
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper explores diverse perspectives on the meaning of rape as well as several theories used to explain it, and then suggests prevention approaches that include public education and research into societal attitudes toward family violence.

Abstract

Rape is examined from a legal definitional perspective, as seen and experienced by both victim and offender, as a social statistic, and in terms of attitudes of the general population. This discussion concludes that the total institutional response to the rape victim is completely consistent with the prevalent misconceptions about rape, notably that women provoke rape. The paper refutes popular myths about rape by reviewing theoretical explanations of rape, relevant cross-cultural research, and laboratory studies of sexual arousal and aggression. The author argues that rape is one end of a socially condoned continuum of sexual aggression against women. She suggests three prevention strategies: public education about rape to change misconceptions, evaluation of societal mechanisms such as television by which aggression toward women is taught, and increased social and political power for women. Approximately 100 references.