Rape and Sexual Assault

Dean G. Kilpatrick, Ph.D. National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center Medical University of South Carolina Rape is the most underreported crime in America. Significant changes to improve the treatment of sexual assault victims have occurred in the last two decades. The impact of reforms, led by the women's movement, can be seen in the legal, mental health, medical, and victim services arenas. During the 1970s, the first rape crisis center was established. The treatment of victims in the criminal justice system was questioned, and hundreds of laws were passed to protect rape victims in the courts. Medical protocols have been developed and widely accepted. The mental health impact of rape is well documented in the literature, and the practices of mental health professionals have improved. Although the treatment of rape victims today is vastly different from three decades ago, many victims still do not receive the assistance and treatment they need. Statistical Overview Obtaining an accurate measurement of rape and other types of sexual assault is a challenge. Determining the scope and nature of rape and other types of sexual assault depends on how these crimes are defined and measured. It is important to note that statistics are derived from different sources employing different practices to gather information. In 1997, there were 96,122 reported forcible rapes. (Federal Bureau of Investigation. (released November 22, 1998). Crime in the United States, Uniform Crime Reports, 1997, p.26. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.) An estimated 70 of every 100,000 females in the country were reported rape victims in 1997, a decrease 1% from 1996 13% from 1993. (Ibid.) 1997 National Crime Victimization Survey, which includes both reported and unreported crimes, found that despite a decline of 7% in the nations crime rate in 1997, rates of rape and sexual assault did not decline. (Bureau of Justice Statistics. (1998, December). National Crime Victimization Survey. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.) The National Violence Against Women Survey, the first national study on stalking, found that in the 12 months preceding the study, 0.3 percent of all women surveyed experienced a completed or attempted rape, and 1.9 percent experienced a physical assault. (Violence Against Women Grants Office. (1998, July). Stalking and Domestic Violence: Third Annual Report to Congress Under the Violence Against Women Act, p.7. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.) The National Womens Study (NWS), found that approximately 13% of adult women had been victims of completed rape during their lifetime (Kilpatrick, Edmunds, & Seymour, 1992; Resnick, Kilpatrick, Dansky, Saunders, & Best, 1993). During the year between interviews, 0.6% of adult women, or an

estimated 683,000 women were victims of rape (Kilpatrick et al., 1992). In the two years between the first and third interviews, 1.2% of the adult participants in the NWS were raped. The results: an estimated 1.1 million women were raped in the United States during this two-year period (Kilpatrick, Resnick, Saunders, Best, 1997). Using a definition of rape that includes forced vaginal, oral, and anal sex, the National Violence Against Women Survey found that 1 of 6 U.S. Women and 1 of 33 U.S. men has experienced an attempted or completed rape as a child and/or adult. According to estimates, approximately 1.5 million women and 834,700 men are raped and/or physically assaulted annually by an intimate partner in the United States. (Tjaden, P. & Thoennes, N. (1998, November). A Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women: Findings From the National Violence Against Women Survey, @ p. 2 & 5. Research in Brief. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice.) In 1996, more than two-thirds of rape/sexual assaults committed in the nation remained unreported. (Ringel, C. (1997, November). Criminal Victimization in 1996, Changes 1995-1996 with Trends 1993-1996, NCJ-165812, p.3. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.) The National Survey of Adolescents (NSA), a National Institute of Justice funded study of national household probability sample of 4,023 adolescents age 12-17, found that 8.1% of U.S. adolescents had been victims of at least one sexual assault (Kilpatrick & Saunders, 1997; Kilpatrick, Acierno, Saunders, Resnick, Best, & Schnurr, 2000). This indicates that an estimated 1.8 million 12 to 17 year olds have been sexually assaulted More than 52 percent of all rape/sexual assault victims were females younger than 25. (Perkins, C. (1997, September). Age Patterns of Victims of Serious Crimes, NCJ-162031, p.1. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.) Women who suffered physical injury in addition to the injury suffered from the rape or sexual assault reported 37% of those crimes, while only 22% of rapes and sexual assaults without an additional physical injury were reported. (Craven, D. (1994.) A Sex Differences in Violent Victimization, @ NCJ-164508, p.5. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Special Report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice). Introduction Although rape has occurred throughout history, the birth of the anti-rape movement in the US occurred only in the early 1970s. In 1972, the first rape crisis centers were established in San Francisco, CA (Bay Area Women Against Rape) and Washington, D.C. These grass roots centers grew out of the womens movement. They recognized that rape was an all-too-common part of womens lives and that it had a devastating impact on health and freedom. The goals of centers were to educate society about rape and rape-prevention and to improve the treatment of victims. In the nearly three decades since its birth, the anti-rape movement has accomplished many of its goals. Major accomplishments include: Widespread reform of rape statutes and other legislation. Improvements in the way criminal justice officials treat victims.

A better understanding of the scope and impact of rape. Improved medical and mental health services. Better funding for rape crisis centers and others who assist victims. Despite this progress, there is much to be done. The fact that well over a million Americans of all ages are raped each year suggests that efforts to prevent rape have not been entirely successful. Most rape cases go unreported (Kilpatrick, Edmunds, & Seymour, 1992; Crowell & Burges, 1996; Ringel, 1996). In turn, those cases are never investigated or prosecuted. Despite vast improvements in the investigation and prosecution of rape, more are needed. Too few victims who sustain rape-related mental or physical health problems obtain effective treatment. This page will address the following issues: Defining rape and other types of sexual assault The scope and mental health effects of rape Victims concerns Improving cooperation from victims Improving the way criminal justice officials and victim assistance providers Improving the investigation and prosecution of rape cases Evolution of the Definition of Sexual Assault and Rape Several authors have observed (e.g. Bourque, 1989; Estrich, 1987; Koss, 1993 ) that many people still believe that rape occurs only when a stranger attacks an adult woman using overwhelming force. Using this definition, boys or men cannot be raped; girls and adolescents cannot be raped; no one can be raped by someone they know; and forced oral or anal sex does not constitute rape. Thus, attempts to discuss the topic are often frustrating because many people define rape differently. Before the 1960s, the legal definition of rape was generally a common law definition used throughout the United States that defined rape as "A carnal knowledge of a women not ones wife by force or against her will." In 1962, the United States Model Penal Code (MPC) was established and updated the definition of rape. The MPC defined rape as " A man who has sexual intercourse with a female not his wife is guilty of rape if . . . he compels her to submit by force or threat of force or threat of imminent death, serious bodily injury, extreme pain, or Kidnapping" (Epstein & Langenbahn, 1994, p. 7). In addition to limiting the definition of rape to a crime against a woman, this code was also very narrow because: It did not acknowledge rape within marriage or co-habiting couples. It focused on the victims consent rather than the perpetrators forcible conduct. Moreover, the MPC established a grading system for the rape and similar offenses. For example, it stated that rape by a voluntary social companion was a less serious offense than rape by a stranger. In addition, it treated the rape of men as a lesser felony than the rape of women.

