Understanding perpetrators and victims of rape

475,Correspondent,, | Tuesday May 12, 2015 00:00

What is rape?

Rape is commonly understood to describe a situation where one person uses force to sexually assault another person. What this means is that the victim did not have any consent regarding the sexual activity and that the perpetrator had physical power over the victim. In places such as New Mexico, the concept of rape has been expanded to include those situations in which the position of authority can be used to exploit a person sexually (Groth, N, 2001). The implication here is that an authoritative figure like an educator, for instance, could still be convicted of rape, even if the “victim” was of the legal age of consent and no physical force was used. The concept of rape, therefore, slightly varies between countries.

 

Profiling a rapist?

If there were any clearly defined physical and behavioural symptoms of a rapist, most of them would be in prison. Rapists, just like other criminals, have their own level of sophistication which varies from one individual to the other. They are aware that what they are doing is a criminal offence so they try to look and behave as normally as possible when they are in a crowd. Some of them can in fact be quite charming to lure their prey to fall for them. Mostly, reported cases of rape in this country reflect men as perpetrators.

Groth, N (2001) has outlined the following as some of the reasons people rape:

 

Anger

Contrary to the popular myth that rapists are lusty males who are victims of seductive women, anger from past experiences is one of the reasons people rape. Perpetrators use anger rape to vent out their anger, unfortunately on their innocent victims. This anger could emanate from frustration from a previous intimate relationship to dysfunctional family experiences.

There are situations where a rapist’s behaviour could be traced to the time when he got frustrated after being dumped by somebody he cared for dearly and irrationally concluded that women do not deserve to be treated gently. Previously I watched a documentary where a man chose to become a rapist and a murderer to women whose style of dress resembled that of his late mother, whom he hated for bringing multiple men to the room he shared with her during his early childhood. He perceived each rape and murder he carried out as a way of getting back at his late mother repeatedly.

 

Power

Power rape, like its name suggests is mainly carried out to “protect” or prove the power the perpetrator has over the victim. In our communities, some of the power rape occurs in marriages when one partner feels that the other partner has no right to say no to sex because the two are married. The perpetrator might feel that by saying no to sex, the victim is trying to undermine them.

In most marital rapes, the victim would be totally financially dependent on the perpetrator, hence is expected to keep up with all the perpetrator’s sexual demands because that is the only contribution the perpetrator sees in the victim. This is not to suggest that all women who are totally financially dependent on their partners are experiencing marital rape. It is however, important to encourage young women and men to avoid being totally financially dependent on their partners because this dependency can make them prone to unreported marital rape.

 

Sadistic rape

Sadistic rapists find extreme pleasure and satisfaction from hurting others through rape. They seem to find “adventure” in raping others. Such rapists are said to have a Sadistic Personality Disorder. This disorder is classified under Diagnostic and Statistical Mental Disorders IV. Sadistic rapists usually go beyond the act of raping, they make sure they torture their victims in intense ways by beating, raping and mostly followed by murder. They pay attention to the pain the victim goes through and it gives them a deep sense of satisfaction when they see another person go through pain. Their hunger to see pain is addictive and they never get enough of causing pain to others. Research has shown that sadists are trying to fill in some complex psychological needs and that they usually leave clues after performing their cruel acts.

 

What can be done to avoid being raped?

Most rapes occur in isolated places. It is therefore advisable to avoid walking alone in isolated places, unless you are well armed with resources such as some vicious dogs. Walking in groups is also helpful. Some victims get raped at night from drinking places, so caution must be taken to avoid such incidents.

Victims of rape can be helped using different psychotherapies and perpetrators of rape are punishable by law. Rapists can also be rehabilitated through various psychotherapies, some of which are effective but controversial.

 VICTORIA SEIKETSO SETHIBE