Abstract
Rape constitutes the act of having sexual intercourse, against a person’s will. Majority of the experts in this field suggest that rape is because of an aggressive lust to dominate the victim, as opposed to the desire to achieve sexual fulfilment. They format rape to be an act of violence, rather than primarily a sexual encounter (Catty 1999).It is seen that rape is often a confirmation of the control a man has and exercises over a women than anything else. A rape may not be just in terms of sexual satiation for a man and even lesser still, a physical outlet for his sexual frustrations; it is one way of exercising sexual prowess and power over a woman.
It is seen that in a patriariachial society, it is the males who dominate and the women have to remain subjugated. A rape could be viewed in terms of this exercise of this female subjugation and the reaffirmation of male rights.This being said, it would now be necessary to delve into areas of identifying the attitudes of men vis-à-vis rapists, and rape incidents. This essay considers the rape laws that are existing in advanced countries like USA, UK, etc and in developing Islamic states like Pakistan.
It is necessary that personal risks involving potential assaults are seen in real terms.Hence, for women to travel alone iwithout protective or precautionary strategies could be seen as high-risk situations and needs to be avoided. It is also suggested that it would be more safer if women travel in known company in strange and unknown terrain. People also need to exercise greater selectivity in their choice of guides, friends and mates,since this has innate possibilities of unsavoury and sometimes fatal sexual misadventures.
Finally, this paper will focus on identifying whether men are more sympathetic to rapists and incidences of rape more than women.
Introduction
The description of rape varies in different states or countries. However, in almost every state, if a man, with the abuse of force, subjects a woman who is not his wife to have sex with him, without her consent or rather against her will, he is said to have committed the act of rape. Moreover, the states are deviating from this definition to encompass non-consensual incidences of intercourse, whether there was employment of force or not. Spousal rape is also included in this definition.
In other states, rape revolves on the narrow definition of forcible sexual intercourse, with other statutes addressing other forms of sexual assault encompassing non-consensual sexual intercourse as well as undesired sexual acts other than intercourse. Some countries have legal redress for raped women (Catty 1999).
Nevertheless, some countries rely on sexual taboos (social prohibition to protect women as opposed to criminal law). For instance, soldiers are prohibited from acts of rape during times of war or internal conflicts by their national military codes as well as international treaties such as the Geneva Convention of 1949. Nonetheless, sometimes military rape is encouraged as a pay off to soldiers or as part of a campaign of terror (Catty 1999). As of present, any form of sexual violence against women is vigorously detested by human rights activists.
Statement of the Problem
Rape is threatening the present day society. It not only affects the victim but also the friends and families of the victim
It is more often than not acknowledged that people have a propensity to identify the sufferers, as well as, or even instead of the perpetrators of rape in negative terms, and much social psychological study has been dedicated to an assessment of factors controlling these observations.
All women could be said to be victims of rape because the fear of rape is real and focussed towards all women in feudal societies, and thus benefit from their cultures. Rape has been described as a “deliberate, hostile, violent act of degeneration and possession on the part of they would be conqueror designed to instil fear.” (Madsen p.12).
The greater part of this research is focused on female rape, that is, the rape of women.
Two advances have dominated this study of blame attributions in rape. The first approach looks at the effect of victim, performer and situation characteristics on negative attributions in rape, and is commonly referred to in social psychology as the rape perception framework
Issues such as the victim’s decency, bodily beauty, earlier sexual doings, and victim struggle, degree of victim intoxication and how the victim was dressed at the time of the attack have entirely been found to manipulate negative attributions in rape.
Even though these studies commonly reveal comparatively reserved levels of issues such as fault attributed to victims, it is all the same important that these factors influence decisions about rape in exacting ways so that for instance, a divorcee, intoxicated or sexily dressed woman is regarded more negatively than a woman who is explained as abstemious or conventionally dressed.
The second approach focuses on the uniqueness of the partaker to elucidate rape victim blame. Under this approach motivational and personality defensive processes are considered to underlie negative attributions aimed at the rape victim. According to the Defensive Attribution Hypothesis, people are seen to increase or lessen blame depending on their apparent similarity with the sufferer as well as their supposed possibility of similar future victimization befalling them (Nagel 2005).
Defensive attributions foresee negative victim view to reduce as the comparison of the observer to the victim increases, this being a justification device to defend the viewer from being blamed themselves if a related destiny should befall him or her in the future (Nagel 2005).
Negative rape victim perception can also be explained through looking at attitudinal characteristics of the observer. Beliefs in conventional gender functions stereotyping, sexual conservatism and sex role point of reference have been associated to negative rape victim perception (Nagel 2005).
While understanding of the progressions that give rise to female rape victim, blame has mounted up in last years. In contrast, very little knowledge exists concerning the processes central to the perception of male rape victims. Nevertheless, studies propose that sexual violence against males take place more often than is commonly thought and that male victims of rape are likely to be blamed by others for their own rape same as the female victims.
Workers in this field such as male health workers, police officers have a tendency of viewing male victims of rape negatively. Conversely, male rape measured against female rape, it is noted that there has been little research effort undertaken in assessing the reasoning behind male rape victim blame.
Literature Review
Research studies conducted on this issue and related subjects have established that people with high degree of Christian fundamentalism are found to accept traditional sex roles as well as a high degree of authoritarianism. Those who highly accept rape myths have negative outlooks towards rape victims (Anderson & Spencer 2001). Men have high degree of myth acceptance hence negative outlook towards victims of rape, and endorsed traditional gender roles (Nagel 2005).
In essence, raped males are equally viewed negatively and held responsible for their own rape as are female victims, predominantly by male viewers, as has been revealed in a number of rape perception studies (Acock & Ireland 1983).
Under UK Common Law, rape was criminalised and punishment prescribed. Under this law, rape was described as, “Sexual penetration of a woman forcibly and against her will”. Spousal rape was impossible under this law due to the wedding contract (Baines 2003) (Catty 1999).
Most of criminal law in United States was modelled on English Common Law, rape included. To guard against false accusations, a corroboration rule was added to the requirements. Corroboration was / is in the form of physical (semen or bruises) evidence or testimony of a witness (Wood 1998). As was the case of English Law, the basic aim of this requirement was to shield men from false accusations rather than to protect women. Based on the English Model, US also had / have capital punishment for rapists. However, the practice was held unconstitutional via Supreme Court ruling in 1977. State statures prescribe several years imprisonment, including life imprisonment. However, with increased rape incidences, some states have adopted the death penalty for second conviction of rape (Wood 1998).
