Living in the society comprises not only the complex of advantages which can be considered with the government’s protection and provision of rights. The social background presupposes the evaluation of attitudinal and behavioral standards which are reckoned with the extent of morale. When the situation concerns the facts of sexual assaults or anti-gay violation in both cases direct victims hesitate or reject to give any information in order to catch criminals as soon as possible and to provide victims with proper treatment and psychological analysis for curing of a person’s psyche after bygone case of crime. The question remains to be answered: Why is it so hard for victims of suchlike cases of direct violence to report a crime and witness?
According to the article by Richard Tewksbury, Elizabeth Ehrhardt Mustaine (2001) the cases of sexual assault are typical mainly for women, especially young and those living in campuses, due to men’s dominance in the social relations and due to the fact that a man usually uses the weakness of a woman and this gives him an opportunity to provide violence. Here comes the difference in correlation of male and female examples of assault: “One of the primary ways in which sexual coercion/assault differs for male and female victims is in the ways that perpetrators obtain sexual access to their victims.” (Tewksbury & Mustaine, 2001, p. 153) Then, living in the society where gossips and various rumors are taken for granted many girls or women feel shame when reporting about sexual assault. In fact, such personal statements to other people, even if they are in office to improve current situation, ruin a feeling of proper pride of an individual. This presupposes a great obstacle for such victims. In case with sexual assaults done to a man, it is hardly worth mentioning for a male representative of the society due to his probable total destruction of personality.
The flow of ethical standards takes into account the role of religion in its development. Morale excludes the extent of homosexuality and, in return, it programs the society to hate those who deviate from the traditional way of building relations between individuals. The theme of different orientation is condemned in the society and even if there are some general rights of human beings protecting them from violence, due to some reasons, these points are laughed at or omitted by official representatives of state power and within the society at all. This is the main reason why representatives of sexual minorities feel uselessness of their reporting about violent attitude toward them done by other individuals. The way out for such people is to appeal to the non-governmental organizations serving to provide protection and appropriate treatment as well for gays and lesbians, such as the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project. (Fordham Urban Law Journal, 2001) Here one may suppose that cases of anti-gay violence are more typical for gays than for lesbians and the extent of homophobia is more likely for male party
But it is still the case that lesbians seem more likely than gay men to experience more privatized forms of harassment or violence, such as incidents that take place at home or work and are committed by older men acting alone (Lesbian and Gay Community Action, 1994; Mason, 1997a). (Cited in Tomsen & Mason, 2001, p. 258)
Thus, the cases of sexual assault are too widespread due to several reasons and concerned mainly with provision of harms toward female part of communities. Anti-gay violence is mainly explained due to the social trends considering the standards of morale and programming people for homophobia in terms of major trend of heterosexism. (Tomsen & Mason, 2001) A possible breakdown of personal pride as well as a lack of inclined promotion of help needed form the side of state officials prevents suchlike victims from proper treatment and rehabilitation along with the provision of punishment for asocial elements.
Reference
Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, and Transgender Communities and Intimate Partner Violence. (2001). Fordham Urban Law Journal, 29(1), 121+.
Tewksbury, R., & Mustaine, E. E. (2001). Lifestyle Factors Associated with the Sexual Assault of Men: A Routine Activity Theory Analysis. The Journal of Men’s Studies, 9(2), 153.
Tomsen, S., & Mason, G. (2001). Engendering Homophobia: Violence, Sexuality and Gender Conformity. Journal of Sociology, 37(3), 257+.