Underlying Dynamics Leading to Rape

Forcible rapes continue to occur at a rate of 1.3 per minute (Olsen-Rando, 1993). In this regard, approximately 120,000 women are raped in America every year with most victims knowing the rapist. The importance of understanding the underlying dynamics leading to sexually aggressive behavior cannot be overestimated.

What cannot be denied is the fact that rape is a distinctly male phenomena. However, the question can be asked as to what factors predispose a male to commit rape; are these determinants biogenetic or psychosocial? The purpose of this report is to examine the literature on predisposing factors to the commission of rape in an effort to examine the phenomenon in terms of the nature/nurture framework. The review begins with a brief description of the nature of rape.

Sue, Sue and Sue (1994) has noted that rape is not linked to a specific type of mental disorder in the DSM-IV because so many different motivations have been found to be associated with the condition. However, the authors report that there are essentially three kinds of rapes. These are:

(1) Power. Rapes of this type (about 55 percent of those studied) are committed primarily as an attempt to compensate for feelings of personal or sexual inadequacy through intimidation of the victims.

(2) Anger. Rapes in this category (about 40 percent of those studied) are committed because the male feels angry at women in general. The female is just a convenient target.

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eterminants of rape, there is also research supportive of contribution to the phenomena by psychosocial (socialization) factors. For example, the purpose of a study conducted by Olsen-Rando (1993) was to further delineate a possible contributory factor in the predisposition for rape. Specifically, this study examined the relationship between the perceived quality of father-child relationship and those underlying motivational and attitudinal factors associated with men who perpetrate sexual aggression towards women. Methods involved administering a series of instruments to a sample of 264 male college students. These instruments measured underlying power motivations, sex-role stereotyping beliefs, attitudes of hostility toward women, relationship with father, relationship with mother, and sexually aggressive behavior. A hierarchical regression analysis was performed to examine the relationship between parent-child relationship and sexually aggressive attitudes and behavior. The findings of the study were said to reveal that, (consistent with previously reported psychosocial literature on rape), one measure of relationship with father accounted for a significant amount of variance in hostility toward women. Relationship with

Category: Psychology - U