History bears solid testimony to the brutal and ruthless rapes and sexual assaults on black women in the United States of America. The main reasons for this have been because blacks have been traditionally viewed as slaves and rape is a common term in slave trade. Their white masters over lorded over their bodies and minds and subjected them to sexual traumas, at their will and pleasures. “White owners controlled all that was saved in both their cultures, and that of their slaves. They controlled their bodies, sexuality and motherhood of female slaves and black woman were left with no jurisdiction over their own bodies.” (Hochberg).
It is seen that in the context of the US, while the bodies of the white women were well protected by law, the properties of blacks were not safe and it was subjected to white male violations since raping a black women was not considered an offence during that time. (Evancic et al., 1995; Hamer and Neville, 2001; Lerner, 1972; West, 2006)
A survey conducted by Rickert, Wiemann and Vaughan (2005) provided ample evidence that, in a group of young adolescents, majority of whom were black women, who had either experiences rape or attempted rapes, less than 1% of the samples of 86 women reported assault and this was mainly due to their perceived notions that there would not be much of social support for their cause. The prime reason for this could be in terms of the fact that the black women views the white’s assaulter’s economic power and influence over her women of colour, particularly black women make up a significant portion of the working class and their susceptibility to sexual and economic exploitation makes them more vulnerable than their male counterparts. (Hochberg).
The rape laws in Islamic country like Pakistan is loaded in favour of men. It bears brutal testimony of how unilateral laws favoring men make womenfolk not only vulnerable to rape and assaults but also do not punish their wealthy perpetrators. Paradoxically, the weaker victims are made to suffer jail terms for having become the victims of rape and sexual assaults and the legal machinery are reduced to mere onlookers in a criminalised and sexually decadent society.
The fact that the feudalistic and male dominated laws in Pakistan favours the powerful male society is re-established in the case of Shamim, a 21-year-old mother of two, who was ritually raped by three men in Karachi. The prosecution failed to muster the necessary evidence and she was arrested and charged with Zina. Her family could not pay the bail amount and she languished in jail facing the sexual onslaughts of custodial rapes.by jail custodians. (Quraishi 2003).
In Pakistan, the law governing rape provides for Islamic standards of proof as well as punishment for the crime. The law dealing with rape is part of the offence called the offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hoodooed). This ordinance (VII of 1970) also encompasses adultery and fornication. The acts of adultery and fornication save for the fact that they are regarded as immoral are not punishable under western law. This further complicates the already complex issues of rape in Islamic countries (Quraishi 1997).
Zina ordinance does not offer any protection for girls aged less than 14 years. Islamic law prescribes (in Pakistan) punishment in the form of whipping and stoning to death as opposed to earlier prescription of 10 years imprisonment and fine. Under the Zina law, it is upon the court to be satisfied that the witnesses are truthful and abstain from major sins. In addition, under the Zina law, only male witnesses are allowed to testify (Quraishi 1997).
Pakistan’s is a male dominated society thus more power is given to men over women bodies despite severe punishment. The Islamic government of Pakistan holds the new law to be in parity with the Quran and Sunnah. It is important to note that the traditional Islamic concept of rape is a remote idea in present day Pakistan (Quraishi 1997).
In Pakistan, rape is said to occur in a situation whereby the rapist does not know his victim before hand and a woman is suddenly attacked. Where the rapist knows his victim beforehand it is as landlord-peasant relationships or boss-employee relationships. Girls are not spared either, as the law does not offer them protection. The question of consent is immaterial. However, in Pakistan there is segregation of sexes, that is, seclusion of women (Quraishi 1997).
What can be summed up from Pakistan is that the government employed Islam to obtain legitimacy thus denying women their rights. The Islamisation process has afforded males with staunch notions of dominance in the society. This has greatly affected men’s attitude towards women in that men enforce government orders directed to women, for instance the wearing of chader (cover of head), a man can slap a woman for failing to cover her head (Quraishi 1997).
According to the Muslim countries, the law of rape is made complicated by inclusion of consensual sexual intercourse without valid marriage (fornication, adultery). Under this law, spousal rape is excluded whether there is consent or not. As earlier said the traditional Islamic law of rape makes rapists liable to “Hadd and Tazir punishments”. Hadd punishment includes whipping, amputation of limbs as well as stoning to death while Tazir punishment is through whipping, imprisonment and fines (Quraishi 1997).
Under Hadd punishment, confession of the perpetrator or the witness of four adult Muslim males is important. The law on rape as it stand is hard to prove as no woman would dare bring an action under rape due to fear of the matter being reversed and she be convicted on charges of adultery or fornication upon failing to prove rape charges. Fornication and adultery attracts a maximum of ten years imprisonment, thirty lashes as well as a fine (Quraishi 1997).
Consider the case of Sofia Bibi vs. the State, where a woman was saved from being sent in by the way the case gained publicity. The accused could not be convicted on account of the woman’s confession since there was no evidence from four adult male Muslims. In the same country a 13 year old girl was sent in for failing to prove rape. However, her conceiving was held to be an indicator of fornication, hence she served 3 years on top of 30 lashes under Tazir punishment (Quraishi 1997).
Doctrines such the utmost resistances were questioned as research indicated that serious physical injury was meted on those women who attempted to resist rapists. Discovery of rape trauma syndrome pinned down the fresh complaint rule. Special corroboration rule was not spared either as reformists pointed out that the typical reaction of a rape victim was to shower, change and do away with torn clothing as well as to hide bruises, consequently destroying the physical evidence required under corroboration rule (Miller 1996).
For instance, a New Jersey court in 1992 held that the requirement of force was complimented by the act of sexual penetration itself, the absence of force notwithstanding (Barbara 1973) (Wood 1998).
Aggravated sexual assault is severely punished under Canadian laws. Aggravated sexual assault arises when, while sexually assaulting the victim an offender wounds, mains, disfigures or endangers the life of the victim. Even though Canadian statutes do not explicitly define sexual assault, they (statutes) define consent as “voluntary agreement of the complaint to engage in the sexual activity in question” (Wood 1998).
Date or acquaintance rape is the most common rape found between two people who may be friends, former lovers or presently dating (Barbara 1973).
Acquaintance rapes, as per researches are more common as opposed to rape by strangers or relatives. The issue of consent is controversial in acquaintance rape as both the victim and the rapist may have opposing perspectives of what transpired. The danger of defining consent from victim’s point of view is that it can orchestrate the risk of punishing a person who might have mistakenly thought that the other person was consenting to sexual relations. Men should go slowly to avoid being held culprits of such incidences (Barbara 1973).
Ancient rape laws were formulated on the ideology that only women could be raped hence they were gender specific (Miller 1996). Present trend towards rape is that of gender neutrality, with men and women being either victims or perpetrators (Groth & Burgess 1980). Where a state’s general rape statute is not explicit, other statutes banning anal or oral sex cure the situation.