In the 1970s and 1980s, extensive rape reform legislation was enacted throughout the country. And the legal definition of rape dramatically changed. Michigans 1975 Criminal Sexual Conduct Statute, became the national model for an expanded definition of rape. Today, Illinois Criminal Sexual Assault Statute is considered the national model (Epstein & Langenbahn, 1994, p. 8). Both statutes broadly define rape to include: Gender neutrality, broadening earlier definitions of rape to include men. Acts of sexual penetration other than vaginal penetration by a penis. Distinguishing sexual abuse by the degree of force or threat of force used. That issimilar to the "aggravated vs. simple" distinction applied to physical assaults. Threats, as well as overt force, are recognized as means of overpowering victims. Taking advantage of an incapacitated victim. This includes mental illness, victims under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Some states require that perpetrators give victims intoxicants to obtain sexual access.) The Federal Definition of Rape Despite these legislative changes, much of the debate that exists today about what constitutes sexual assault and rape stems from how rape should be defined (Crowell & Burgess, 1996). For purposes of this chapter, rape and other forms of sexual assault are defined using the Federal Criminal Code (Title 18, Chapter 109A, Sections 2241-2233). Although criminal statutes regarding rape differ somewhat state-to-state, the Federal Code is national. For example, in addition to incorporating the reform provisions discussed above -gender neutrality and a broad definition of sexual abuse acts -- the Federal Criminal Code: Distinguishes between types of sexual abuse on the basis of the degree of force or threat of force used. Does not use the term "rape," and does not require the victim to label the act as rape to meet the elements of the crime. The 1986 federal statute defines two types sexual assault: Sexual abuse Aggravated sexual abuse Aggravated Sexual Abuse Aggravated Sexual Abuse by Force or Threat of Force: When a person knowingly causes another person to engage in a sexual act... or attempts to do so by using force against that person, or by threatening or placing that person in fear that that person will be subjected to death, serious bodily injury, or kidnapping. Aggravated Sexual Abuse by Other Means: When a person knowingly renders another person unconscious and thereby engages in a sexual act with that other person; or administers to another person by force or threat of force, or without the knowledge or permission of that person, a drug, intoxicant, or other similar substance and thereby: a) Substantially impairs the ability of that person to appraise or control conduct

b) Engages in a sexual act with that person Aggravated Sexual Abuse with a Child: When a person knowingly engages in a sexual act with another person who has not attained the age of twelve years, or attempts to do so. The definition for aggravated sexual abuse by force or threat of force is analogous to what is usually called forcible rape. Aggravated sexual abuse with children is a serious form of what is generally called statutory rape. However, aggravated sexual abuse by other means is a type of non forcible rape for which the perpetrator "shall be fined . . . imprisoned for any term of years or life, or both." Sexual Abuse The Federal Criminal Code definition of sexual abuse includes: Causing another person to engage in a sexual activity by threatening or placing that person in fear. Engaging in a sexual act if that person is incapable of declining participation in, or communicating unwillingness to engage in that sexual act. Abusive Sexual Contact is defined as "when no sexual penetration actually occurred but when the intentional touchingof the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks of any person with an intent to abuse, humiliate, harass, degrade, or arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person occurs." Sexual Abuse of a Minor or Ward is defined as "knowingly engaging in a sexual act with a person between the ages of 12 and 15 years. (For additional information on sexual crimes against children, see the chapter on child victims). Implications of Definitions While great reforms have been made, the statute-based definitions for sex crimes fall short. They are lacking in the following areas:

The victims state of mind at the time of the crime, such as fear of death or serious bodily harm; and the victims crime-related physical and psychological injuries. The types of unwanted sexual acts involved, the types of force or the coercion used, and the ages of victims and perpetrators.

Measuring Rape and Other Types of Sexual Assault Estimates of the number of rapes and/or the number of women who have been raped differ because the sources of these estimates use different samples, different definitions of rape, different time frames of measurement, different ways of measuring whether a rape has happened, and different units of analysis in reporting statistics. The difference between rape cases and rape victims is that women can be raped more than once. There is a difference between the incidence of rape and the prevalence of rape. Incidence generally refers to the number of cases that occur in a given time period (usually a year), and incidence statistics are often reported as rates (e.g., the number of rape cases occurring per 100,000 women in the population). Prevalence generally refers to the percentage of women who have been raped in a specified time period (e.g., within the past year or throughout their lifetime).

There is clearly a difference between estimates based on reported vs. nonreported cases. Fourth, estimates of rape come from two basic types of sources: 1) government sources 2) studies conducted by private researchers funded by federal grants. With respect to government sources, the FBI Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) provides data on an annual basis only on the number of rapes and attempted rapes that were reported to US law enforcement that year. As noted by Crowell and Burgess (1996), another limitation of the UCR is that it uses the narrow common-law definition of rape (i.e., a carnal knowledge [penile-vaginal penetration only] of a female forcibly and against her will), meaning that other types of rape defined by federal law are not reported. The Bureau of Justice Statistics conducts the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) each year to measure reported and unreported crime, including rape and other sexual assaults. Every six months, the NCVS interviews residents 12 years or older in approximately 50,000 randomly-selected households about crimes that happened since the last interview. In addition to data about the number of rape cases each year and rape rates (i.e., number of cases per 10,000 women), the NCVS provides information about the percentage of cases reported to police and characteristics of cases. Because the NCVS is primarily measures the number of rapes per year among those 12 and older, it cannot measure rapes that occurred prior to the six-month reference period. Nor does it address children under age 12. Understandably, the NCVS and most other studies dont measure rapes of homeless women. There are three major nongovernmental studies that provide additional information about rape.

The National Womens Study (NWS), funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse: longitudinal survey of a national probability household sample of 4008 adult women who were assessed at baseline and at one and two year follow-ups. The NWS generated the influential Rape in America: A report to the nation (Kilpatrick, Edmunds, & Seymour, 1992) as well as a number of other peer reviewed scientific publications. The NWS measured rapes and other sexual assaults occurring throughout victims lifetime as well as new cases occurring to adult women during the follow-up period. The National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAW), funded by the National Institute of Justice and the CDC: used similar methodology to that pioneered by the NWS and interviewed 8,000 adult women and 8005 adult men (Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998). Rape and sexual assault were measured using screening questions virtually identical to those used in the NWS. Like the NWS, the NVAW measured the lifetime prevalence of rape as well as rapes that occurred during the year prior to the interview. The National Survey of Adolescents (NSA), funded by the National Institute of Justice: conducted interviews with a national household probability sample of adolescents age 12-17. These adolescents were interviewed about sexual assaults and other crimes that occurred throughout their lifetimes. Also, information was

gathered about important characteristics of these sexual assault cases (Kilpatrick & Saunders, 1996) and about the mental health effect of such experiences. National Information About the Scope and Key Characteristics of Rape Cases Accurate information about rape cases and victims is necessary to ensure victims receive effective treatment and cases are thoroughly investigated and prosecuted. The best information comes from the surveys described above. These surveys are ideal because they include information about reported and unreported cases. Only a small percentage of rape cases are reported to police, and it is critically important that we learn more about these cases and the victims. Prior to describing the scope and case characteristics data, it is important to consider the following: Encouraging victims to report attacks to police is critically important because most rapists are recidivists who will continue to rape they are apprehended, prosecuted, and incarcerated. It is extremely important to understand the extent of Americas sexual assault problem to properly address it. Different types of sexual assault cases require different investigative and prosecutorial strategies to enhance the prospects of successful prosecution. The size, funding, and staffing of law enforcement agencies in the US varies widely. A one-size-fits-all sexual assault protocol applicable across all jurisdictions does not exist. Unreported Sexual Assault Cases National research indicates that most sexual assaults are never reported to police. The best data on unreported crime comes from victimization surveys. The surveys interview representative samples of adults and/or adolescents asking if they have been victims and if they reported the crimes. Some surveys also ask why victims did not report these crimes.

