...No.”, a girl says, pleading to the man to stop. He continues on, scarring the girl and making her fear for her life. She tries to push away, but it is not enough. The man replies by saying, “Oh stop it. I know you like it.”, but in reality, the victim doesn’t. The scenario above is the all too common situation of rape. It is defined as “sexual activity that one does not agree to”. In society and court today, there is a blurred line between what is considered rape and what is not. Men and women struggle to speak out, because they know they will be dismissed in court. Rape is a major issue in today’s society. It goes against traditional norms, morals, and self-respect in general. One should not be disgusted by their body because of what someone...
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...Even though the term rape has has been revised countless times and is still in debate today. It is in general defined as to force someone to engage in sexual intercourse by using threats or violence. More specifically and legally the definition of rape can be defined as “the commission of unlawful sexual intercourse or unlawful sexual intrusion.” Not only is it’s definition ever changing but it also varies from state to state. This of course causes some problems in the grey areas as to what constitutes as rape. Most states have decided to label rape as sexual assault and sexual assault is split up into categories known as degrees. Defined by the California penal code (261) rape is an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a person not the spouse of the perpetrator, under any of the listed circumstances. When a person is not capable of giving legal consent due to a mental disorder, developmental disability, or a physical disability. And when sexual intercourse is accomplished against someone's will by force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of bodily damage on the person or another....
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...Rape culture, as defined by UMass Amherst Department of Communication lecturer Lynn Phillips, is “a culture in which dominant cultural ideologies, media images, social practices, and societal institutions support and condone sexual abuse by normalizing, trivializing, and eroticizing male violence against women and blaming victims for their own abuse”. I have come across numerous articles (and the dreaded comments section) that debate whether or not rape culture actually exits in the United States, and I agree with many points coinciding with the presence of rape culture in our society in regards to victim-blaming and slut-shaming, however to some degree, I do not believe song lyrics, TV shows/movies, and jokes that seemingly promote rape actually causes rape to occur....
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...Rape in the United States and India One in five women worldwide might be a victim of rape or got raped in her lifetime (The United Nations, n.d.). According to Rape Gordon & Riger (1989), women fear rape more than any other crime, numerus number of women and girls worldwide suffer from sexual violence and rape. The word rape came from a Latin word “rapere”, which means to steal, seize, or carry away (Polly, 2006). Rape has always been linked to violence, it is a type of sexual assault using violence or the threat of it to force sexual intercourse or other types of sexual penetration perpetrated upon a persons will, it does not discriminate against age, race, ethnicity, or gender so males are not excluded but it is usually a women. However, the definitions of rape vary and the definition has changed frequently over the past 30 years, mostly after the feminist movement (Chasteen, 2001). Ever since the colonial period, the way sexual assault and women’s sexuality is seen have changed dramatically. Back then, women or girls held the reputation of their families, as they were seen as the center of the family and were valued and respected for their sexual purity. If a woman had sex outside of marriage, willing to or even against her will, she was seen and a fallen woman that brought shame and was often blamed for her own victimization because sexual intercourse was acceptable only within marriage (Patrica & John, 1992). With the 1960’s feminist movement people have been...
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...Abhorring rape is central to many feminist ideals. This aggressive and violent action is perhaps one of the most vivid representations of male dominance over females. Rape is an act of aggression, a classified war crime, and an assertion of men’s dominance and power. Emma Sulkowicz, a Columbia University student, was raped by a peer and is now calling her school and community to awareness and action by carrying around the scene of the crime: a dorm mattress. Sulkowicz’s experience of rape, while not connected with an official or militarized war like that of the United States-Mexico border, is part of a larger call to arms by transnational feminists and human rights activists around the world who wish to end the brutality and expansive damage rape causes its victims. Columbia University is burdened, although not as heavily as Emma Sulkowicz, by the constant physical reminder of the rape on campus. Sulkowicz has transformed her experience and recovery into a work of art for her senior thesis project and, under the stipulations, cannot ask for help but is able accept aid from fellow students or spectators if it is offered. This mattress has brought the university community together in support of a fellow student during her recovery from a traumatic experience along with the raised awareness of the violence and damage of rape. The school body is also bonded by the general distaste of the manner in which the administration handled, or refused to handle, the incident. According to...
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...University of Phoenix COM/155 University of Phoenix COM/155 When most people are asked what they think of South Africa compared to the United States, the most common response that is given is that South Africa is a desert like the remaining continent of Africa is; this is as far from the truth as possible. Would you have ever thought that two countries could be so similar yet so different at the same time? South Africa is as up in the technology world as the United States is; if not further along to some degree. It is known to have the largest research association of great white sharks off of any coast. Although the United States and South Africa have several similarities, they are also quite different because the United States has a lower violence and poverty rate than South Africa. One similarity between the Unites States and South Africa is that they are a huge melting pot of ethnicity and race, that had to fight for what they believed was right between the higher percentages of races. Both countries races consist of whites, blacks, Asians, and Indians. But there is a huge difference in the race percentages’, according to "Race and Ethnicity in the United States" (n.d.), the majority of the more than 300 million people currently living in the United States consists of White Americans, who trace their ancestry to the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. In South Africa, black's makeup 79.0% of the total population ("Ethnic Groups in South...