It is habitually claimed that men do not recognize the full dismay of the incident of being raped and that judges are time and again compassionate, even sympathetic with rapists. Ironically, this state of affairs is aggravated by the feminists’ argument that female sexuality is similar to that of males (Baines 2003).
Consider the case whereby a young Mormon man was forced to have sexual activity with his attractive ex-girlfriend who had trailed him from US to Britain (Baines 2003). When he lodged complaint, the media as well as the courts reaction was not ideally horror but amusement. Men in the streets were found to assume and take the attitude that he was lucky. It is socially acknowledged that female to male rape is rare due to the fact that men are seldom unwilling to take part in sex whether with known partners or strangers (Baines 2003).
A researcher in this field, Edward Donnerstein, affirmed that the “relationship between sexually violent images in the media and subsequent aggression and callous attitudes towards women is much stronger statistically than their relationship between smoking and cancer” (Susan Griffin 1993).
The net results of rape are that the victim loses trust in male –female bonding. Nearly 33% of the victims do suffer nightmares and feel anger towards the opposite sex. Around 25% felt that they had lost self –respect, but, over 50% of the woman felt more stronger and stood up for themselves. 16% leaned self-defence and 6% joined women’s antirape groups. (Null & Seaman 1975).
The general tendency for men is to blame women for their own rapes. Their contentions range from the fact that their provocative dressing and mannerism attract male sexual attention and seek response through non-consensual sex. Men feel that women secretly long to be raped and mentally consent to sexual relationships and back out later. Men in public society feel that women get the results of their actions although they may not have considered the implications rape culture has been a part of human civilisation but it has devastating effects for its victims and their families. Although men may claim that women may be the cause of their own sexual adventures or misadventures, the fact is that a line of legal demarcation has to be drawn between sexual consent and rape. (Ward 2005).
Rape myths also function to articulate why sufferers deserve their fate. Myth acceptance depends on cluster of attitudinal variables that encompass adversarial sexual beliefs for instance, women provoke rape (Burt 1980), women give two way messages, traditional gender roles attitude such as men should be aggressive and women should be submissive, men should be the initiators of dates as well as the acceptance of interpersonal violence (Burt 1980).
Most recently, Charles R. Mullin and Linz (1995) demonstrated that viewers who show a marked sense of desensitization toward victims of violence in non-media contexts following exposure to media violence may recover sensitivity rather quickly, provided they are not exposed to additional violent depictions. An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of repeated exposure to sexually violent films on emotional desensitization and callousness toward domestic abuse victims. Results indicated that emotional responses, self-reported physiological arousal, and ratings of the extent to which the films were sexually violent all diminished with repeated film exposure. Three days following exposure to the final film, participants in the experiment expressed significantly less sympathy for domestic violence victims and rated their injuries
Men and women who have seen sexual violence in the media show less of caring for victims of rape in other countries and are generally less able to empathize with rape victims. However, resensitization to victims after desensitization may occur given a sufficient rest period. (Desensitization and Media Effects. 2001-2006).
According to research more recently by Daniel Linz, Edward Donner-stein, and Steven Penrod (1988) to measure the responses of adult men to films that portrayed violence against women, often in a sexual context, it was observed that with repeated exposure, preliminary levels of self-reported nervousness decreased considerably.
Additionally, the research participants’ views of the films also changed from the first day to the last day. Material that was beforehand considered violent and humiliating to women was considered radically less so by the end of the exposure period. The more the participants were exposed to the material the more they enjoyed it on top of becoming less depressed.
These effects generalized to responses to a victim of sexual assault in a mock trial presented to the men later. The findings were that those men who had exposure to the sexually violent films, compared to a no-exposure group, rated the sufferer as not having been seriously injured. The findings also indicated that the men who had exposure to the brutal film, again compared to men in a no-exposure control group, were also less sympathetic to the rape victim portrayed in the trial and less able to sympathize with rape victims in general.
These findings were not because of single film exposure, however longer film exposure was essential for it to affect the violence-viewing participants’ general empathetic response. Following other studies carried out more recently it was ascertained that viewing violent films results in less sympathy for victims of domestic violence as well as rape victims (Nagel 2005: 78).
Legal History of Rape
Laws describing and laying punishments for rape have differed greatly among competing cultures, social, as well as political attributes about sex and gender (Catty 1999).
Premedievial Societies
In some early societies, men got their wives by use of bride capture in which case a man would kidnap a woman and force her to have sex, and consequently would marry her. In some societies bride capturing was seen as heroic deed and sometimes celebrated. Thus, what would amount to rape in modern society was socially accepted at that time.
In other societies, rape was considered punishable offence. More often than not, these societies punished both the rapist as well as the victim of rape. Consider the Babylonian code of Hammurabi that assumed the raped woman to have committed adultery. The two were supposed to be thrown into a river after being bound together. Similarly, under the Hebrew law, the woman raped was supposed to be stoned to death. Still on ancient laws on rape, some societies treated rape as an offence against the property owner (husband or father) hence affording atonement for either, as well as marrying her if she was a virgin (Catty 1999).
However, the modern perspective of rape has undergone a sea change. While the individual perspective of the parties are important, in the modern age of rape trials, accusations and counter-accusations, the different versions of the parties differ from each other. The male may assert that the female had consented or even initiated the sexual union, but the female may insist that it un consensual and coerced rape.Although consent makes all the difference between a crime and natural behaviour, rape and consensual sex, it is difficult to prove its existence, specially when each party has a different version of what had actually transpired. Again, since rape occurs in isolated locations, there are rarely any witnesses whose evidences could be testified, in a Court of law. Except the physical evidences present, there are no ways of finding the truth. It is possible that both the male and female may be telling the truth but from different perspectives.
English Common Law
Common law was developed in England during the 12th and 13th Century. It was more defined and embedded on judicial decisions.
On top of offering immunity to husbands, these laws, as well as procedural requirements made the prosecution of rape difficult. It was incumbent upon the victim of rape to exhibit that though she attempted to fight off the rape, she was overpowered. Early complaint as well as physical bruise was a pre-requisite under the fresh complaint rule to avoid fabricated complaints.
The utmost resistance doctrine and the fresh complaint rule were attributions, which portrayed the status of women in society. These doctrines were specifically tailored to shield men from fake accusation of rape, pointing that the English society valued preventing false accusations rather than guarding women from actual rapes. The underlying assumption was that women were likely to fabricate rape accusations either due to the feeling of shame or as a form of revenge upon rejection by lover.
It is seen that in the UK, only 5.6% of the reported rapes received convictions to the culprits. In certain areas, it is also as low at 3%. (Farry 2008).
In UK the level of stranger rapes are lower and most of the cases are centred on husband, friend or lover. Thus, it is seen that robust legislation need to be enforced in order to ordain higher convictions to the culprits. One of the main reasons for the low degree of convictability is because the line of demarcation between consensual sex and rape is very thin.
