Forced Sexual Intercourse in Intimate Relationships

Ida M. Johnson, Robert T. Sigler

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781138314481
• eBook ISBN: 9780429853159
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Law Theory & Practice
• Index: Law

Published in 1997. Literature is reviewed relating to those behaviours which have traditionally been referenced as date rape, acquaintance rape, or rape by a friend or someone known to the victim. Forced sexual intercourse in intimate relationships is placed in both an historical context and a conceptual context. Limited published and unpublished data from the authors research are included in appropriate chapters. The theory chapter ends with the presentation of a rudimentary model for examining forced sexual intercourse in intimate relationships developed by the authors. The topics of domestic violence, courtship violence and forced sexual intercourse are highly controversial and tend to be dominated by those who are promoting specific political agendas. Much of the work in this field has been written from the 'feminist' perspective with recent works appearing which oppose the feminist perspective. This work is neither 'feminist' nor anti-feminist in its approach. It is analytical and, as much as possible in a politized environment, analytical and neutral.

1 Introduction

Forced sexual intercourse has gained steadily in importance as the status of women in our society has increased, The confusion and lack of clarity in definition, including the inability to establish a clear set of types or clear boundaries around the phenomenon, is extensive and political. The rhetoric, intensity, and lack of specificity and accuracy in research and stated positions work to the disadvantage of the women who are the victims in most of the incidents in which forced sexual intercourse is alleged and in many of the incidents in which force is used to gain sexual intercourse but is not labeled as inappropriate or unacceptable.

Two political positions tend to exert considerable influence on the character and direction of research design and model development. The first is identified as the feminist movement, which is, to some extent, driven by a victim orientation and which is, at times, a label which is externally imposed rather than a matter of self-identification adopted by researchers. Victim-oriented research is often driven by a need to enhance the victim status of one or more of the participants in the social interactions which produce the victimizations. One result is the exaggeration of the victimization by emphasizing extreme cases, characterizing extreme cases as common, and extending the definition of the offense behavior to increase the apparent incidence and prevalence of the victimization. Goals include the social redefinition of the offense behavior as unacceptable in all of its forms, the development of extended services for victims, and criminalization of the behavior or an increase in the enforcement of the law, if the behavior is prohibited by law.

The second and more recent movement is identified as sexist, a label which also usually is imposed by others and not accepted by the researchers who question the interpretations of research that is identified as feminist. Much of the focus of this line of research and dialogue is reactive rather than proactive and focuses on the prevalence and incidence figures advanced. There is an assertion or an implication that the rates of victimization are exaggerated, and attempts to increase the level of control of dating and courtship and courtship behavior are excessive, setting standards for the behavior of men and women which are not realistic.

It is unfortunate that the separation between political agendas and research agendas, which is central to the conduct of objective research, appears to be weak in this area and appears to have produced an adversarial environment. It is noteworthy that in this environment a wide range of well-designed and executed research projects have focused on the various dimensions of forced sexual intercourse.

One area of research, which is extensive, measures community attitudes and examines the relationships among various attitudinal constructs, particularly those attitudes which influence the labeling of forced sexual intercourse as rape, as justified, or as mitigated by a range of contextual factors. Factors which have been found to affect the labeling of forced sexual intercourse include degree of association, orientation toward women, gender role stereotyping, social context, victim characteristics, victim acceptance of responsibility, unclear expectations for dating and consensual sexual exchanges, acceptance of rape myths, and definitions of appropriate masculine behavior.

Very few data have been gathered which focus on the offender and factors which influence his behavior. Available research focuses on the more extreme offenders-stranger rapists, violent rapists, and mentally ill rapists with samples drawn from institutional populations or justice system records. Research focusing on less extreme offenders is limited by at least two factors: (1) the population of less extreme offenders is invisible. Most are not publicly accused or identified by their victims, many of whom do not define themselves as victims. (2) There are also indications in the literature that many of these men do not label their behavior as rape or perceive their behavior in this context as inappropriate. That is, they define their use of force in intimate relationships as normal and acceptable, thus they do not define themselves as offenders when responding to research questions posed in the best articulated of research projects.

Similar problems are revealed in the literature which focuses on victims. Much of the research focusing on the victims of forced sexual intercourse is based on samples drawn from clinical populations. As such, the focus is on those women who have been severely traumatized by their victimizations. Since the degree of trauma does not appear to be determined or limited by the type of forced sexual intercourse, client groups include those who have been victims of date and acquaintance rape but exclude those women who have managed to cope with their victimization. As is the case with offenders, many women do not define their experience as rape or as criminal. They accept responsibility for their victimization or define the behavior as within acceptable parameters. Some of these women do not identify themselves as victims when completing questionnaires, and, when they acknowledge that they have experienced force in intimate relationships, they do not respond as victims to items measuring a range of variables related to the events and their aftermath.