At the national level, major victimization surveys suggest that most sexual assaults go unreported. The National Crime Victimization Survey, conducted each year by the U.S. Department of Justice, found that only 32% of sexual assault cases were reported to police in 1994. The Rape in America survey conducted as a part of the National Womens Study found that only 16% of rape cases were reported to police or other authorities (Kilpatrick, Edmonds & Seymour, 1992). Data from the National Survey of Adolescents indicated that only 14.3% of sexual assault cases had been reported. Thus, these national studies indicate that somewhere between 14% and 32% of all sexual assaults or rapes are ever reported to police. A study of nonincarcerated sex offenders conducted by Dr. Gene Abel and his colleagues found that 126 men admitted that they had raped. These 126 rapists had committed a total of 907 rapes involving 882 different victims. The average number of different victims per rapist was seven (Abel et al., 1987).

These findings suggest that unreported rape constitutes a serious public safety problem. The Scope of the Rape and Sexual Assault Problem As was previously described in the Statistical Overview section, the NVAW produced an estimate that 14.8% of adult women in the U.S. had been raped sometime during their

lives and that another 2.8% had been victims of an attempted rape (Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998). For adult men, comparable lifetime prevalence estimates for rape and attempted rape were 2.1% and 0.9% respectively. The NWS found that 12.7% of adult women had been victims of completed rape and 14.3% had been victims of other types of sexual assault. The National Survey of Adolescents estimated that 13.0% of female adolescents and 3.4% of male adolescents had been victims of a sexual assault at some point during their lives (Kilpatrick & Saunders, 1997). Data from the NWS and NSA indicate that revictimization is a problem for women and adolescents. Thirty-nine percent of rape victims in the NWS had been raped more than once, and 41.7% of the adolescent victims said that they had been sexually assaulted more than once. National Research on Rape Due to myths, misconceptions and social attitudes about sex crimes, the National Victim Center, in partnership with the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center of the Medical University of South Carolina, published Rape in America: A Report to the Nation in 1992. The report was based on The National Womens Study -- funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse -- a three-year longitudinal study of a national probability sample of 4,008 adult women, (age 18 or older), 2,008 of whom represent a cross section of all adult women and 2,000 of whom are an over sample of younger women between the ages of 18 and 34. The study provided the first national empirical data about forcible rape of women in America: Seven-tenths of one percent of all women surveyed had experienced a completed forcible rape in the past year. This means an estimated 683,000 adult American women who were raped during a twelve-month period. Thirteen percent of women have been victims of at least one completed rape in their lifetimes. Based on U.S. Census estimates of the number of adult women in America, one out of every eight adult women, or at least, 12.1 million American women, has been the victim of forcible rape sometime in her lifetime. While 56%, or an estimated 6.8 million women experienced only one rape, 39%, or an estimated 4.7 million, were raped more than once; and five percent were unsure as to how many times they were raped. Prior to this study, national information about rape was limited to data on reported rapes from the FBI Uniform Crime Reports or data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Survey (NCS) on reported and unreported rapes in the past year. The number of rapes per year in Rape in America was approximately five times higher than the Uniform Crime Reports or the NCS. Recently, the NCS has been redesigned amid concerns that it failed to detect a substantial proportion of rape cases. Age of Rape Victims The NWS found that "rape in America is a tragedy of youth," with the majority of cases occurring during childhood and adolescence:

Twenty-nine percent of all forcible rapes occurred when the victim was less than 11 years old. Another 32% occurred when the victim was between ages of 11-17. Slightly more than one in five rapes (22%) occurred between the ages of 1824. Seven percent of rapes occurred between the ages of 25-29. Only six percent of rapes occurred when the victim was older than 29 years old. The NVAW Survey found: 21.6% of first or only rape cases experienced by women happened before age 12. 32.4% of such cases happened between the ages of 12 and 17. 29.4% happened between the ages of 18 and 24. 16.6% happened at age 25 or greater. Note: The NWS data represent a breakdown of victims ages at the time of all rape cases; and the NVAW data are a breakdown of age at the time of first rape only. The NSA also provides information about the age at time of 462 cases of sexual assault experienced by 12-17-year-old adolescents (Kilpatrick, 1996, from the Mouths of Victims paper). 29.9% had been assaulted before age 11. 16.3% between the ages of 11 and 12. 20.8% between the ages of 13 and 14. 20.8% between the ages of 15 and 16. 1.7% at age 17. Note: In the remaining 8.7% of cases, victims were not sure or refused to provide age data. Relationship of the Victim to the Offender The NWS dispelled the common myth that most women are raped by strangers. For example: Only 22% of rape victims were assaulted by someone they had never seen before or did not know well.

Nine percent of victims were raped by husbands or ex-husbands. Eleven percent by fathers or stepfathers. Ten percent by boyfriends or ex-boyfriends. Sixteen percent by other relatives. Twenty-nine percent by other non-relatives, such as friends and neighbors. In addition to the data just presented, the NWS gathered information about new cases that happened to adult women during the two-year follow up period. This information on the 41 such cases provides excellent information about the breakdown for new rapes experienced by adult women (Kilpatrick, Resnick, Saunders, & Best, 1998) (Dohrenwend book chapter). 24.4% of offenders were strangers. 21.9% were husbands. 19.5% were boyfriends. 9.8% were other relatives. 9.8% were friends. 14.6% were other nonrelatives. The NVAW survey used different categories for victim-perpetrator relationships but reported similar findings with respect to the types of perpetrators most prevalent in rape cases occurring after age of 18. 76% of perpetrators were intimate partners (i.e., current and former spouses, cohabiting partners, dates, and boyfriends/girlfriends). 16.8% were acquaintances. 14.1% were strangers. 8.6% were relatives other than spouses. The NSA provides a different perspective because it provides data on cases during childhood and adolescence (Kilpatrick, 1996). 32.5% of perpetrators were identified as friends. 23.2% were strangers. 22.1% were relatives (fathers, stepfathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, others). 18.1% were other nonrelatives known well by the victim. Degree of Physical Injury Another common misconception about rape is that most victims sustain serious physical injuries. Using lifetime cases from the NWS: Over two-thirds (70%) of victims reported no physical injuries. Only four percent sustained serious physical injuries. Twenty-four percent received minor physical injuries. Of considerable importance is that almost half of all rape victims (49%) described being fearful of serious injury or death during the rape. Not surprisingly, the percentage of new rape cases (n=41) experienced by adult women in the NWS resulting in physical injuries was somewhat higher than cases that included

childhood and adolescent rapes (Kilpatrick et al., 1998). 9.8% of victims reported serious physical injuries. 46.3% sustained minor injuries. 43.9% sustained no physical injuries. 58.5% said that they were fearful of serious injury of death. The NVAW survey provides a detailed breakdown of physical injuries sustained and medical treatment of the recent cases of rapes women experienced since age 18. 31.5% of women sustained some physical injuries. Only 35.6% of victims with injuries received medical treatment. In the NSA, 85.5% of child and adolescent cases resulted in no physical injuries. Only 1.3% of victims reported serious injuries, and 11% reported minor injuries (Kilpatrick, 1996). Implications of These Findings About the Scope and Characteristics of Rape for the Investigation and Prosecution of Rape Cases Information from all of these sources provides compelling evidence that most rapes are committed by perpetrators who are known well by their victims. This has profound implications for how rape cases should be investigated and prosecuted. If most victims know the identity of their perpetrators, then the key investigative issue is not collecting evidence to identify the perpetrator. Instead, most cases will likely require evidence refuting claims by the alleged perpetrator that the sexual activity was consensual. Known perpetrators are unlikely to claim they were mistakenly identified as a defense because forensic examinations can conclusively link the perpetrator to the assault Second, Susan Estrich (1987) notes that successful prosecution of rape cases often requires victims to produce evidence of physical injuries to prove that they did not consent. The fact that the vast majority of rape victims do not sustain major physical injuries also has clear implications for investigation and prosecution. The first implication is that most victims will not exhibit overt physical injuries, causing many people to conclude the victim consented. The second implication is that forensic examinations must focus on detecting evidence of physical injuries that are not consistent with consensual sexual activity. Law enforcement, prosecutors, and jurors need to be informed about these physical injury data. This information indicates that most rapes and other sexual assaults involve relatively young victims - not adult women, as most people believe. This suggests that separate investigative protocols should be established for adult and child victims. Implications for Sexual Assault Forensic Medical Examinations In sexual assault cases, the victims body is the primary "crime scene." The forensic medical examination is a critical part of evidence collection. Based on the victims report of what sexual acts occurred, the forensic exam collects evidence from the victims body that can establish: 1) sexual activity occurred 2) that a