Under the English common law, rules of evidence were to the advantage of men as they governed the information that was available to the jury as well as the weight the jury should employ in dealing with the information (Baines 2003). It was an ordeal for a victim of rape during trials as she could be cross-examined to show consent on her part on the material day or other day, or that she consented to sexual intercourse with another man or men or else she did not have good character for chastity. Even though it was difficult to sustain conviction, when successful the punishment was severe. During most of the echelons, the English law treated rape as capital offence (Baines 2003).
However, there have been many changes in the UK law on rape and sexual assaults. The reporting rate of such offences itself is quite low. It is seen that during the last year, there were nearly 120,000 incidents of rapes and nearly 300,000 cases of sexual assault, but only 6000 cases of rapes and 17,500 cases of assaults were reported. (UK Justice System. (2006-2008).
The main reasons could be in the lengthy interrogation procedures and the fact that the law enforcement departments may not believe the victims and treat them as offenders. To avoid undue harassments and victimisation to the victims and their families, the case dealings of rape and sexual assaults have now been taken over from the Police Dept. by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). This authority is empowered to sift data of rape and allied crimes and decide whether the complaints warrant legal prosecution and trials. It is also empowered to dispense with such cases in the best manner it deems necessary.
The important aspect in rape cases is that the prosecution would have to prove that rape had actually taken place. Under Section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956, it is an offence for a man to rape a woman. Now the offence is also caused when a man rapes another man. Further, under the Sexual Offences Act 1993, boys under 14 can be convicted of rape, which was earlier not possible. [Survivors’ Haven: U.K: Justice system: (2006-2008)] It is even interesting to note that under the UK laws even women can be convicted for rape as was done last year. The essential elements of rape is that sexual intercourse should have taken place, without consent. Consent could be vitiated if coercion, misrepresentation or fraudulent means of consent had taken place.
Up to the year 1991, a husband could rape his wife legally, since the wife was the property of the husband. In the case of rape, the essential constituent was one of consent. In a case of Morgan, a man, under the influence of drinks, invited three strangers to have sexual relations with his wife. He told them that although she was consenting, she would put up a protest. The men proceeded and the woman was very seriously injured. When the case came up for hearing in the Court of Appeal, the men maintained that the consent was present and therefore they were not guilty of rape offence. However, the Court of Appeals was not convinced with the defence and ruled lower sentences to the offenders.
In the UK, until 1994, another important rule was that of corroboration, or in other words, the Courts felt that in a rape case, it is not enough to pass judgments on the strength of the victim’s deposition alone. There needs to be other substantial evidences besides the pleas of the victim.
However this rule was abandoned in 1994, but the judges, at their discretion still take recourse to such rules as and when the occasion demands. (UK Justice system 2006-2008).
Under Section 5 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956, intercourse with a girl under 13 years of age is an offence carrying life sentence. For the same offence for girl under 16, Section 6 is applicable. However, for girl above 13 years, the defendant will be charged with double offence as per the UK Laws.
The law for incest is that it is an offence for a man have sexual relations with persons known to be his granddaughter, daughter, sister or mother. Similarly, for a girl above 16, it is an offence to have sex with her grandfather, father, brother or son, with her consent. Similarly, if the girl is under 13 years, maximum sentence is 7 years and 2 years for attempt to commit incest. (UK Justice System. 2006-2008).
Rape Laws in United States
In the context of US women, it could be said that the response to rape and its implications would be less dramatic for women than men. This is because of the following reasons:
- They may not have been victimised and therefore, conclude that this crime is limited to the stereotype classes of women of easy virtue, or not good character and reputation.
- The second categorisation could be in terms of the fact, that, although they have been the victims of sexual assaults, it has been during the course of long-term relationship, with somebody whom the victim was, in some way, dependent on, either financially or otherwise.
- The third view of rape and sexual assault is with regard to the fact that the women are victims of long-term abuse and see no respite from it, and have thus resigned to their predicament since it involves basic survival matters. (Bourque 1989).
Racial Overtures of Rape
However, in the USA, it is seen that black women are highly marginalised when the question of affording relief and rehabilitation for rape victims. Whether or not the black women have undergone sexual assaults, the stereotype that has been etched permanently for black women has been one of oversexed and lascivious women with innate seductive abilities as compared with white women.
The white owners of the slaves use of rape was justified on the belief that black women were highly sexually permissive and promiscuous.
Even otherwise, the marginalised poor black slaves would not dare to lodge complaints or seek the help of local law enforcement authorities for their violations for fear of reprisals and fear of their white masters.
It was indeed unfortunate that black slave women had to face dual threats and personal violations from both their black people who were supposed to protect them and more so, from their white masters. Although the risk of sexual assault for black women was higher than that of white women, the masters carried out their tasks with impunity since they were well aware that reports of complaints and appeals would not be forthcoming.
The laws in US are so much against the black or coloured communities that minor offences in which the victims are white women received prompt attention while cases of major gang rapes conducted on blacks are often allowed to languish and their perpetrators move scot free.
White women would receive all possible benefits under law, but this is not assigned to their black counterparts due to racialism and colour discriminations.
Rape in Islamic Countries
The law relating to rape is found in the Hudood law enforced in the 1970’s. in conformity with the precepts of Islam. According to this law, as man and woman have committed zina if they have had sexual relationships outside marriage. The punishment of zina by hadd (punishment) would occur if an adult male sane person has sexual relations with a person who is not his wife or adult female, sane women with a man who is not her husband.The aspect of Zina- bil-jabr would occur if a man and woman have had sexual relations outside marriage in the following circumstances:
- against the will of the victim
- Without the consent of the victim and
- The perpetrator gained the consent of victim through coercion or inflicting of hurt or threats, or through misrepresentation. (Quraishi 2003).
The procedure for acceptance of guilt would be through public pronouncement in Court and the requirement of 4 Muslim Adult witnesses.
This aspect of witnesses is very crucial in deciding rape and related matters. In the event the witnesses are not brought by the woman claiming rape, she would be put under Zina-bil-Jabr, or imprisonment for having consensual sex.
A few decided cases would clear the situation. In the year 1982, in the case of Mina v. State 1983 PLD. Fed. Shariat Ct 183) a 15 year old girl, Jehan Mina was raped and later she became pregnant. Since her appeal did not have the mandatory four witnesses, she was convicted and sent to jail, where she delivered her child. Again, in 1985, in the case of Safia Bibi (Bibi v. State 1985 Pld. Fed. Shariat Ct 120), a 14-year-old blind maidservant was allegedly repeated raped by her landlord-employer, and his son. Subsequently, she also became pregnant. Although her case was squashed due to lack of evidence, she was charged with zina and sent to jail.
