What is meant by sexual coercing? - Chapter 15

In this chapter sexual coercing is discussed. Rape, child sexual abuse and sexual harassment are studied.

What is rape?

The definition of rape is the non-consensual vaginal, oral or anal penetration obtained by force. The most important point is that the victim did not consent to it. The impact is high, psychological distress such as depression, suicide ideation and attempt, anxiety and posttraumatic stress are often reported after rape. The long-term psychological distress suffered by someone who experiences an uncontrollable and terrifying event is called posttraumatic stress disorder. Symptoms are depression, nightmares, lack of feeling safe and depression. People with PTSD form a schema with information about the traumatic event and their responses. This schema is involved in triggering cues and feelings of terror after the event took place. There are several factors that are associated with the severity of psychological outcomes:

1. The number of experienced violent traumatic experiences.
2. The severity of the experienced violence.
3. The responses of persons that the violence is disclosed to.

Self-blame is experienced sometimes by women after they were being raped. This is linked to worsen the psychological outcomes. Besides psychological, there are also physiological effects of rape. People can experience bleedings, get pregnant or get a sexually transmitted disease. Posttraumatic growth is the positive life change after trauma.

Most rape is conducted by people in the inner circle of the victim. Date rape is the most common, especially on college campuses. It can be the result of miscommunication where a man misperceives the intentions of a woman. A big problem today is the existence of Rohypnol, a date-rape drug that causes drowsiness or sleep. Marital rape or intimate partner rape is also quite common, and the consequences are no less severe. Motives include power, domination, sadism, anger and sexual desire.

What are causes of rape?

There are several views of the theoretical causes of rape:

1. Victim-precipitated rape is a view stating the woman is responsible for rape, it resembles the tendency to blame the victim.
2. The psychopathology of rapists’ states that rape is always committed by someone who is psychologically disturbed. His deviance is responsible for the crime.
3. Feminist theories say that rapists are the result of the gender-roles in our culture. Sex is used by a man to demonstrate power. Feminists also argue that the erotisation of violence is a cause of rape.
4. Social disorganization means that in a disorganized society the rape (and crime) rates increase. The community is unable to prevent crimes by enforcing strict norms.

Sexual scripts also play a significant role in rape. Sex is learned trough society and people might get the idea that a man should be oversexed and aggressive. Another influence is early life, people who were sexually abused at a young age are more likely to become rapists themselves. Peer influence is another cause, one example is fraternity gang rapes where fraternity members are encouraged to take part in rape. The situation can trigger rape, for example with large amounts of alcohol or drugs. Lastly, power motives are an important consideration. Men might want to express their power through rape. This could be due to the attitudes of masculinity in men.

What is the role of alcohol in rape?

Alcohol plays a significant role in the motive for rape. Intoxicated men are more likely to commit a crime of sexual assault then men who are not. The correlation between alcohol and rape is unclear. Does someone drink to create a motive for sexual assault or is the disappearance of boundaries after drinking alcohol the trigger? There are two types of effect of alcohol:

1. Pharmalogical effects are the bodily effects of alcohol and include impairment of higher cognitive functions. This can a predisposed man to rape set him to commit the actual crime.
2. Psychological effects are the glamorous effects that are assigned to drinking alcohol. It is widely believed that alcohol enhances a man’s sex performance which creates expectancy effects.

In one study they researched the effects of alcohol consumption on the justification of sex. Men that were intoxicated showed a higher willingness to force sex than men that were sober (Abbey et al., 2009). The effects of alcohol on victims are the same. It causes a woman to miss cues about a dangerous situation or be less effective in their defence.

What is the profile of a typical rapist?

There is no typical rapist. They vary on all characteristics. One thing there is consensus about is that they often repeat their offences. In comparison with normal men, rapist tend to have the following characteristics:

1. They hold implicit theories supporting rape and believe women are sexual objects. They believe a man should have superiority and control.
2. Rapists often have poor self-regulation and inhibition.
3. They have a lack of empathy. They do not understand the victim can suffer.
4. They have been exposed to an environmental trigger such as being in a war.
5. They are often victims of sexual abuse themselves.

Who are other victims of rape?