given person committed the acts 3) the sexual act produces physical injuries consistent with forced sex. The exam needs to collect evidence documenting that a sex act occurred to counter the defense that a suspect never had sex with the victim. The exam also needs to collect DNA or other evidence proving the named suspect committed the sexual act(s) in question. This evidence can be used to prove that the sexual act occurred and that the defendant was responsible for it. The only remaining defense a suspect can use is a consent-defense. One of the few ways to counter a claim of consent is to collect evidence of physical injuries (to the vulva, vagina or anus) that are inconsistent with consensual sex. Most sexual assault protocols for adult victims do not include state-of-the-art procedures for detecting physical injuries to the victims vulva, vagina, or anus. Fortunately, new technology exists that may greatly increase detection of physical injuries. The colposcope is a standard tool used by gynecologists for the evaluation of microscopic cervical, vaginal, or vulvar disease. Using a colposcope, the vulva, vagina, cervix, and/or anus can be examined at magnifications over 30 times the actual size. This permits detection of tears, bruises, or abrasions invisible to the naked eye. Colposcopic examination provides a much more objective and sensitive way of seeing and documenting genital, anal, and other injuries in sexual assault victims. Conventional rape exams without colposcopes typically report evidence of genital injuries in only 19%-28% of cases (Slaughter & Brown, 1992). However, examiners using colposcopes find evidence of genital trauma in up to 87% of cases (Slaughter & Brown, 1992). Another important finding is that colposcopic examinations of women who have had recent consensual sexual intercourse do not find evidence of physical injury. Thus, the colposcope is not only capable of detecting physical injuries invisible to the naked eye, but a trained expert examiner can also testify that such injuries do not occur during consensual sex. The ideal acute sexual assault exam protocol would have two parts: The first part would be similar to the existing protocol, which is conducted within 72 hours of the assault. However, the protocol would be changed to include a colposcopic exam. The second part of the protocol would include a second colposcopic exam conducted 4-6 weeks after the assault. The purpose is to collect evidence of a victims recovery from physical injuries detected during the first exam. That would provide evidence for an expert examiner to testify about recovery from injuries inconsistent with consensual sex. A final advantage of the colposcope is that technology exists to take color photographs or make videotapes of the injuries detected. This documentation of injuries has been described as having a powerful impact on jurors. And defendants, who entered guilty pleas when confronted with this evidence.

The Need for a Comprehensive Approach Improving the investigation and prosecution of rape cases cannot be accomplished by any single agency. At least two recent major reports strongly advocate interagency cooperation (Epstein, Langenhahn, 1994; National Victim Center, 1992). The National Victim Center Report, A Looking Back, Moving Forward: A Guidebook for Communities Responding to Sexual Assault, identified a number of agencies that should play a key role after an assault occurs. These agencies and their roles are depicted in a figure contained in the above mentioned report (National Victim Center, 1992). This figure identifies roles for five types of agencies/disciplines in responding to sexual assaults:
o o o o o

Medical Law Enforcement Prosecution Corrections Victim Services

As the figure indicates, victims who report rapes to law enforcement will likely have contact with medical and victim service professionals as well as law enforcement. If an arrest is made, prosecution professionals become involved. If there is a conviction, then corrections becomes involved. The NVC report strongly advocates establishing community sexual assault interagency councils with representatives from these areas. The report also suggests these interagency councils should negotiate a multiagency protocol specifying how sexual assault cases should be handled. Even though establishing an interagency council is difficult and may be impractical in some communities, the importance of cooperation cannot be overemphasized. Law enforcement is critically important, but law enforcement cannot succeed without the assistance and support of other agencies. The US has numerous police and prosecutorial jurisdictions. No single policy will fit the needs of all jurisdictions. In large metropolitan areas or large departments, it might be feasible to develop sex crimes investigation units. This is not feasible in small jurisdictions. Likewise, large metropolitan areas have many law enforcement agencies as well as major medical centers, rape crisis centers, and other victim service agencies. Small law enforcement agencies are often in small towns or rural areas that lack ready access to medical centers and victim services. Large agencies often have victim advocates, but small agencies rarely do. Even though victims needs and the elements of effective investigation and prosecution are the same regardless of jurisdiction, protocol should reflect the circumstances within different jurisdictions. Reasons for Nonreporting and How to Increase Reporting Why dont victims report rapes to police? According to a recent BJS report (1994), attempted crimes, and crimes that did not result in physical injuries were less likely to be reported to police than completed crimes or those producing injuries. Victims of violent crimes who reported said they did so to help

prevent future acts of violence and because they thought it was the right thing to do. A primary reason for not reporting was a victims desire to maintain privacy. The Rape in America report (Kilpatrick et al., 1992) included information relevant to why most victims are reluctant to report (see Figure 1). Major concerns identified by victims were: being blamed by others, their families finding out about the rape, other people findings out, and their names being made public by the news media. A victim with these concerns would likely have substantial reservations about reporting the rape to police. However, it is reasonable to assume that addressing these concerns might encourage reporting. A second part of the Rape in America report described the results of a national survey of 522 organizations that provided crisis-counseling services to adult victims, some of whom did not report to police. Representatives from these agencies provided a list of actions that would increase victims willingness to report rapes to police. Below are the actions and the percentage of agencies that thought each action would be effective.
o o o o o o

Educate the public about acquaintance rape/99% 0Pass laws protecting confidentiality victims identity/97% Expand counseling and advocacy services/97% Provide mandatory HIV testing for indicted defendants/80% Provide free pregnancy counseling and abortions/77% Provide confidential, free testing for HIV and STDs/57%

Efforts to increase the reporting of rape cases must be as big a priority as effective processing of cases. This requires a great deal of public education about rape, especially acquaintance rape. It will also require ensuring victims have access to needed support services and that they know their privacy will be protected to the extent that is legally possible. It also requires a public education campaign stressing the importance of reporting all rapes. References Abel, G., Becker, J., Mittleman, M., Cunningham-Rathner, J., Rouleau, J., & Murphy, W. (1987). Self-reported sex crime of nonincarcerated paraphiliacs. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2 (1), 3-25. Bourque, L.B. (1989). Defining rape. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Bureau of Justice Statistics, (1998, Dec.) National Crime Victimization Survey. Washington, DC: Department of Justice. Craven D. (1994). A sex differences in violent victimization, @ NCJ-164508, p.5. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Special Report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice. Crowell, N.A. & Burgess, A.W. (1996). Understanding violence against women. Washington, DC: National Academy of Press. Epstein, J. & Langenbahn, S. (1994). The criminal justice and community response to