As a result of inconsistency in the definition(s) of forced sexual intercourse and the tendency for offenders and victims to define their experiences within the boundaries of appropriate behavior, the population of users and receivers of the use of force to gain sexual access has not been accurately defined. Estimates of the prevalence of forced sexual intercourse range from less than 10 percent to more than 60 percent of the adult female population. The most influential factor in explaining this variation appears to be the manner of operationalization of the definition of forced sexual intercourse, with relatively little variance by geographical location or composition of the target population. One persistent finding is that most victimization occurs before the age of 19. High school girls appear to be much more vulnerable than adult women, possibly because adult women have learned how to cope effectively with men who aggressively pursue sexual access.

The development of theory has tended to follow the pattern observed in the study of victims and offenders. Much more is written about the pathological stranger rapists and the severely traumatized victim than about relatively normal men and women involved in normal behavior which produces or progresses to unwanted and offensive behavior. More recent work has focused on the development of typologies, some of which attempt to address the social distance factor but direct little attention to the patterns of labeling in use by the actors.

In the final chapter, a preliminary model is presented which can be used as a basis for further research. A simple three-category typology for forced sexual intercourse is offered, with the suggestion that each of the three types should be treated as different behaviors rather than as different degrees of a single behavior. The three types are: (1) stranger rape in which the victim has little or no prior contact with the offender and cooperates only to the extent required by the degree of force applied or through fear of the consequences of non-compliance; (2) predatory rape in which a man, who intends or plans to rape his victim using any degree of deception or force required, entraps his victim by pretending to engage in legitimate dating behavior; and (3) date rape in which the man enters into legitimate dating behavior which, for a range of reasons, evolves into an exchange in which force is used to gain sexual access from an unwilling woman.

The model advanced is limited to the third type-date rape. Factors which are considered are the perception of man's intent, the woman's anticipation of sexual activity, the clarity of expectations, the man's labeling of the exchange, and the woman's labeling of the exchange. The model assumes: (1) dating is a normal process, (2) men persistently pursue sexual access, (3) women are held responsible for determining the rate at which a relationship proceeds and have personal standards regarding the speed at which the relationship will develop, and (4) that the expectations which women hold are not made explicit in most relationships.

If accurate knowledge and effective models addressing forced sexual intercourse are to be developed, some agreement must be reached as to the definitions which are to be used. Until this area develops sufficiently to permit some degree of consensus as to the parameters and classification of the phenomena, care must be exercised to state clearly the operational definitions and assumptions when the results of research are reported. As preliminary models are developed and tested, accurate explanations of the factors that contribute to the use of force in intimate relationships will emerge; these will provide activists with the knowledge needed to develop effective strategies to address the needs which they have identified.

2 Historical, Social, Cultural, and Legal Organization of Rape

Introduction

Forced sexual intercourse is as old as history itself. However, it has not always been viewed as a personal crime against the victim. Early in history, rape was an acceptable method of securing a wife. The institution of marriage was clearly supported by patriarchal attitudes that defined the male as the authoritarian figure who had the responsibility for controlling and dominating the woman. Prior to marriage, the woman was perceived to be the property of her father or male guardian; this ownership was transferred to the husband when the woman married. The woman's role in society was defined in terms of her ability to function in a subservient position and to procreate. This perception of the woman facilitated the historical perception of rape as a property crime instead of as personal violence.

Historically, rape, other than stranger rape, has been a concept lacking clarity and has been evaluated independently more than by an objective standard, In early Europe, rape was a general category which included some non-forced illicit sex. Types of illicit sex were not distinguished clearly, as the interest to be protected was the interest of the husband or father. In the United States, while all forced intercourse was subsumed under the category of rape, only stranger rape was controlled legally until recently. The legal issue today is still what types of forced sexual intercourse are actionable. As forced sexual intercourse in intimate relationships has moved conceptually toward separation from stranger rape, the need to know more about the use of force in intimate relationships has increased. An examination of this evolutionary process will allow the reader to consider many of today's confusing positions in historical perspective.

Women’s Roles in Society

The word rape is derived from the Latin word rapere which means to steal, seize, or carry away (Warner, 1980). In early history, forcible rape represented an acceptable way for a man to secure a wife. The consequence of rape was forced marriage whereby a man took possession of a woman, raped her, and then brought her into the tribe as his wife. In ancient German society, the practice of bride purchase was common Males took possession of women who later became their wives. In this particular society, a marriageable girl was put up for bid by her father or male guardian and she went to the highest bidder. This system supported the inferior status of women as property of their fathers or male guardians. Again, rape was not viewed as a crime against the woman but as an act of theft or seizure of property from the victim's father. In the Germanic society, one form of punishment for rape was the wergeld system. The guilty assailant had to pay compensation to the victim's father in the amount of the bride price of the stolen or violated woman. Thus, the institution of marriage, in some areas, appears to have been institutionalized by the abduction and forcible rape of women as well as the auction of marriageable women to the highest bidder (Brownmiller, 1975).