The law of rape in any society defines the attitude accorded to women. In Pakistan, a male dominated society where great emphasis is based on a woman’s modesty and chastity, a woman is more often than not more liable to blame through portraying herself to be vulnerable to the rapist or by way of advancing an element of stimulation to the rapist. Resistance to rape is an important element of consideration while dealing with rape cases in the country (Quraishi 1997). In Bahadir Shar’s case Vs the State, conviction of rape was reversed to fornication/adultery since the examining doctor did not see any bruises on the thighs, legs, elbows, arms, knees, face, back and buttocks of the victim and it was asserted she was supposed to sustain the same as she resisted to be raped (Quraishi 1997).
In conclusion, rape cases in Pakistan are hard to prove. Moreover, the evidence of male Muslim is weightier than that of the victim. The possibility of being implicated with fornication/adultery is risky for women. This is a clear reflection of the social attitude towards women (Quraishi 1997).
Current Trends
As women acquired immense legal protections based on civil rights laws and gained increased political equality, medieval rape laws came under attack. Women’s movements questioned many of the assumptions under which rape laws were based. They pointed out for instance, that rape laws were more concerned with protecting men from false accusations. The laws were seen by the activists to do more harm to women than protect them (Miller 1996).
The current trend is that even females could be accused of rape, as was decided in the UK case.
Legal Reforms
The 1970’s witnessed changes in rape laws. Common Law doctrines as well as their biases against victims were eliminated. Massachusetts and Tennessee were the first to end the corroboration requirement rule in 1968 and 1971 respectively.
Some states have passed laws allowing males to press for charges of sexual assault. Another important development was the enactment of rape shield laws (Wood S, 1998). These laws have the effect of limiting the ways in which a rape complainant can be questioned as far as her sexual conduct is concerned. This marked a U-turn, as the rights of the victim rather than those of the accused were emphasized. However, these laws are criticized on the basis that they can lead to convictions of an innocent person (Wood S, 1998).
Different Types of Rape
With variance in attitudes towards sexuality and gender equality, law makers as well as legal reformers strive to redefine which forms of behaviour constitute rape. Some advocates are of the view that rape should be construed as non-consensual sexual intercourse without one being obliged to prove use of force. This has led to a lot of controversies, especially if initial consensual sex later on takes up the hues of rape and forced sex.
Forcible Rape
This is sexual intercourse performed against a person’s will through the use of threat or physical force. As we have seen, a person could only be charged where shown force was used to subdue the victim. This requirement has undergone modification in some states. With variance in attitudes towards sexuality and gender equality, law makers as well as legal reformers strive to redescribe what behaviours form rape. Some advocates are of the view that rape should be construed as non-consensual sexual intercourse without one being obliged to prove use of force (Wood 1998). This has led to a lot of controversies.
Acquaintance Rape
This type of rape is also known as the date rape and it occurs when a person rapes a person he or she knows. It is often seen that the lines of friendship and sexual love are not well delineated in some instances and males, being naturally more sexually aggressive in nature, mistake friendly cues as sexual ones. It often happens that a women may like to have a drive with her boy friend, have dinner and drinks and a pleasant evening.
But unless clearly specified by both , it may result in sexual transgressions, if proper safeguards are not initiated, ensured and maintained. For one thing, the girl needs to specify the type of relationships she would like to maintain with the boy, at the very outset of the drive, so that he knows where to draw the line. However, it is seen that over a few strong drinks, the couple may lose momentary control and endanger themselves.
Acquaintance rapes, or date rapes are a major source of rapes in European countries and are difficult to prove, since both the parties may be equally involved and at risk. The matter of consensual sexual liberty, in the case of date rape is higher, since the boy may maintain that she permitted it or “she asked me to do it.” Therefore, Courts in such situations are in a dilemma on whom to fix responsibility? Since the most affected victim would be the girl, it is she who needs to take proper precautions so that unsavoury situation does not arise in future.By exercising strong control of emotions and preferences of moderate food and drinks, it is possible to make dates pleasant and memorable for both parties and maintain a long term friendship.
Marital Rape
Also referred to as spousal rape, connotes rape of one’s spouse. Rape within marriage was not recognized under English Common Law, traditional US as well as Canadian law (Wood 1998). There was a move in US by American Law Institute not to invade marital privacy by retaining legal historical rule that a man could not rape his wife (1960s). However, due to changing attitudes brought about by domestic violence, the doctrine was abandoned with marital rape prosecutions being admitted especially where force is employed. As per the law existing in UK marital rape is not permissible and would constitute an offence
Statutory Rape
This is having sexual intercourse with a person who has not attained consent age. This age varies from state to state. However, it is not more than 18 years in any state. Sexual intercourse with person construed as incapable of consenting is rape, if performed on a person who is drugged or asleep or one who is mentally retarded.
Traditional statutory rape laws have undergone replacement in some countries such as in Canada where touching the body of a person under 14 years is construed as offense of sexual interference under criminal code. Consent or mistaken identity of age is no defence.
Rape of Men and Male–Male Rapes
It is common knowledge that many men and boys are raped by other stronger and bigger males, especially in prison and other homogeneous settings. The primary reasons could be due to the inability of such offender males to have heterosexual unions or may stem from their manifestations of their own emotional inadequacies. The victims, in such offences suffer physical and mental trauma, almost in the same way that women victims do. It is often misjudged that male-male rapes are homosexual relationships, but this is not the case. The aggressor has pent up aggressions and inadequacies, exacerbated by local conditions, which force them to behave as they do.
They would like a present a macho image, and denigrate the younger and weaker males as ‘unmanly’ or ‘prudish.’ The male-male rape causes psychological damage to the victim and destroys his self-image. It could also give rise to paranoid and sub-normal conditions, and even attempted suicides. The loss of self-image may fuel a sense of helplessness and morbidity among the other occupants, further lowering his self-esteem. It is necessary to conduct psychiatric evaluation of such male victims in order to bring them back to normal state.
Methodology
It is necessary that in a research study of this sort, involving sensitive and confidential issues, the main issues need to be dealt with and addressed during the course of the works undertaken for achieving the negation or affirmation of the Research Hypothesis. In this case, the Research hypothesis is: Are men more sympathetic towards rapists and incidences of rape than women?
This could be due to a plethora of reasons for either being, or not being sympathetic to incidence of rape. There are several aspects of methodology to be carried out and they use the multiple data collection system. The multiple systems could entail both qualitative and quantitative surveys. The quantitative methodology invokes use of statistical and other measures of quantitative analysis whereas, the qualitative would be in terms of structured interviews. Structured interviews are of standard format which entail open ended or closed ended questionnaires. Open ended questions would give the respondents scope for expressing themselves more verbally than closed ends, in which the questions would respond with either Yes/ No or ‘don’t know.’