rape. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice. Estrich, S. (1987). Real rape. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press Federal Bureau of Investigation Crime in the United States, Uniform Crime Reports, 1997, p. 26. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice. Kilpatrick, D.G., Edmunds, C., Seymour, A. (1992). Rape in America: A report to the nation. Charleston, SC: National Victim Center & the Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, Medical University of South Carolina. Kilpatrick, D.G. (Nov. 1996). From the mouths of victims: What victimization surveys tell us about sexual assault and sex offenders. Paper presented at the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers Meeting, Chicago, IL. Kilpatrick, D.G. & Saunders, B.E. Prevalence and Consequences of Child Victmization: Results from the National Survey of Adolescents. 1996. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, Grant No. 93-IJ-CX-0023. Kilpatrick, D.G. & Saunders, B.E. (April, 1997). The prevalence and consequences of child victimization. National Institute of Justice Research Preview. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice. Kilpatrick, D.G., Acierno, R.E., Resnick, H.S., Saunders, B.E., & Best, C.L. (1997). A 2-year longitudinal analysis of the relationship between violent assault and substance use in women. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65 (5), pp. 834-847. Kilpatrick, D.G., Resnick, H.S., Saunders, B.E. & Best, C.L. (1998). Rape, other violence against women, and posttraumatic stress disorder: Critical issues in assessing the adversity-stress-psychopathology relationship. In B.P. Dohrenwend (Ed.), Adversity, Stress, & Psychopathology, pp. 161-176, New York: Oxford University Press. Kilpatrick, D.G., Acierno, R., Saunders, B., Resnick, H., Best, C., & Schnurr, P. (2000). Risk factors for adolescent substance abuse and dependence: Data from a national survey. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68 (1), pp. 19-30. Koss, M.P. (1993). Detecting the scope of rape: A review of prevalence research methods. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 8, 198-222. National Victim Center (1992). Sexual assault legislation. Infolink, 1 62. National Victim Center (1992). Rape-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Infolink 1 (38). Arlington, VA: Author. National Victim Center (1993). Looking back, moving forward: A guidebook for communities responding to sexual assault. Washington, DC: Sponsored by the Office for Victims of Crime, U.S. Department of Justice. Perkins, C. (1997, Sept.). Age patterns of victims of serious crimes, NCJ-162031, p.1. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.

Resnick, H.S., Kilpatrick, D.G., Dansky, B.S., Saunders, B.E., & Best, C.L. (1993). Prevalence of civilian trauma and PTSD in a representative national sample of women. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 61, 984-991. Ringel, C. (1997, Nov.). Criminal Victimization in 1996, Changes 1995-1996 with Trends 1993-1996. NCJ-165812, p.3. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice. Tjaden, P. & Thoennes, N. (1998, Nov.) A prevalence, incidence, and consequences of violence against women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, p. 2&5. Research in Brief. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice.
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Rape, the Most Intimate of Crimes

by Mary Dickson 1996 It's a story so common, it never even made it into the newspapers. A 49-year-old woman who lives in a middle class neighborhood on one of Salt Lake City's busiest streets let her dog out one warm fall night as she always did. When he began barking furiously in the driveway, she ran outside to see what was wrong. As cars sped by, a masked man grabbed her and put a knife at her throat. Without saying a word, he pulled her by the arm, pushed her into her house and threw her on the bed. The dog ran in the house behind them, barking frantically. The man threw the dog against the wall, then raped the woman. He told her that if she screamed, he would "Nicole" her. Gritting her teeth, she focused on the small can of mace attached to her keychain on the table in the next room. "I know that I will never, ever be the same person again. In fact, after it happened, I asked both my daughter and my sister if I looked different. Because I felt like I was so changed, it must be on my face," she says. "All women are vulnerable like I am. And if they don't realize it, they should. Because you never know what's going to happen. You never ever know when it's going to happen. And you always need to be checking your back. I have mace on my keychain, but you don't run outside to see what your dog's barking at with your mace in hand. And maybe you should. Maybe you should go everywhere with it in your hand." While her attacker remains at large, the Salt Lake City woman struggles to get over what happened to her. "I will always feel like I'm not safe," she says. "That's my big issue -- trying to continue to feel safe in my own house. I will always be looking over my shoulder and checking the back seat of my truck and always trying to second guess where somebody could be hiding." Most women live in fear of incidents like this. We feel at risk because we are. We know the statistics. By some estimates one out of four women will be the victim of sexual assault in her lifetime. Each year women report almost half a million rapes and sexual assaults, according to the most recent U.S. Justice Department survey. In family-oriented Utah, a state perceived as a safe place, more than 4,000 rapes were reported last year. During one weekend alone, the Salt Lake City-based Utah Rape Recovery Center saw 29 victims. While overall crime has decreased in Utah in recent years, reports of rape and sexual assault are on the rise, giving the state one of the highest per-capita rates of rape in the country, ahead of New York, Washington D.C. and California. It's difficult to know, however, if rape is increasing, or if the crime is being reported more. Women who have been brutalized are more likely to report a rape than women who don't show outward physical signs of the attack. The majority of rapes, particularly acquaintance rapes, still go unreported. By most reports, three-fourths of rapes are committed by a man the woman knows -- a fact society is not willing to accept. "We want to feel safe so we want to believe that rapists have a particular profile in terms of they're easy to identify -- they wear trench coats, they live under the viaduct or hang out in vacant buildings and have crazed looks in their eyes," says Abby Maestas, executive director of the Rape Recovery Center. "And that's not true. What we have found through the clients that are served at the Rape Recovery Center and through studies, is that a rapist can be anyone -- a father, a grandfather, an uncle, a neighbor, a brother, a son." C.Y. Roby, executive director of Intermountain Specialized Abuse Treatment Center, agrees. "We have a tendency to look on it and say, well in order to keep safe, what I need to do is stay out of the

park at night, stay out of the dark alleys at night and I won't end up being raped. And yet, the vast majority of rapists are known to the victim." Diana met her boyfriend in college. He was handsome, charming, and funny. He seemed like he had it all together. Then she began to see another side of her boyfriend. He would become angry and then he'd become violent. After two years, Diana told him she didn't want to see him anymore. He became obsessive, following her everywhere she went, registering for her classes, and taking a job where she worked. The stalking went on for 10 months, but no one thought much of it. Then one night as she was writing a letter, she turned around to find him staring at her. "I screamed because the look on his face scared me so much," she recalls. "He had a knife in his hand, and he cornered me, put his arms around me, put the knife up to my neck -- it was an eight-inch hunting knife -- and he said if I screamed again, he was gonna kill me." During the attack, Dianna tried to stay detached. "I felt like if I didn't stay calm that he would kill me. That I just was better off going along with whatever he said and did and that way it would be over with. If I would have fought, I think I would have been killed. I always thought of myself as physically fit, as a strong person. I'm 5'9" and weigh 140 pounds, but he threw me around like I was a paper doll. I felt like the only thing I could do was just try to block blows. I felt very small and insignificant and weak. He had so much rage and anger that I couldn't do anything to match it." Dianna's rapist escaped through a window when he heard her roommate come home. When police arrived, they warned her she could be killed the next time. Fearing for her life, she dropped out of college and completely broke her routine. She pressed charges, but regrets she didn't push for a harsher sentence. Her rapist was only placed on probation. "I couldn't go anywhere without worrying about him popping up from behind a building or from behind a bush," she says. Just three months after raping Dianna, he was charged with forcible sexual abuse of another woman. "I couldn't go anywhere without worrying about him popping up from behind a building or from behind a bush," she says. Not only did the rape make Dianna feel more vulnerable, she was also hurt by the reaction of others. "The reaction of my landlord was that I who had caused the problems, that he hadn't had problems until I moved to there, and that he had to fix the door and he was kind of mad at me. The reaction of my neighbor was pretty non-chalant, like maybe I deserved it. I found out when I told other people that the stigma is still very strong." We live in a culture where we are taught that we have choices about our lives and that we're responsible for what happens to us. As feminist author Gloria Steinem says, "If you are beaten, you're said to have incited it, if you're raped you're said to have invited it. We all know that these things run very deep in the culture." "From the time a child is very, very small, we're teaching that they're responsible for the things that happen in their life both positive and negative," says C.Y. Roby. "So when a rape situation occurs, usually what I see going through a victim's mind is what did I do that was wrong." It's not only the victim who blames herself. Society is quick to blame her as well. "Even the innocence of children is questioned," says Maestas. "Often times I have sat with a police officer or a client and have heard that a four-year-old girl was responsible for seducing her perpetrator who was an adult. Now what are we saying? What we're saying is that we don't know how to take responsibility as a society. Therefore, we will continue to blame the victim." Rape is a devastating crime. Some women are badly injured. Some become pregnant. Some contract HIV. But the emotional trauma can be worse than any physical injury. Women who are raped have nightmares, panic attacks, waves of self-doubt, an overwhelming sense of distrust. The lives of women who are raped are forever changed. Some say they will never be the same, that its like dying. "I know that I will never really recover from this," says Maggie. "The impact will always be with me and I will never trust the same way and I know I can't even be tested for HIV for six months. So I have to even keep that in mind. I'll never be able to get away from this."

