Rape and Sexual Assault

Incidents involving sexual violence are not limited solely to male perpetrators and female victims; however it remains that women are highly over-represented as victims, and men are highly over-represented as offenders of these crimes. Subsequently, the possibility of sexual assault or rape is a very real fear for many women and in a multitude of ways may significantly restrict their freedom of movement and manner of living.

Many females are socialised to various personal safety ‘rules’ from an early age including, ‘don’t walk alone at night’, ‘don’t hitchhike’, ‘don’t dress provocatively’, etc. These rules often perpetuate the many myths of rape, particularly that of the unpredictable stranger as the offender. They do not take into account the true nature of sexual violence, including the fact that approximately 80% is committed by a known person and that the majority of incidents occur in a residential dwelling. While perhaps well meaning, these rules may act insidiously to impute blame on a female victim who may be assaulted whilst ‘breaking’ one of these rules.

To counter the damaging effect of ‘rules’, practical strategies must be provided to not only address the actual incidence of rape and sexual assault, but to build confidence and self esteem, enabling individuals to deal assertively, and if needed aggressively, with the offender.

This section will address the following aspects of rape and sexual assault:

What is Rape and Sexual Assault?

What to do if you are raped/sexually assaulted? If you are raped or sexually assaulted, there are a number of options available to you to assist in restoring your feelings of safety and security:

• do not blame yourself for the attack, no one is responsible for the offender’s actions but the offender. No one asks for violence and no one deserves it. The most important thing is your survival. Believe in your own self worth.
• Get to a safe place – this could be your home, a friend’s house or a police station.
• Seek the counselling services and assistance of a rape treatment centre or a crisis centre – see ‘Referral List’. They can offer you support and assistance to deal with the consequences of the assault
• Rape is a crime, you are therefore strongly encouraged to report the incident to the police. If you do, try to preserve all physical evidence and not to disturb anything in the area where the incident occurred. It is also suggested that you write down as much as you can remember about the circumstances of the assault and the identity of the offender.

Note: Police should be aware of the difficulties many survivors of rape experience in reporting rape or sexual assault. This is frequently the case with known offenders.

• Consider going to a hospital or medical centre. Even if you do not think you have any physical injuries, you may want to be examined for the risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Consider calling a friend or family member to be with you.

Note: You are advised to relay information contained within this section only on occasions where you feel it is completely relevant to the audience in question. The presenter should use the utmost tact when delivering such information.

Myths and Facts

Myth: Rape requires physical force.
Studies have shown that in the majority of rapes, the perpetrator does not use force which results in physical injuries (Green 1987; Weekley 1986). The threat of force and death and the intimidation inherent in gender stratification is sufficient. In reality many forms of covert coercion and force may be used in rape. It is the victim’s fear of the assault and its outcome that renders her passive, not compliant, and without consent… Other women have been socialised not to be aggressive or assertive and their comparative lack of physical strength may contribute to less of a willingness to fight back. Thus female passivity is a quite common response to male violence.

Myth: Rape requires physical resistance by the victim.
The survivor who does not evidence injuries which she acquired through resistance becomes the incredible victim. This image is a by-product of the previous myth which mandates physical force as an element of sexual assault. The reality is far different.
Almost three-quarters of the victims in a Victorian phone-in reported that ‘they felt an overwhelming sense of powerlessness’ (Corbett 1992). In addition, women have often been advised not to resist in order to minimise the likelihood of severe injury or death. Rape is the only criminal act which has required resistance to be present to substantiate that a crime occurred.

Myth: Rape requires a weapon.
Various surveys of victims and other studies have shown that the vast majority of sexual assaults do not involve the use of a weapon (Bonney 1985; Bownes et al. 1991; Weekley 1986). Of the 1209 reported rapes in Victoria from 1987– 1990, 82.1 per cent did not involve a weapon (Victorian Community Council Against Violence 1991).

Myth: Rape is about sex.
This myth is reinforced by certain stereotypes about male sexuality such as men’s alleged inability to control themselves if they are aroused. These are false images. Rape is not about sex. Rape is an act of violence which uses sex as a weapon. Rape is motivated by aggression and by the desire to exert power and humiliate. Just as wife battering had to be taken out of the privacy of the home and criminalised in order to effect any change, rape must be taken out of the private realm and placed where it rightfully belongs in the public domain – the domain of violence against women. The latter view of rape is about sex is perhaps one of the most pervasive, enduring, and damaging myths. It contributes directly to another misunderstanding about the crime:

Myth: Since rape is primarily about sex, the victim in some way may precipitate the offence through arousing the male in some provocative manner.
This erroneous belief has a serious impact on how people view the crime, the rapist and the victim. It also affects the survivor’s view of herself. She often accepts self-blame since she has not succeeded in controlling the male’s behaviour and has somehow provoked it (Carmody 1984). It is crucially important that this myth is dispelled since it also influences the response of the criminal justice system.