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...In the United States rape is a topic of concern for many people in any age group and gender group. The vast differences in women and men along with inferior and superior standards create distance for equality. The idea of “love” plays an enormous role in rape cultures as well due to the fact that majority of rape is between a man and a woman. There is no excuse for rape as rape is a broader subject due to immense context in a situation. Although the statistics for rape in the United States are high, there are opposite reasons to why. First off, more people are open to reporting rapes due to full support in communities and anti-rape organizations. People in the United States are less likely to shame a rape victim compared to socially strict countries like India and Turkey where the barriers of male and female are very distant. In these countries, men are much more superior to women, therefore rape is much more active than it is in the United States. Women are noticed to be “trophies” or married just for reproduction. Men are more likely to sleep with various women, as women are to only sleep with their husbands. This inequality...
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...433 U.S. 584, (1977), is a United States Supreme Court case which address a claim of cruel and unusual punishment, under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as well as a proportionality claim (Cornell University, n.d.). The petitioner in this case, Ehrlich Anthony Coker, claimed that the state of Georgia had violated his Eighth Amendment rights, when he was given a death sentence for his rape of an adult female, and subsequently claims that the punishment was too severe for the crime he committed, thus the proportionality claim. Ehrlich Anthony Coker was an inmate in a Georgia state prison, serving three life sentences, for rape and murder, as well as two 20 year sentences, and one 8...
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...characteristic that every crime shares is a perpetrator and a victim. Rape is a big problem in the United States. Each year thousands of women and men are raped, 17.7 million women have been raped at one point in their lives and 2.8 million men. Rape is considered the most unreported crime in the United States. In the 1970’s is when major awareness started to take shape for victims of rape, such as rape crises centers, medical protocols, and laws to protect rape victims. Criminal status concerning rape differs from state-to-state, but the Federal code is nationwide. There are two different ways that rape is reported; one is through private research organizations and the second is through the U.S. Department of Justice. The NIJ conducts a survey each year to measure reported crime and unreported crime, along with the private research groups. Even then, both organizations have certain guidelines in how they obtain their statistics. With certain guidelines in place, the statistics are good, but not a 100% accurate on exactly how many men, women, and children are raped. Only small percentages of rapes are reported each year to law enforcement and it is important to continue the study of rape and sexual assault issues in the United States to properly get better control of the problem. Women and girls seem to be higher risks targets for rape then men and boys. There is little research that exists on male victims of rape. According to the Bureau of Justice, “women between the ages...
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...Marital Rape By Amy Hoekwater December 21, 2012 AMU/CMRJ306 Prof. Natasha Richardson After murder, alone in the United States of America, the prevalence of rape is happened to be second crime that every two minutes sexual harassment case is reported. The most consistent and trustworthy study on the crime was conducted by the US Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization. The study highlights that during the year 2007, about 248,300 sexual harassment cases reported. In the United States, there are various definitions have been drafted to describe the act since it is regarded as a most complicated topic. The spousal rape is characterized as non-consensual and unwanted sex by victims’ spouse, when women surrender due to force or threat or when she don’t want to cohabit (Bergen,1996; Pagelow, 1984; Russell, 1990) According to the findings of the researcher, mostly married women were the victims of force-only sex. The ratio ranges between 10% and 14% (Finkelhor & Yllo, 1985; Russell, 1990). This crime ignored by law, practitioner, social scientists, criminal justice organism and by society too. By 1970, emerged as society and started recognizing that in marital relation rape cold also happen. With the development of time and maturity of law, legal community thought to start or compile work on this significant topic since it is said that wives since taken as personal asset of the husband and that husbands has right to have criminalized rape in marriage...
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...The Impact of Acquaintance Rape for Female College Students Word Count: 3,027 Abstract Acquaintance rape, commonly referred to as "date rape," is sweeping across college campuses throughout the United States. Described as nonconsensual sexual contact achieved by force, manipulation or coercion between two people who know each other, it is a form of sexual violence that had been given little attention prior to the 1980’s. Recent studies indicate that one in four female college students will be the victim of acquaintance rape at some time during four years of college making it the fastest growing crime against females in college institutions. However, because there are widespread false impressions among all college students that acquaintance rape does not exist, is not “really rape” or is not a serious crime, many believe that it is not as traumatic to the victim as rape by someone unknown to them. These erroneous beliefs often leave the victims of acquaintance rape more devastated than the rape action itself. The purpose of this paper is to examine the facts surrounding female acquaintance rape on college campuses and the role that crisis intervention techniques play in the recovery from an experience that many experts describe as crippling. The Impact of Acquaintance Rape for Female College Students Every two minutes someone in the United States is raped, and the chance of the victim being a female college student is four times greater than that of any...