This is important, because in a study of this kind, in which both quantitative and qualitative data need to be gathered and expounded, qualitative data need to be structured, open ended and subject to to further research and interpretations.
Therefore, the methodology needs to delve into the factors that consider the various aspects and how it impacts upon research studies.
The methodology proposed for this study would entail semi-structured face-to-face interviews and personal discussions with 155 individuals, 50 males and 55 females, in a particular setting. The number of individuals who would be interviewed shall be taken from a wide cross section of ‘victims’ who have endured trauma resulting in variety of forms of assaults, like statutory rapes, stranger rapes, acquaintances or date rapes, gang rapes, etc. It is also necessary to interview cases of male rapes by males and females, in order to get a better understanding of the current complexities of the problem and its impeding implications, not only on the victims and perpetrators, but also on society as a whole.
The questions that would be put across during the course of the semi-structured interviews would be in terms of events that occurred before, during and after the sexual assaults. The deliberations during the course of interviews, would be taped and transcribed for future usage. Since the research question deals with the comparative feelings of men as well as women, it is necessary to have respondents from both sides to express their preferred opinions on this matters and the interview questions would be structured in such way that would offer optimum scope for further study and analysis.
In order to avoid the possibility of occurrence of gender related bias or prejudice, the respondents would be drawn from a cross section of the population, including black and minority communities
Another significant aspect that impacts upon the methodology would be one of ethical and moral considerations. The production of model questionnaires and vocal questions that need to be answered by the respondents need to be in conformity with ethical considerations and intended to view the victims of sexual assaults in the correct light.
(An Appendix containing Modelled Questions and their Answers is attached at the end of this study)
The methods for collecting the participants’ responses would be typical scenarios of suggestive proximity between boys and girls and the respondents would be required to answer questions relating to how they perceive the situations, what would be the outcomes of the situation and how it should be countered. They would also be required to express their opinions on how it could have been averted and, in their opinion who would be at fault – the man or the woman, and in the event of same sex rape, the initiator or the respondent.
During the course of the interview with such respondents, it is also needed to circulate questionnaires and get responses from the respondents. Expert medical and legal opinions would also be necessary in the light of the fact that in UK, there are impacts of several factors upon the future lives and careers of rape victims.
Men’s Attitude Towards Rape and Rapists
Any man, who actually believed that, would be unsympathetic towards a woman who had been raped since the odds are that he would consider the idea of being raped by women to be a positive fancy.
There is generally accepted theory that rape is not based on sex but a motive of hatred of women and the aspiration to dominate and rule them (Barbara 1973). The theory becomes problematic especially when one is faced with questions such as why rapists choose poor, young women as their victims as opposed to powerful, older women or why they originate from specific age and social groups (Baines 2003).
It is not correct to presume that rape is a sign of personal or social pathology. Rape happens virtually in every society, modern and primordial. In addition to non-human primates, for instance Orang Otangs and most rapists are not psychotic or otherwise mentally disordered.
To a very large extent, the perception of the victim also contributes to the manner in which her condition could be ascribed. It is often seen that most males believe that rapes are brought about by the conduct or provocative dressing of the victim. If the victim has had several earlier sexual encounters and experiences, this feeling tends to be reinforced and the degree of sympathy gets reduced. However, females would empathise with the victim in order to take safeguards for not becoming future victims. Again, the males would tend to blame the victims if they did not take protective measures earlier or resisted the attacker’s overtures at the beginning stage.
This would be interpreted as carrying the offender along and encouraging him for free sex. But it often happens that friendliness on the part of the male could be mistaken for sexual desire, especially a new person or a stranger, who are not well known to each other. In a first date, for instance, friendly cues could be interpreted as sexual ones, which are leading to the males. Males often feel that the major portion of sexual assaults are due to the conduct of the females, and hence they do not need much of sympathy, and have paid for the pleasures they had unwittingly indulged in. In the case of date rapes, or acquaintance rapes, the sympathy levels are lower, since the common ground is that the person was known and familiar, and the victim could have cautioned him or taken evasive measures.
It is indeed the familiar aspect that has goaded the male, since he believed that the girl going out with him and having drinks and dinner would also consent to consensual sex, which may or may not have been the case. Date rapes could be controlled when compared to rapes conducted by strangers whom the victim may not even have seen under the cover of alcohol or darkness. Moreover, another aspect that needs to be emphasised is that the male is much powerful and stronger than females (in most cases) and could easily overpower the female and have unilateral sex with her.
Another aspect that needs to be emphasised is with regard to stereo casting by males /females. It is seen that rape victims have certain mental characteristics and males look out for it. In the event such formats are found, the level of sympathy would be more, as compared to a well-controlled and emotionally attuned victim, which would mean that the degree of sexual assault was not severe, and therefore, much remorse need not be made. A well controlled victim would draw a lower lever of sympathy from men and empathy from women, rather than a victim who manifests the stereotype depressive, withdrawn and tense features of a victim.
Men’s Inclination to Pornography
Social researches carried in US and Canada indicate the pornography desensitizes men, makes them detest their sexual partners, thus inclines to believe that women are less deserving of equality (Wood 1998). The studies show that men who use pornography are more likely to become less sympathetic to rape victims, more sympathetic to rapists as well as exhibiting likelihood of committing rape.
The research done in Canada showed that nearly one-third of the rapists and half of child abusers used pornography in furtherance of their goals. Pornography maintains crooked belief system that allows them to rationalize and justify their behaviour.
Rape is a major problem in the present day society. Both genders are victims of rape, however the female gender constitute the majority of rape victims. Researchers have been studying the issue of rape in relation to causes so as to understand the social concern. Knowing attitudes towards rape victims assist in uncovering why rape remains such a problem. One major factor seems to be clandestine attitudes towards victims in addition to enabling a rapist to justify his or her actions.
Russell has offered evidence, that viewing pornography that portrays actual or virtual rape and/or other sexual violence reduces the inhibitions beside rape in males. while the study is not wide enough to confirm whether there is express connection between these lowered inhibitions and actual rapes committed, it does exhibit that men exposed to violent pornography are less sympathetic to rape victims and more sympathetic towards rapists.
In addition, the study makes out that males exposed to violent pornography are more likely to subscribe to rape myths, for instance, myths that propose that women enjoy rape, and those that advocate it is okay to rape a woman when portrayed to have played a role in the sexual arousal of a male.
Furthermore, Russell also emphasizes study that proposes even non-violent pornography, which on the other hand describes women as items for male sexual contentment, decreases men’s possibility to perceive women as human beings, underestimating as well as sexualising their actions.