Women are almost exclusively victims of rape, however there is a small percentage of men being raped. The perpetrators of these male rapes are predominantly black men (Black et al., 2011). Men suffer the same consequences of rape as women do. It is important to recognise the possibility of male rape victims. Prison rape happens among males. These men are coerced in having repetitive anal sex with other inmates. It is a new example of the coercion of power and dominance among men. Cultural context also influences rape. Ethnicity plays an important role in the reporting of rape, for example the report statistics among African American women is very low due to their violent history. They do not believe they are credible victims.

How can rape be prevented?

There are three categories of strategies to prevent rape, the first is avoiding the situation, second is knowing self-defence techniques and third is changing attitudes that contribute to rape. The strategies proposed by the Association of American colleges are the following:

1. Set sexual limits
2. Decide early if you want to have intercourse
3. Do not give mixed messages
4. Be forceful and firm
5. Do not do anything you do not want to do to avoid unpleasantness
6. Be aware that drugs and alcohol are related to rape
7. Try to avoid rape situations or use self-defence

Self-defence classes are organised to teach necessary skills to thwart a rape. However, it is better to prevent rape in an earlier stage. There is a variety of rape-prevention programs available to help people.

1. Awareness based programs to create awareness on the prevalence of rape.
2. Empathy based programs to seek support for the victims.
3. Social norms-based programs can make people question existing gender-roles.
4. Skills based programs teach people the skills to avoid being a victim of sexual violence.
5. Bystander intervention programs encourage bystanders to intervene when they see it happening.

What is child sexual abuse?

Many cases of child abuse are not reported, the perpetrators are mostly men, about ninety-four percent. Factors that account for the imbalance are male socialization towards sexuality and existing sexual scripts where the partner is often smaller. A new form of sexual abuse is sexual solicitation on the internet, where a perpetrator meets his victim online, gives confidence and then sets a meeting. Incest covers a large percentage of child sexual abuse. Not only parents or adult family are causes, but also sibling incest occurs. The effects of child sexual abuse are considerable. The child may be traumatized and testifying repeatedly after reporting the crime is association with even worse outcomes. CSA affects both mental and physical health and can cause anxiety, depression, eating disorders, alcohol and drug dependence and negative feelings about sex.

What are offenders of child sexual abuse?

Pedophilia is the sexual activity with a child that is prepubescent, generally age thirteen or below. To get diagnosed with pedophilia the person must have intense fantasies, urges and behaviours over a period for at least six months. There are people that have pedophilic urges, but never act on them. Child molesters often score low on measures of social competence and lack the interpersonal skills to function in relationships. Researchers measured the associations of pedophiles and found that they have an association between children and sex whereas normal people have the association between adults and sex. There are a few treatments available including chemical castration, SSRIs, androgen drugs and cognitive-behavioural therapy. This form of therapy is trying to learn pedophiles to control their sexual urges, attitudes and beliefs towards children. Some experts question if there are successful treatments for pedophiles.

What is sexual harassment?

Sexual harassment is the unwelcome request for a sexual favour, sexual advance or any other conduct of sexual nature. The submission to this request is a condition for the person’s further employment or academic advancement. The decision to not comply can have serious repercussions for the person’s work or academic life. This is made clear by the harassing person. It may occur at work, education, but also in medical settings.

• Sexual harassment at work is more common than people realise. Between twenty-five and fifty people are being harassed in the workplace. This is reported by both males and females. There are four types of harassment, first is earnest harassment where the man is truly motivated for sex, but does not take no for an answer. The second is hostile harassment where the motive is domination, third is paternalistic-ambivalent harassment where the man wants sexual intimacy, but at the same time feels like a father figure for the woman. Finally, there is competitive ambivalent harassment where the hostile desire of a man is mixed with the real sexual attraction.
• Sexual harassment in education is also quite common. Results can be dropping out courses, changing majors and dropping out of higher education in general. The psychological consequences of harassment by a teacher are more severe than by a peer.
• Doctor patient sex is another category of dangerous sexual encounter. The client can be seriously damaged because there is a situation of unequal power that applies. Especially in psychotherapy sexual harassment has extremely serious consequences. This is because the client expressed emotions and is very vulnerable.