Psychological evaluation of rapes and rapists

India is in the bottom five countries in the safety of women. It has an increasing trend of sexual crimes against women. After the horrific incident of a woman, it raised the issue of sexual crimes, more particularly Rape. The Verma committee formed after the incident addressed the issue of deficit in the management of Rape and other sexual offences but failed to address the management of sexual offenders. Here this article will discuss the psychological framework of sexual offenders more particular rapists.

Rape is the most concerning social issues, and crime exists everywhere. Rapes are more common as most of the time go unreported. It occurs in different contexts under different guises. Rape is not the only mixture of force and lack of consents but also a misconception of the sexuality of men and women too. Rape is considered as intercourse with force or coercion and without consent. Consent is a free sexual choice under the conditions of equality of power in the absence of constraint and disparity. Rape, like other crimes, possesses the criminal mind for the criminal act. For the rapist, the mental state is better understood at a time and circumstances. The injury of Rape and the standard of for its criminality act lies to victims and assailants, respectively. His perceptions about women’s sexuality are determined to be violated.

Definition

“Rape is defined as the penetration of the anus or vagina by a penis, finger, or object or the penetration of the mouth by a penis. If a person is forced to penetrate someone in the anus, mouth, or vagina with their penis, this is also regarded as rape” (Polaschek et. Al., 1997).

Classifications of rapists

Based on the aim of the Rape as a differentiating factor, there are three clinical classifications: (a) aggressive, (b) sexual, and (c) sex-aggression diffusion.

The aggressive: they use sex as an expression of their anger. Rapists use it to humiliate and defile the victim (stranger). They tend to have past complicated heterosexual relationships, body narcissism, early sexual traumata involving an older woman (mother), and lack of depth in relationships.

The sexual rapists: use sex in defence of their homosexual feelings, passive feminine resolution, and the feeling of impotency. They use minimal violence and no brutality in their attacks.

The sex-aggression diffusion: The sadistic rapist use violence to experience sexual excitement. They can not experience sexual excitements without violence (Cohen et. Al., 1971).

Theories of Rape

Biological theory: It explains rapes by the selection, or differential reproductive success among human beings because of differences in traits. There are pieces of evidence of the inter-individual selection over the intergroup selection that leads to adaptions. This inter-individual selection can be direct or indirect. Indirect selection for Rape, it favoured positive effects on rapist’s reproductive success. Despite the cost, it increases the number of mates for their reproductive success. This led to psychological adaptation in man specific to Rape. In the case of indirect selection of Rape, it is considered a byproduct of men’s adaptation for the pursuit of casual, non-committal consensual sex. This is selected to increase the number of mates with minimal investment for offspring production. This hypothesis is more likely to exist on the theoretical ground. They also explained six Rape specific psychological hypotheses. Feminists put efforts to portray Rape as a crime of socially constructed domination. The Darwinian biologist also supported the non-socially acceptance of destructive human behavior despite biological bases.

Commodification theory: These theorists put sex equivalent to commodity, and Rape is a commodity stolen from a woman. In our culture, we rarely discuss sex as anything other than a commodity. Young men are bombarded by sexualized commodities and commodified women’s sexuality. It is easier to make a conversation about sex in a commodified and objectified way. They hardly talk about intimate aspects of sex, despite knowing. This theory also explains the Rape as a tool to establish power, control, anger, or sadism.

Developmental theory: Rape proneness arises among men due to learning through development events, not because of genetic variation. Their studies indicate the harsh developmental backgrounds and learned acceptance of manipulation, coercion, and violence to form social relationships.

Control theory: Rape is not just about sexuality; it is an expression of control. The feminist perspective deals with the impact of rape threat on women’s self-esteem, personal control, and trust in others. Bohner and Schwarz believed that the high frequency of Rape is associated with gender inequality at both individual and societal levels. They supported the feminist argument of the contribution of rape and rape myth to gender inequality. Security or protection against being raped, culturally supported myths, restricts women in their behavior, low feeling about themselves, and less trusting to others.

Rape is a gender-based hate crime

It is motivated to express disrespect for women. The acquaintance rapes, sexual assault, domestic violence, gender derogatory epithets such as ‘slut’, ‘whore’, derogatory comments on women’s physiology, genitals mutilation during an assault, stereotypical view on ‘No’ means ‘Yes’, are common crimes supported this theory.

To do

Empowering women to resist coercion, develop a strong sense of choosing their partner at what condition.

Self-defense to aggressively defend her bodily integrity to avert a sexual assault.

Civil rights movements are needed to be strengthened against gendered violence and inequality.

Gender sensitization committee/forum to sensitize society and the cases of gender-based violence.

Proper representation of women at every power structured position to bring equality.

Psychological counseling centers to address cognitive distortions, stereotypes, limiting belief, and schemas promoting Rape and sexual violence.

The regular training program of gender sensitization needs to start at every education institute, offices, firms, and other social institutes.

Reference

Cohen, M. L., Garofalo, R., Boucher, R., & Seghorn, T. (1971, August). The psychology of rapists. In Seminars in Psychiatry. Grune & Stratton, Inc.

Polaschek, D., Ward, T. & Hudson, S. M. (1997). Rape and rapists: theory and treatment. Clinical Psychology Review,17, 117/144.

https://cyber.harvard.edu/vaw00/theories_of_rape.html

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3777344/