More widely, feminist condemnation of the depiction of women in ordinary, non-violent pornography is apt to centre on the objectification of women in this matter. Despite the fact that the term “objectification” can be extremely prejudiced, numerous features of mainstream non-violent pornography characterize objectification. Pornography tends to show impractical female body categories, whereas body-types and sexualities that stray from this impractical “norm” are fetishised. Pornography showing lesbian encounters, predominantly, proposes that all female sexuality only gains acceptance from its subjection to the heterosexual male stare. Female orgasm, when it is significant at all, is construed as a function only of male sexual enjoyment.
Rape Myths
Rape myths are untrue beliefs concerning rape that are extensively held, and are employed to rationalize male sexual aggression against women. Rape myths are also construed as “Prejudicial, stereotyped or false beliefs about rape, rape victims and rapist”. Some examples of rape myths include that women secretly long to be raped or that they deceive about being raped.
Rape myths perform numerous functions. Take for instance the rape myth that only certain categories of women get raped such as easy women (loose) or reputable sexually promiscuous women. This belief, if held by women makes it difficult to understand the real risks and facilitates denial of personal vulnerability. Women, who have this belief, feel that if they do not sleep around or go to certain places, it is hard for them to get raped refusing vulnerability.
Nevertheless, where the myth transfers blame from rapist to victim, it hands out to play down a serious crime that affects a crucial number of women in our community. Other myths function to justify oppression and control of women, for instance the myth that a woman cannot be raped by her husband. This myth denies women independence and permits husbands to manipulate their wives without community interferences. Just world is another type of rape myth. It is held under the tenets that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. Those who have this belief look for evidence to blame the victim for his or her bad luck (Burt 1980).
Researches show that women are less of majority of the rape myths, while they portray the view that rape is a victim’s fault in a negative way. It is pointed out from these researches that men respond negatively to rape victims than women do. Men who accept rape myths have sexist attitudes towards women (Burt 1980). The beliefs put women in a place that is inferior to men. However, some stereotype gender roles are hazardous to women. They lead women to consider themselves as weaker than men hence must rely upon men (Burt 1980). This approach may lead to acceptance of abuse, depression, dependence and the like.
Research powerfully supports the postulation that people tolerate rape and blame the sufferer most, when they clinch on rape myths, hug traditional gender roles, accept interpersonal violence and have adversarial sexual beliefs (Burt 1980).
Sex, Gender Roles and Attitudes Towards Rape Victims
It is seen that in a patriarchical society where males are stronger and more dominant than men, it is difficult for women to prove their innocence in rape related cases, especially in Western permissive societies. This is accentuated by the fact that the aspect of consensual sex could be present in cases of date or acquaintance rapes, sexual relationships which were later termed as rape by women. Therefore, the main questions that would arise would be in terms of whether a police officer would take a lighter view of rape accusation in the case of date or acquaintance rape as compared to stranger rapes. Whether the fact that sexual offense would be lowered in the case of date, or acquaintance rapes, as compared to other kinds of rapes.
Researchers have found that women who hold traditional roles have high chance of being raped than those who have feminist views. Researchers have also shown that women who accepted rape myths and held more traditional sex roles could not believe a woman who said she was raped. Most researches have shown that men hold stronger beliefs in rape myths and hold stronger rape tolerant attitudes than women (Acock & Ireland 1983). These researches also indicate that men attribute more responsibility to the culprit than women. Men are seen to be more likely than women to accept that the woman in the incidence has done something wrong to provoke the rape (Acock & Ireland 1983).
The studies also found that men viewed rape victims less favourably than women. Women portrayed more negative attitudes towards rapists than men did, felt a bit sure concerning his guilt and felt that he should spend more time in jail. Women, on top of feeling the crime to be serious, empathize with victims more than men. Moreover, both genders were seen to lay the blame on the victim in the acquaintance rape scene, on top of feeling stranger rape to be more serious crime than acquaintance (Miller 1996) (Acock & Ireland 1983).
Some researchers involving both genders attending rape workshops indicate that people who attended the workshop had crucially more positive attributes towards the victim and expressed the feeling that rapist should serve longer jail terms. This workshop is seen to have influenced men more than women. As per Brems and Wagner (1993), people with pro-feminist attitude are more likely to place minimum responsibility on the female victims of rape more above those holding traditional views and are more inclined to place blame on the rapist (Anderson & Spencer 2001) (Acock & Ireland 1983).
Attribution Theory
The attribution theory is employed by some theorists to show how some individuals may place blame on victims of rape (Anderson. & Spencer 2001). More often than not, the victim’s demeanour, conditions of the attack, as well as the person’s behaviour helps assess how much blame the person will lay on the person raped. Attribution theory is based on the process of outlining causal inferences concerning behaviour. As far as attribution theory is concerned, it is assumed that when a person looks at an event, relying on background, experiment in addition to other information, the person is able to make out why the event happened (Nagel 2005).
This simply implies that when judging rape situations, a person’s own background, and the evidence available to him or her concerning the incident, the victim’s characteristics as well as the rapist’s characteristics will all form the basis upon which the person will place the blame on the victim and perpetrator (Anderson I. & Spencer C, 2001).
Cultural Spill-Over Theory
This theory is rooted upon the observation that social variables far from personal articulations, also contribute to interpersonal violence. What the theory proposes is that, “the more the society tries to acknowledge the use of physical force to attain socially accepted ends, for instance school order, crime control and military dominance, the more that force will be generalized to other aspects of life such as the family, sex relationships” (Anderson I. & Spencer C, 2001).
Thus rape may be indirectly accepted through cultural factors. Researchers have found that social settings that tend to endorse violence are marked by poverty, youthfulness as well as disadvantaged minorities.
Desensitization and Media Effects
Desensitization is a psychological procedure that has frequently been employed in clarifying observers’ emotional reactions to media violence. Studies concerning emotional reactions to violent messages are based upon the likelihood that sustained contact with violence in the mass media will consequently lead to desensitization. What this means is that exposure to media violence will weaken feelings of concern, empathy, or sympathy that viewers might have toward victims of rape.
By way of winding up, exposure to violence in the mass media may possibly result in desensitization consequences in which observers experience reduced feelings of concern, empathy, or sympathy toward victims of actual violence. Study has revealed that viewers who watch a great quantity of media violence show a reduced amount of physiological reactivity to violence in other spheres. Both genders if exposed to media sexual violence they will show less sympathy toward rape victims depicted in other contexts and are normally less able to sympathize with rape victims. On the other hand, desensitization to victims after desensitization may take place if sufficient rest period is allowed.
Analysis of the Research
Conclusion
Based on current studies it emerges that studies investigating attitudes toward victims of rape have repeatedly been inadequate because of integration in larger studies, instead of focusing exclusively on attitudes, on top of relying mainly on college-aged participants (Deitz 1982 ).