After being raped at a party, one Salt Lake woman spent 18 months in intensive therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder. "I managed to continue working for almost a year following the attack, but I was marginally functional," she says. "Finally I quit my job." She says she has only recently found the "hope and courage to face both the world and myself." Who is most likely to be assaulted or raped? Maestas stresses that rapists choose those who are vulnerable, which is why children and even the elderly are at risk. Her staff has worked with victims of all backgrounds and ages, including a 94-year-old woman who was raped and a three-and-a-halfweek-old baby who was sexually abused. Half the victims the staff served in emergency rooms were under 14 years of age. "I think that anyone is capable of rape and I think frankly that anyone is capable of being a victim," says C.Y. Roby. "I don't think that there's anything you can do to ultimately thwart being victimized, possibly with the exception of locking yourself in a room and you're the only one with a key." Dr. Michael Ghiglieri, an Arizona biologist who has written extensively about male violence, is more specific. He cites a 10-year study looking at more than a million cases of rape in the United States. "It's unfortunately a huge sample of victims," he says. "And it turns out that 88 percent of these women are between the ages of 12 to 28. Three quarters of all victims fell between the ages of 18 to 25. So rapists are seeking the women that men everywhere are seeking." Dr. Ron Sanchez is a supervising psychologist at the Utah State Prison who works with sex offenders. "From my experience, there's a wide variety of reasons that sex offenders choose victims. They can range in age from very young to old. There may perhaps be a focus on a particular eye color or hair color or body type. But there is certainly no one female profile they would go after." Rapists, notes Sanchez, can be calculating and planning, often stalking their victims. Maggie suspects that the man who raped her had been watching her. "It wasn't unusual for me all summer to run outside and change the water, so I've been very nervous that perhaps it was somebody in the neighborhood that had been stalking me, and knew that I lived alone." Sanchez says rapists are often very impulsive. For example, they might see a woman who is alone, such as a motorist stranded on the side of the road, and "seize the opportunity." "As I've worked with rapists, I've asked them how do you go about gaining access to houses and many of them said they would look for an open window or unlocked door and just go in the house," he says. "I was amazed to find out how many houses that they encountered had doors unlocked. So I think a simple thing of locking your doors and windows is a deterrent." Locking doors and windows is an easy enough thing. A woman alone instinctively bolts the doors and windows even on a sweltering summer night. For most women, such precautions become second nature. Ask a woman what she does to protect herself and she'll tick off a list of specifics: never leaving a building without her keys in hand, looking over her shoulder in the parking lot, scanning faces on an elevator, avoiding parking terraces. Yet, despite all the precautions, women can still be at risk. As Maggie reminds, "when you're at home changing your water, how are you to know you should be watching out?" It's a reality that makes her and other women resentful. "First of all, it's evenings that I lost," she says. "And now it's like even freedom around my own home. And it seems like we just keep having more and more things that we have to watch out for and more and more freedoms we're losing just because of our gender. I don't know where it's going to end." In her book, Sex, Art and American Culture, Camille Paglia calls these "somber truths" women must accept. "Feminism keeps saying the sexes are the same," she writes. "It keeps telling women they can do anything, go anywhere, say anything, wear anything. No, they can't. Women will always be in sexual danger." She may be right, but that doesn't necessarily make rape a woman's responsibility. Gloria Steinem poses the real issue at the heart of the rape dilemma. "We have to stop talking about who gets raped and talk about who rapes. Somebody is doing these things. And we have to identify who they are." Who is that somebody? Why do men rape women? And how do you stop them?

"The fact is testosterone is a real kick-starter for violence," offers biologist Ghiglieri. "It's a kick starter for every male trait, not just violence, it is the responsible hormone for making males. It does affect behavior, it actually forces aggressive behavior. Of course, as humans we do have the choice as individuals whether we are aggressive or not. But the fact is testosterone does affect male attitudes and the propensities to violence." Ghiglieri has become convinced that violence is a male tactic. "I think in general if you want to get the simplest perspective on it, male use violence to control females and they do it very often and they control those females for sexual reasons. It's done in every species." From his work with sex offenders, C. Y. Roby has also seen "a lot of desire to dominate or control others. "To a certain degree, I think it's something that we've learned socially," he says. "Males often grow up and realize that the way to get what they want is through aggressive means." Michael Kimmel is a sociologist at the State University of New York who has received international recognition for his work on men and masculinity. He says violent men often view their actions as revenge or retaliation. "They say, women have power over me because they're beautiful and sexual and I want them and they elicit that and I feel powerless," he says. "Just listen for a minute to the way in which we describe women's beauty and sexuality. We describe it as a violence against us. She is a knock-out, a bomb-shell, dressed to kill, a femme fatale, stunning, ravishing. I mean all of these are words of violence against us. It's like, wow, she knocked me out. So the violence then, or the aggression or the sexual violence is often a way to retaliate." Philip is a 29-year-old man even prison workers at the Utah State Prison say is a charmer. He is serving time for sexually abusing his step-daughter. He says anger over a divorce led to his crime. "I wasn't thinking about her whatsoever, just she was there," he says. "Somebody to vent my anger, my frustrations, and my anxieties and pain. I didn't think about her, and if you ask the majority of people who are here on this same crime, they would tell you probably the same thing. They didn't really think. They just want somebody to vent their anger out on. A lot of people who do sex crimes, do these crimes out of anger. Now sex and anger go hand in hand." Roby sees several kinds of sex offenders. Those, like Philip, for whom sexual assault is an extension of rage; those who have a need to control of have power over their victims; and those who derive sexual pleasure out of inflicting pain on others. Many of the rapists he's worked with also seem to have been motivated by sex. "Most of the individuals that I've worked with saw having sex with a woman as basically their final validation of them being a man. So they would decide prior to the time they went out and actually committed the rape that they were going to be sexually involved with some woman," he says. "The woman no longer really had a choice to make in that kind of relationship, but I don't think they started out saying what I want to do is to degrade or humiliate some other individual." Approximately 25-26 percent of the inmate population at the Utah State Prison are sex offenders. Dr. Ron Sanchez is the supervising psychologist who works with them. "I think sex is part of it. I think it's a vehicle for their aggression. There again, it's not just about sex. Many of these individuals, at least on the surface, have relationships with women and are having sex on a regular basis, but for some reason have chosen to go out victimize people in this fashion." Since the 1970s when Susan Brownmiller published her ground breaking book, "Against our Will," rape has been viewed as a crime of control and violence. But Michael Ghiglieri disagrees. He says men may use violence and force as a tool, but what they're after is sex. "That whole power and control thing as an end in itself is a myth. Power and control is used as an instrument to accomplish a sexual event with an unwilling victim. And to leave out that sexual event is to completely forget what the crime was, which was a copulation was stolen from a woman against her will. To take the motive out of the actual definition is crazy. It essentially places women in a place where they no longer understand the motive of the rapist. It's an immense disservice to women." While some feminists are adamant that rape is not about sex, Jane Caputi, a professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico, claims it's specious to separate violence and sex. "I would disagree with some of the early feminists who would say rape is a crime of violence, not a crime of