Stranger rape persistently has been a universally proscribed act. This proscription has not always been keyed to the rights or needs of female victims. Throughout history, women have been perceived to be inferior to men and have been assigned roles of lesser status than those of their male counterparts. As early as the fifth century B.C. in Athens, a freeborn woman of the upper class was free in name but not in status and role. Such a woman was forced to spend her entire life physically confined to a separate part of the house (Dover, 1984). In spite of her upper class status, she could not vote, make contracts, or transact any business-related activities. She was allowed only to perform and participate in feminine activities which, in many cases, included hard work (e.g., weaving, dyeing clothes, spinning, cooking, and raising children). The view of women and their position in society as subordinate in relation to their male counterparts has been perpetuated through the patriarchal system (Dobash & Dobash, 1979; Brownmiller, 1975). This societal view of women has influenced greatly the development of our rape laws.

Traditional attitudes toward the crime of rape and the status of women also were dominant in America during the colonial period. During the colonial period, rape was seen as an expression of male power and domination, which was regulated by the courts and the community to maintain power and domination over women rather than to protect women from being violated. The woman was regarded not as a person in her own right, but as a sexual type, an inferior being (Koehler, 1980). Her primary roles in society were to become wife and mother. For the woman, sexuality was important in marriage not for sexual gratification, but for the procreation of legitimate offspring (Donat & D'Emilo, 1992). Thus, the church, courts, and community closely monitored the sexual behavior of women to ensure female chastity, fidelity, and the legitimacy of the husband's children.

During the colonial period, the value of a woman in society depended on her ability to marry and to procreate legitimate heirs. The woman's purity increased her chances of marrying. Women who were violated by an act of rape could not marry into a respectable family and, consequently, became an economic burden to their fathers for the rest of their lives.

Social class and marital status were important determinants of whether or not a rape case came before the courts. Rape cases in which the assailant's social class was lower than that of his victim, or those in which the victim was married and physically resisted the attack, were the ones most likely to come before the court. It also was necessary to show that the victim did not consent to the act of rape, meaning that she did not voluntarily engage in a sexual act with a man other than her husband. If she could not prove her resistance, she might be punished for the rape (Donat & D'Emilo, 1992).

During the first decades of the nineteenth century, the meaning of "sexuality" evolved from the need to procreate through the addition of courtship. At the same time, community controls on the woman began to relax, and the woman was allowed to make some choices, which included her decision to work outside the home. The woman no longer was restricted to the roles of mother and wife; she was allowed to enter the paid work force and earn wages. However, risks and vulnerability also came with this profound freedom. Prior to the nineteenth century, a woman could bargain with sexual favors (premarital intercourse) in exchange for a man's commitment to marry. If the woman became pregnant prior to marriage, it was assumed that the pregnancy would lead to marriage since the man already had committed himself to marriage by engaging in premarital intercourse. In spite of the existence of premarital sex, women still were expected to be pure and disinterested in sexual relations. Women who were not pure and who engaged in sexual intercourse (even against their will) were perceived to weaken the moral fabric of society (Freeman, 1981). They were perceived to be women who had fallen from grace; thus all blame for the crime of rape was heaped upon them.

The perception of women as being the property of their husbands or fathers is reflected in the early definitions of the crime of rape, which viewed rape not as an offense against the woman but as a crime against her husband or father (Brownmiller, 1975). Since the female was perceived as property of her husband or father (depending upon her marital status), monetary compensation was paid to the husband or father for damage to his property. This form of punishment failed to distinguish the female victim's rights from those of the husband or father, creating confusion in the early definition of rape.

Additionally, during the twentieth century, the focus of sexuality turned to the factors and contexts which influenced the prevalence of sexual behavior. The emphasis on theoretical explanations of sexual aggression focused primarily on understanding the plight of the male while ignoring the plight of the female (Donat & D'Emilo, 1992). Accordingly, the female's victimization was seen as a by-product of the male's pathology. The label of "sexual pathology", used to describe the violent male sex offender who could not control his sexual impulses, led to the reconceptualization of rape as an act of violence instead of an act of sex. During this period, the focus was on stranger rape. Forced sex in an intimate relationship was not considered to be rape or of public interest. Thus, the models of rape and rapists were limited to explanations for incidents in which strangers raped helpless women.

The perception of the rapist as being a violent mentally ill person facilitated the development of "sexual psychopath laws" which permitted rapists to be committed to state mental hospitals instead of jail. Sexual psychopath laws, which were designed to protect women, eventually divided the penalty for rape along racial lines, with white male rapists being labeled as mentally ill and sent to state hospitals and Black male rapists being labeled as violent and sent to jail (Freeman, 1981).

Historical analyses of rape have not always taken into consideration the historical factors ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Historical, Social, Cultural, and Legal Organization of Rape
• 3 Prevalence and Incidence
• 4 Characteristics of Victims, Offenders, and the Context of Date Rape
• 5 Public Perceptions of Sexual Intercourse
• 6 Theories and Models Addressing Forced Sexual Intercourse
• 7 Understanding and Addressing
• Bibliography
• Author Index
• Subject Index