Listening to the story it is hard to believe how someone could treat another human being in that way.
And you ask yourself why?
Is it merely because they have power and no one stops them that they use their power to abuse?
Why?
This is the question I wanted answered after I was raped.
The following theories may be useful in trying to answer that question but they are not sufficient and may not be useful for everyone.
These 5 theories for possible motivations for rape have been identified by Polaschek and Ward (2002)(2). In a study by Beech, Ward and Fisher (2009) these theories were assessed through interviews with 41 jailed rapists.
-25 of the men interviewed fitted into the theory that other people had treated them abusively and because of this they carried "entrenched feelings of resentment and anger"(3). These men thought that other people wanted to hurt them and because they believed themselves capable of retaliating then they wanted instead to dominate and control others who they saw as threatening to them, often a partner or ex-partner(4).
-The theory that women are sexual objects was held by 21 of the men. Men holding this theory believed that women's desires centred around sex and therefore they should always be receptive and avaliable to men's desire for sex, even if it's coerced(5). This theory precludes women from being recognized as individual and autonomous persons.
-That men are entitled to take sex if they want it was a theory held by 18 of the men. They believed that because they are men and more powerful then their needs are more important than those of others and they are therefore entitled to do whatever they like(6) .
-6 of the men believed that they were unable to control their sex drive. So their loss of control was instead blamed on the woman or other features of the environment (7) .
-The final theory held by 3 of the men was that women are mean and spiteful and always trying to con men so all interactions with women must be hostile(8) .
These theories were held in combinations amongst the men. Some of the men were motivated more by sexual desires and others by anger and hostility, also there were those whose motives were sadistic and who needed to exert power through sexually humiliating and psychologically distressing the woman(9).
All of these theories contain the idea of power being exerted over another human being either because the offender believes they have the right to do that or because they feel that they can.
Ward suggests that these theories generate the thoughts and motivational beliefs that construct the world at a functioning level(10) for these men. He considers these theories to be 'cognitive distortions'. That is the information that has been acquired, organised and transformed by these men from their social environment has been developed into social behaviour and functioning that can be injurious to others(11).
Considering that most rapes are not reported and of those that are only one in 100 is likely to achieve a conviction(12) the very sad implication from this research seems to be that there are alot of men in our society whose view of the world and of their relationships with women is shaped by these theories. "These offenders are a good deal more like other people than most people would like to think"(13).
(1)Bob Geldof 2006 Geldof in Africa WEA Productions
(2)Polaschek and Ward (2002) cited in Beech A, Ward T & Fisher D 2009 The identification of sexual and violent motivations in men who assault women: implication for treatment Journal of Interpersonal Violence vol.21 no.12 pp.1636
(3)ibid. p.1641
(4)ibid. p.1637
(5)ibid. p.1641 & p.1637
(6)ibid. p.1642
(7)ibid. p.1637
(8)ibid. p.1638
(9)ibid. p.1648
(10)ibid. p.1637
(11)"social cognition n." A Dictionary of Psychology. Edited by Andrew M Colman Oxford University Press 2009. Oxford reference Online. Oxford University Press
(12)Donnelly M "Our society is so easy on rape that it's a crime" Sydney Morning Herald Tuesday June 19th 2001
(13) Beech A, Ward T & Fisher D - same article as above- p. 1636
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