sex. Because, unfortunately, in this culture sex is completely interfused with violence, with notions of dominance and subordination. Our gender roles are constructed so we have these two genders, masculine and feminine, that are defined by one being powerful and one being powerless. So, powerlessness and power themselves become eroticized." She points to popular culture, which reflects and perpetuates this intertwining of sex and violence. "It makes it glamourous, it eroticizes that kind of violence against women and makes it appear consensual, as if women seek this out and want it," she says. "We all know the notorious General Hospital scene where Luke raped Laura and then later married her and so it made it seem as though rape was a kind of courtship ritual. Gone with the Wind is, of course, classic in that we see a scene of marital rape and the woman is made to smile as if seeming to enjoy it." The media, biology and culture may be contributing factors, but the majority of men -- those who are the product of the same biology, the same culture -- don't rape women. The causes of individual pathology are far more complicated. To understand rape, it's important to look at the men who rape. According to Ghiglieri, approximately 90 percent of convicted rapists are young men, most of them troubled. Ron Sanchez says sex offenders cut across all racial, economic and social lines. Convicted sex offenders include physicians, truck drivers, utility workers, and teachers, single men and married men with children. Yet Sanchez sees some general patterns. Rapists tend to be antisocial. Many have a mixed criminal history and a pattern of victimizing people. They're aggressive and have problems controlling their anger. They lack adequate communication skills which contributes to their feelings of rage and frustration. They're often sensitive to rejection and insecure about their own masculinity. They also have distorted views about women and sex. Most have been sexually deviant since adolescence. "Many of the rapists have what we call thinking errors or criminal thinking," where they have a tendency to distort reality," he says. "For instance, they might interpret the way she responds to them in a very friendly manner by saying "Hi", they might interpret that as that they're interested in him, as having sex with him to be blunt." One thing universally common to rapists is that they don't think about what their victim goes through. "As you can imagine, committing that type of crime against another human being requires a tremendous amount of detachment, of dehumanizing that individual," says Sanchez. Tony is serving time at the Utah State Prison for sexually abusing his 13-year-old sister-in-law. But he doesn't think it was rape. "I believe she consented but her boyfriend at the time didn't like it," he says. "My mom was a cocktail waitress so I've been around females portraying themselves as sex objects. I seen my mom in her skimpy outfits which that was the type of work she chose. After seeing women like that in magazines, on billboards, and casinos wearing hardly anything, you grow up after 23 years pretty much thinking that's what a lot of these women bring on themselves. They want to be an object. You go to different parts of the country and women don't want to be recognized that way. So I'm a monster here, but yet I'm normal in Nevada." He admits that his victim didn't deserve what he did to her and calls it a "selfish act on my part," though he minimizes his crime and its impact. "I can't put mine in the same category as a violent crime. Mine wasn't violent. I didn't break in to do the crime. I didn't use a weapon to do my crime. I just used the trust I had in my victim. That was my weapon....She's gettin over it. She's gotten over it. She's movin' on. She's goin' to college. She's doing' good." Getting at the real motives of rapists is difficult since rapists typically do not admit their crimes. They often find excuses, and experts say they don't always tell the truth. "Rapists rarely want to admit that they raped at all let alone why they might have done it," says Ghiglieri. "Oftentimes, the only confession of these people comes out during rehabilitation programs that they're put through in social services. These rapists will learn what they're supposed to say, which is, 'I'm a victim of society, we live in a macho society that made me the way I am, women are too attractive, and they're not available to me, and it's the woman's fault,' and on and on and on."

So why don't rapists admit their crime? Ghiglieri says it has to do with a very simple fact -- "A man who rapes, among men, is probably the most hated individual that can exist in a male society," he says. "It's actually dangerous to admit that you raped anyone. So men don't admit to rape, even in prison, because of fear of retribution by men who aren't rapists." Most rapists are never caught, and conviction rates for those apprehended are notoriously low. According to Department of Justice statistics, 48 percent of accused rapists were released before trial. Of those tried, only 54 percent were sentenced to prison. Even more troubling is that the average sex offender may commit hundreds of crimes in his lifetime, which means that the vast majority of rapes go undetected and unpunished. Ron Sanchez says that during therapy, offenders admit crimes they've committed as children, teenagers and adults -- sometimes disclosing as many as 50 or 60 other crimes, which escalated in seriousness. "Many of them began voyeuring in homes, then eventually escalated to burglaries, even breaking into houses at night while people were sleeping, then escalating to the point of fantasy, fantasies about rape and eventually planning and committing rape." According to Sanchez, sex offenders tend to be compulsive and repetitive, the kind of criminals who are hardest to treat. A 1989 study by the American Psychological Association found no evidence that the rate of recidivism for treated offenders was any lower than it was for offenders who received no treatment. "We need to be realistic about what therapy can do," he says. "When we talk about treatment, we're not talking about a disease or an illness that we can cure with an antibiotic or something like that. It boils down to a personal choice." Treatment, he says, can work well for individuals who are motivated and want to change, but it's difficult to treat sex offenders who have been abusing women for a number of years or who have multiple deviancies. Still, Sanchez believes therapy for sex offenders if crucial, if for no other reason than to identify who is not likely to change so that they remain separated from society. If we are really serious about curbing this kind of violence against women, most experts say the punishment for such crimes must be harsh. "If a rapist gets away scott free or gets away with minor punishment, that means rape is a viable sexual strategy for a large number of men. Rape is inevitable if we don't punish it," says Ghiglieri. "Everything we know tells us that they only begin to take it seriously when there are very serious consequences," insists Steinem. Michael Kimmel calls it a matter of carrots and sticks. "I think the stick is we need very strong laws with uncompromising enforcement all the way through the legal system so that we make it clear as culture that we won't stand for this. As a culture we can say the way we try to say around murder for example, or auto theft for example, 'this is beyond the pale, you cannot do this. We will come down so hard on you, you won't want to do this.' O.K. that's the stick. What's the carrot? If we as men make it very clear to the women in our lives that we don't support men's violence against women, that we are actively opposed to it, that we are willing to confront other men who we see doing aggressive things, then our relationships with women will actually improve."

Diana E. H. Russell, Ph.D.

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Pornography As a Cause of Rape

PORNOGRAPHY AS A CAUSE OF RAPE

Harm September 2004

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Introduction: What Is Pornography?