However, with a randomly sampled study, the results exhibit important group differences that seem to suggest the relationship between race and socioeconomic status concerning attitudes toward rape victims is complex (Deitz 1982). Moreover, age, sex, educational level, and income are crucial pointers in determining attitudes toward victims whether that portrayed by men or women (Miller 1996). For instance, men and individuals with higher levels of education are more likely to express sympathetic attitudes toward victims of rape, in contrast to the attitudes expressed by older individuals.
Thus, it is seen that, to a large extent, the aspects of sympathy or empathy shown by males and females would lie in the steroecasting of beliefs and rape myths held and the application of such steroecasts and myths in the relevant situation of rape victims.
It is also necessary to understand the attitudinal mix, of good emotions and bad emotions being felt by the victims as this is necessary to restore parity and help them on the road to recovery and self-belief. With regard to the cultural stereo casting, it is seen that females could lists more myths than males and they seem to have more knowledge and understanding about the cultural settings regarding rape myths. Since they have a better understanding, they would be in a better position to empathise with the victims and interact with them with least inconvenience or distress.
It needs to be remembered that the stress levels of the victims are very high, although some of the rape victims may be able to control their emotions to a very large extent. Females gain a better insight since they are able to picture themselves as potential victims and they need to gain knowledge on how to take effective steps for safeguarding themselves.
Another important factor while concluding this essay, is in terms of evaluating the beliefs and prejudices of the people who come into contact with the rape victims. Since most of them would expect the victims to be in a state of shock and emotional distress, they would be able to sympathise better, but if the level of communicating distress and sorrow is not of expected levels. It is possible that the sympathy and empathy levels would go down, since they would perceive the problem is not as critical as it is made out to be, or that it has been hyped by the media, etc
Another important aspect is that, in this essay, only the perception of rape victims has been considered. It is also necessary to make comparative studies of rape victims with victims of other disasters, say road accidents, serious mental or physical debility or illness or trauma arising out of other causes.
The two important aspects are rape myths held by individuals, and stereo typing of peoples attitudes and beliefs in these cases. It also needs to be cautioned that often individuals do not outwardly manifest high levels of acceptance but their behaviour may inconsistent with their attitudes. It is necessary that people interacting with rape victims need to show correct feelings of warmth, caring and understanding coupled with professional care and medication in order for the victim to overcome the trauma and grief over a time period.
The aftermath of the trauma of rape should be considered more significant and crucial from the point of view of the victim, since it is here that she has to adjust to social, cultural and personal demands and slowly, but steadily, regain the past life and activities. For this end, the medical professionals and health care support staff needs to take necessary steps to ensure a smooth transition into the real world.
Appendix
Questionnaire for Respondents
Qs.1: In your opinion, are men more to blame for rape than women?
Ans: 65% of the respondents answered that, in most cases of rape, women are more to blame than men. To 58% of the interviewees, the contributory blame attributable to rape under the influence of drugs, substance abuse and large intake of alchohol. However, some (29%) were of the opinion that, in certain circumstances, the dividing line between consensual sex and rape are not finely demarcated. In such cases, the blame would rest both, on the man as well as the woman, or, in the case of same sex rape, on both parties.
Qs.2: Do your sympathies go out to the victims, or to its perpetrators?
Ans: 78% of the women respondents empathised with the victims, while 62% of men respondents believed that the victims had caused the rape due to their own misjudgements and light handling of a potentially tense situation. For 79% of the women, it is necessary to sympathise to the extent that it was not caused by their own actions.
Qs. 3. Do you think that the present law and order situation is squarely to blame for high incidence of rape in this country?
Ans: 76% of the male respondents were of the opinion that it was not possible to have large contingents of policemen at every point, scenting potential rape and devising methods to prevent it. 79% of them felt, to a large extent, it would be necessary for people to be in a position to take care of their own health and welfare through appropriate deterrent measures.
However, a large majority (85%) felt that the present state of law were largely apathetic to victims and treated them like ordinary criminals. This attitude needs to be changed.
Q 4: What, according to you, should be the right countermeasures to reduce the levels of rape in this country?
Ans: Nearly 75% of the respondents felt that robust educational and scientific methods, including ‘mock rapes’ scenes need to be part of teaching curriculum, including ways and means of foiling or preventing potential rapes, including tackling a group of armed offenders. This could also include self-defence courses to women to protect their health, disarm potential rapists and thus effectively prevent rape attacks. Intensive training on the use of personal security products and defence weaponry needs to be made to deal with sex offenders and assaulters.
Q 5: How far do you think more robust legislation could effectively deal with this problem?
Ans: According to 67% of the respondents, aspect of legislation comes only after the deed has been perpetuated. It is necessary to drastically reduce the incidence of rape by making the victims stronger and more potent in dealing individually with such incidents. 90 % felt that legislation could be an effective device for awarding maximum punishment to the offenders and serving as a deterring example of how the legal systems views rape offences in this country.
Q.6: Considering the fact that rape laws differ from state to state, would it be practical and proper to have Federal laws that could provide overriding powers to tackle this crime?
Ans: In strict legal application, the government of the state in whose jurisdiction the rape has occurred are the law enforcers who could provide the legal machinery to provide effectively with such crimes. Nevertheless, it may often be necessary to seek federal support and decided Federal cases laws to deal effectively with the matter. Nearly 64% of people felt that Federal laws need to be complimentary to state laws to provide justice and not seek to replace the local laws existing in the state.
Q.7: What in your opinion are the deterrent countermeasures to deal with rape?
Ans: Nearly 86% of the respondents believed that rape is a serious crime and an affront to social order and moral systems. It is also a trauma for the victims and their families. An effective deterrent would be strong punitive laws and punishment systems that could haunt even strong-minded criminals. However, it is also seen that rape is an extraneous momentary emotional response to stress situations in the perpetrator’s mind. Even a ordinary person with no criminal background could become a rapist or, conversely, a rape victim. Moreover, unlike crimes for gain, it may not also have any outward motives. 80% of the respondents felt that a stronger law and order situation with preventive powers could be an effective measure to tackle it on a stronger footing.
Q. 8: Could rape be prevented and how?
Ans: 68% of the respondents also felt that the best way to prevent rape is to avoid situations, or circumstances that could be potentially, rape-inducing. Therefore, for women to travel alone without protective strategies could be seen as high-risk situation and needs to be avoided. Therefore, It is advised that it would be safer if women do travel in known company in unknown terrain. People also need to exercise greater selectivity in their choice of guides, friends and mates, since this has innate possibilities of unsavoury and sometimes fatal sexual misadventures.
Final Conclusion
Nearly 77% of the respondents felt, while that while circumstance determined the degree of blame for rape, women had a greater propensity to sympathise with women victims as compared to men.
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