Myth: Rapists have pathological personalities and tend to come from the lower class.
The myth that men who rape are mentally ill is not substantiated by the data: only a small minority of perpetrators are psychopathic (Stewart 1990). Empirical research has not found any consistent type of person that distinguishes rapists from other males. Alder (1985) looked at self-reported sexual aggression in men and found that class, education and occupation were not significant variables. Aggression was most strongly correlated with having sexually aggressive friends. Chappel (1989) notes that rapists are more likely to adhere to the myths about sexual assault and to hold callous beliefs about rape. Thus one can see that an important element of prevention should indeed be the eradication of these myths.

Myth: Women ask to be raped.
False – Rape is a crime which has devastating effects upon the survivor. It has been described as ‘the beginning of a nightmare’ (Main 1991) ... The effects (on survivors) may vary depending upon a few variables: the relationship of the rapist to the survivor; the brutality of the crime; ego strength and the support or lack of support that the victim received from those to whom she discloses (Girelli et al. 1986; Schwartz et al. 1981; Scott & Hewitt 1983; Stewart 1990). Some of these symptoms are short-term; others have been documented as lasting for years – possibly for the survivor’s entire life.

Myth: The rapist is usually a stranger.
An abundance of research both overseas and in Australia has established that the majority of sexual assaults are perpetrated by acquaintances, dates or marital partners. The erroneous image of the rapist as a stranger stems in part from the fact that such rapes are more likely to be reported to the police (Bownes et al. 1991). Thus 39 per cent of the rapes reported to Victoria Police from 1987 to 1990 were strangers (Victorian Community Council Against Violence (1991). However, various victim surveys show a different picture: in Matchett (1988) 29 per cent of callers had been sexually abused by their husbands; in a US nation-wide victims survey only 22 per cent had been raped by a stranger (Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center 1992, p.4); Green (1987) reports that in Australia more than half of the victims knew or were related to the attacker; Bonney (1985, p.30) looked at reported rapes in New South Wales and ascertained that only one-quarter involved strangers. The National Crime Victim Survey shows that only 24 per cent of the crimes of rape or attempted rape were perpetrated by strangers.

Safety Strategies for:

Known Offenders
As discussed in the previous section, the long-held myth of an unpredictable stranger being the offender of the overwhelming majority of rapes cannot be validated. Subsequently it is important to be aware of a range of strategies that may be available when confronted with an incident potentially involving sexual violence, whether perpetrated by either a known or unknown offender.

Attacks by a known offender are most likely to occur in the victim’s home, the offender’s home or somewhere else the victim willingly went to with the offender. This may lead to feelings of guilt on the victim’s behalf for attending the location in the first place. It is imperative that the survivor of an attack by a known person be reassured that they are not to blame for willingly attending the place of the attack, rather that they have been wronged by the offender who betrayed their trust.

Sexual violence by a known offender encompasses a range of situations including:

• Date Rape – the rape occurs in a dating situation.
• Acquaintance Rape – refers to a rape committed by someone who is known to the victim. This may be either very well or just casually. For example, a former partner, neighbour, friend of the family, regular customer in a shop, friend of a friend etc.
• Rape by a Family Member – encompasses rape committed by immediate and extended family members including marriage partner, de-facto partner, in-laws, step-relatives and other immediate and extended family members.

Preventative Strategies

• Communicate your refusal in a direct and confident way – look them straight in the eye and tell them to stop. For example, if your partner/boy/girlfriend wants to have sex and you don’t, clearly and definitely say NO. If you are uncertain in your manner of speech and body language your partner/boy/girlfriend may be equally unsure as to what you want.
  
• It may also be useful to determine your personal boundaries of sexual touching etc. prior to going out with your boy/girlfriend. This may assist in identifying when to object to an advancement beyond your pre-set boundaries.
• Demand that the person leave. If they will not leave, walk out yourself (even when it is your own home).
  
• If the offender continues their assault, consider taking stronger offensive action. Utilise your voice and aggressive body language to yell at them to stop. Use whatever words you think are appropriate to the occasion.
  