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...signed into law one of the nation’s toughest bills focused on illegal immigration in her state. This law re-ignited the immigration debate all across the United States and brought out many protestors from both sides. Some of the issues at hand are amnesty, healthcare costs, and the increasing crime that illegal immigrants bring into our country. To begin with, does amnesty encourage illegal immigration? Secondly, what does it do to our already fragile health care system? Thirdly, what kinds of crimes are being committed by some illegal immigrants? In my opinion we need to do whatever we can to secure our borders and only allow those who come in legally into our country. Amnesty, in the case of illegal immigrants, is to grant legal status to those who have entered our country illegally. It forgives the fact that they have entered the country illegally, and forgives other illegal acts such as driving and working using false documents. In 1986 under President Ronald Reagan, our country granted what was supposed to be a “one time only” amnesty for approximately 2.7 million illegal aliens. At that time, Congress also enacted a new set of laws that were aimed at eradicating illegal immigration. What were the results of those new laws? We are no longer a nation that has 2.7 illegal aliens, but we are now home to between 8 million and 12 million people who have entered the United States illegally (Eberle, 2004). Obviously this blanket amnesty did not reduce future illegal immigration...
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...Justice for Rape Survivors, an “At Risk Population” and Ways of Advocating for Them Emily R. Cazier North Idaho College Social Work 240 Kateri Ray Abstract This paper defines the “at risk population” of rape survivors in the United States. Sources for this paper were found through peer-reviewed academic papers and articles, websites for organizations that advocate for victims of sexual assault and rape, and legislative bills from the state of Idaho. This paper also seeks to define the social justice issues, legal and political issues, and advocation for these victims on the micro, mezzo, and macro levels of society. Keywords: rape, rape victims, and advocating Social Justice for Rape Survivors, an “At Risk Population” and Ways of Advocating for Them Definition of the “at risk population”: The definition of rape and survivors of rape varies around the world and especially differs from state to state within the United States of America. In the advocacy community, victims of sexual assault are generally referred to as survivors because they have survived a horrible event. (Cazier, 2013) For the purpose of this paper and in keeping with that belief, I will also refer to these individuals as survivors. According to RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network) the general definition of rape in the United States is, “forced sexual intercourse, including vaginal, anal, or oral penetration. Penetration may be by a body part or object.” In order for the term rape is apply...
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...Some of these key such as prison violence, prison rape and the drug policy issues are negative and does affect the prison. On the issue of prison violence, over the years, prison violence has been on the rise. This has causes major changes within the prions system, such as implementing strategies to control the prisoners and their criminal behaviors. Prison rape also has continues to rise. This issue has been will probably continue to exist. This is because the prison officials have yet to be able to control this kind of activity. Another issue that has been affects the prison system is the sentencing that are being handed out for drug charges. This has cause the prisons to be overcrowded. Prison Violence on the Rise Prison violence is on the rise, many prison conditions are a recipe for violence, by being overcrowded, understaffed, insufficient staff training, excessive solitary confinement, insecure facilities, mistreatment of mentally ill inmates, policies that weaken family ties, a culture of disrespect between staff and prisoners, and little accountability for wardens. These facilities are causing concern not only for inmates but, for those employed to supervise the convicted offenders. Inmate population continue to grow, staffing levels in most facilities either have stopped or decreased. Violence has increased in the prisons that carry these conditions. Inmates experience rape by other prisoners and staff, gang rape, gang violence, and excessive force from officers...
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...Rape as a Social Murder Sexual assault is the fastest growing crime in America. Women are the targets of rape, the most underreported violent crime. 60% of rapes go unreported to the police; cases that are reported and end up going to trial have a low rate of punishment for perpetrators (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, 2008). Rape is a powerful tool of sexual violence because women are forced to assume the position of powerless victim, one who has no control over what is happening to her body. The ability to silence its victims also erases evidence of the crime, thus leading to a higher incidence of underreporting. Rape is part of a system of male dominance. This system has lead to opinions that the female body, especially the black female body, is available for men at their leisure, thus leading to a society tolerant of prostitution and sexual violence against low-income black women. Race is one of the predicting factors of sexual violence. Although 80% of all victims are white, minorities are more likely to be attacked (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, 2008). Since the black female body is hypersexualized, due to negative media images, black women face injustices when trying to pursue justice for an unjust attack on their bodies. Societal male dominance has created an environment where sexual violence is tolerated; this environment combined with the social position of low-income black women in the United States has lead to disproportionate sexual victimization...
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