• For a range of additional strategies that may be utilised in this situation, please refer to Module ‘Dealing with Confrontation’.

Unknown Offenders

For a comprehensive range of strategies for dealing with confrontations, including sexual violence by an unknown offender, please refer to ‘Dealing with Confrontation’.

What to do if you are raped/sexually assaulted

If you are raped or sexually assaulted, there are a number of options available to you to assist in restoring your feelings of safety and security:

• do not blame yourself for the attack, no one is responsible for the offender’s actions but the offender. No one asks for violence and no one deserves it. The most important thing is your survival. Believe in your own self worth.
• Get to a safe place – this could be your home, a friend’s house or a police station.
  
• Seek the counselling services and assistance of a rape treatment centre or a crisis centre. They can offer you support and assistance to deal with the consequences of the assault.
• Rape is a crime, you are therefore strongly encouraged to report the incident to the police. If you do, try to preserve all physical evidence and not to disturb anything in the area where the incident occurred. It is also suggested that you write down as much as you can remember about the circumstances of the assault and the identity of the offender.

Note: Police should be aware of the difficulties many survivors of rape experience in reporting rape or sexual assault. This is frequently the case with known offenders.
- Consider going to a hospital or medical centre. Even if you do not think you have any physical injuries, you may want to be examined for the risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Consider calling a friend or family member to be with you.

Note: You are advised to relay information contained within this section only on occasions where you feel it is completely relevant to the audience in question. The presenter should use the utmost tact when delivering such information.

Effects of Rape/Sexual Assault

The survivor of a rape or sexual assault may experience a range of physical, emotional and behavioural effects. These effects may vary depending on a number of variables including: the relationship with the offender, the brutality of the crime, the survivor’s self esteem and the support, or lack of support, received (Stewart, L. (1990) ‘Beyond Survival of Sexual Assault’ Community Quarterly, vol. 18, pp 14 –23.)

Outlined below are just some of the effects that may be evidenced by a survivor of rape or sexual assault:

Emotional – Depression, fear, sense of powerlessness, withdrawal, anxiety, lack of trust, shame, self-blame, guilt, humiliation, anger, rage, betrayal, low self-worth, phobias.

Note: It is vital to be aware that many of the effects listed above result from social influences rather than natural reactions. It is natural to feel anger and a sense of powerlessness as a result of a rape, however it is not natural to feel guilt, humiliation or shame – these are learnt responses. No one feels shame or humiliation when, say, their foot is attacked. When presenting to community groups it is important to point out the difference between natural and learnt responses. It should also be noted that once myths of rape are dispelled, so too will these learnt responses.

Physical – Disease, injuries, pregnancy, urinary tract infections, headaches, muscle tension, gastro-intestinal upsets.

Behavioural – Suicidal actions, anorexia or other eating disorders, alcohol/drug addiction, isolation, sleeping disorders, nightmares, night sweats.

When presenting this information, it should be pointed out that different people will experience varying effects of rape. It is not denied that rape can be an extremely traumatic event; however it must be put into perspective as far as other potentially devastating events.

Many people equate rape to murder, in terms of the devastating effect it can have. However, if a person experiences rape, they still have the remainder of their life to live, unlike a victim of murder. The recovery is largely dependent upon the person’s frame of mind and inner strength. One rape survivor was known to say, "He had control of my life for an hour. I am not giving him a second more".

Conclusion

The societal belief that sexual violence is only perpetrated by strangers who are pathologically deviant may provide many members of society with a sense of comfort. It provides a logical excuse for the attacker’s actions as being those of someone who does not know the victim, is sick or deranged or ‘not quite right’. While acknowledging that some cases like this do exist, the unfortunate reality remains that the vast majority of sexual violence attacks do not conform to this stereotype.

Subsequently, in seeking to understand and prevent sexual violence, the traditional beliefs and socialised myths must be both explored and exploded.

Acknowledging that offender-victim relationships encompass a range of situations including date, familial, acquaintance and stranger, as well as further acknowledging that victim and offender characteristics may vary greatly has a number of beneficial effects.

Firstly, it encourages survivors to report incidents, which then allows for the appropriate punishment of offenders and rehabilitation techniques. Further it also encourages the development of a range of effective preventative programs and techniques, acknowledging that sexual violence occurs in a variety of situations and locations. It also allows for the support, assurance and rehabilitation of survivors of sexual violence, through societal acknowledgement that they are not to blame for either the circumstances leading up to the attack, or the attack itself.