Proponents of the anti-pornography-equals-

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censorship school deliberately obfuscate any distinction between erotica and pornography, using

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the term erotica for all sexually explicit materials. In contrast, anti-pornography feminists consider it vitally important to distinguish between pornography and erotica, and support or even advocate erotica. Although women's bodies are the staple of adult pornography, it is important to have a gender neutral definition that encompasses gay pornography, as well as child pornography. Animals are also targets of pornographic depictions. Hence, I define pornography as material that combines sex and/or the exposure of genitals with abuse or degradation in a manner that appears to endorse, condone, or encourage such behavior. This article will focus on adult male heterosexual pornography because most pornography is produced for this market and because males are the predominant abusers of women. I define heterosexual pornography asmaterial created for heterosexual males that combines sex and/or the exposure of genitals with the abuse or degradation of females in a manner that appears to endorse, condone, or encourage such behavior. Erotica refers to sexually suggestive or arousing material that is free of sexism, racism, and homophobia, and respectful of all human beings and animals portrayed.This definition takes into account that humans are not the only subject matter of erotica. For example, I remember seeing a short award-winning erotic movie depicting the peeling of an orange. The shapes and coloring of flowers or hills can make them appear erotic. Many people find Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings erotic. But erotica can also include overtly or explicitly sexual

images. The definiton's requirement of non-sexism means that the following types of material qualify as pornography rather than erotica: sexually arousing images in which women are consistently shown naked while men are clothed or in which women's genitals are displayed but men's are not; or in which men are always portrayed in the initiating, dominant role. An example of sexualized racism which pervades pornography entails depictions of women that are confined to young, white bodies fitting many white men's narrow concept of beauty, i.e., very thin, large-breasted, and blonde. Canadian psychologists Charlene Senn and Lorraine Radtke found the distinction between pornography and erotica to be significant and meaningful to female subjects in an experiment which they conducted. After slides had been categorized as violent pornography, non-violent pornography (sexist and dehumanizing), or erotica (non-sexist and non-violent), these researchers found that the violent and non-violent images had a negative effect on the mood states of their women subjects, whereas the erotic images had a positive effect (1986, pp. 15-16; also see Senn, 1993). Furthermore, the violent images had a greater negative impact than the non-violent pornographic images. This shows that a conceptual distinction between pornography and erotica is both meaningful and operational. The term abusive sexual behavior in my definition refers to sexual conduct that ranges from derogatory, demeaning, contemptuous, or damaging to brutal, cruel, exploitative, painful, or violent. Degrading sexual behavior refers to sexual conduct that is humiliating, insulting, and/or

disrespectful; for example, urinating or defecating on a woman, ejaculating in her face, treating her as sexually dirty or inferior, depicting her as slavishly taking orders from men and eager to engage in whatever sex acts men want, or calling her insulting names while engaging in sex, such as bitch, cunt, nigger, whore. Note the abuse and degradation in the portrayal of female sexuality in Helen Longino's description of typical pornographic books, magazines, and films: Women are represented as passive and as slavishly dependent upon men. The role of female characters is limited to the provision of sexual services to men. To the extent that women's sexual pleasure is represented at all, it is subordinated to that of men and is never an end in itself as is the sexual pleasure of men. What pleases women is the use of their bodies to satisfy male desires. While the sexual objectification of women is common to all pornography, women are the recipients of even worse treatment in violent pornography, in which women characters are killed, tortured, gangraped, mutilated, bound, and otherwise abused, as a means of providing sexual stimulation or pleasure to the male characters. (Longino, 1980, p. 42) What is objectionable about pornography, then, is its abusive and degrading portrayal of females and female sexuality, not its sexual content or

explicitness. A particularly important feature of my definition of pornography is the requirement that it appears to endorse, condone, or encourage abusive sexual desires or behaviors. These attributes differentiate pornography from materials that include abusive or degrading sexual behavior for educational purposes. Movies such as The Accused, and The Rape of Love, for example, present realistic representations of rape with the apparent intention of helping viewers to understand the reprehensible nature of rape, and the agony experienced by rape victims. I have used the expression it appears to instead of it is intended to endorse, condone, or encourage sexually abusive desires or behavior to avoid the difficult, if not impossible, task of establishing the intentions of producers. My definition differs from most definitions which focus instead on terms like obscenity and sexually explicit materials. It also differs from the one I have used before, which limited pornography to sexually explicit materials (Russell, 1988). I decided to avoid the concept sexually explicit because I could not define it to my satisfaction. In addition, I chose to embrace a long-standing feminist tradition of including in the notion of pornography all types of materials that combine sex and/or genital exposure with the abuse or degradation of women. Members of WAVPM (Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media), for example, used to refer to record covers, jokes, ads, and billboards as pornography when they were sexually degrading to women, even when nudity or displays of women's genitals were not portrayed (Lederer, 1980). Some people may object that feminist definitions of pornography that go beyond sexually explicit materials differ so substantially from common

usage that they make discussion between feminists and non-feminists confusing. First of all, however, there is no consensus on definitions among nonfeminists or feminists. Some feminists, for example, do include the concept of sexual explicitness as a defining feature of pornography. Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon define pornography as the graphic sexually explicit subordination of women through pictures and/or words (1988, p. 36). They go on to spell out nine ways in which this overall definition can be met, for example, women are presented dehumanized as sexual objects, things, or commodities. James Check (1985) uses the term sexually explicit materials instead of pornography, presumably in the hope of bypassing the many controversies associated with the term pornography. But these scholars have not, to my knowledge, defined what they mean by sexually explicit materials. Sometimes there can be a good reason for feminists to employ the same definition as nonfeminists. For example, in my study of the prevalence of rape, I used a very narrow, legal definition of rape because I wanted to be able to compare the rape rates obtained in my study with those obtained in government studies. Had I used a broader definition that included oral and anal penetration, for example, my study could not have been used to show how grossly flawed the methodology of the government's national surveys are in determining meaningful rape rates. But if there is no compelling reason to use the same definition as that used by those with whom one disagrees, then it makes sense to define a phenomenon in a way that best fits feminist principles. As my objection to pornography is not

that it shows nudity or different methods of sexual engagement, I see no reason to limit my definition to sexually explicit material. Unlike MacKinnon and Dworkin, who sought to formulate a definition that would be the basis for developing a new law on pornography, I have not been constrained by the requirements of law in constructing mine. My definition of pornography does not include all the features that commonly characterize such material since I believe that concise definitions are preferable to complex or lengthy definitions. Pornography, for example, frequently depicts females, particularly female sexuality, inaccurately. Pornography Tells Lies About Women declared a bold red and black sticker designed by Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media to deface pornography. It has been shown, for example, that pornography consumers are more likely to believe that unusual sexual practices are more common than they really are (Zillmann, 1989). These distortions often have serious consequences. Some viewers act on the assumption that the depictions are accurate, and presume that there is something wrong with females who do not behave like those portrayed in pornography. This can result in verbal abuse or physical abuse, including rape, by males who consider that they are entitled to the sexual goodies that they want or that they believe other men enjoy. Sexual objectification is another common characteristic of pornography. It refers to the portrayal of human beings usually women as depersonalized sexual things, such as tits, cunt, and ass, not as multi-faceted human beings deserving equal rights with men. As Susan

Brownmiller so eloquently noted, ( In pornography) our bodies are being stripped, exposed, and contorted for the purpose of ridicule to bolster that masculine esteem which gets its kick and sense of power from viewing females as anonymous, panting playthings, adult toys, dehumanized objects to be used, abused, broken and discarded. (1975, p. 394) However, the sexual objectification of females is not confined to pornography. It is also a staple of mainstream movies, ads, record covers, songs, magazines, television, art, cartoons, literature, pinups, and so on, and influences the way that many males learn to see women and even children. This is why I have not included it as a defining feature of pornography.

Inconcistencies in Definitions
Many people have talked or written about the difficulty of defining pornography and erotica, declaring that one persons erotica is another persons pornography. This statement is often used to ridicule an anti-pornography stance. The implication is that if there is no consensus on a definition of pornography, its effects cannot be examined. Yet there is no consensus on the definitions of many phenomena. Rape is one example. Legal definitions of rape vary considerably in different states. The police often have their own definitions, which may differ from legal definitions. If a woman is raped by someone she knows, for example, the police often unfound the case because they are skeptical about most acquaintance and date rapes. Hence, such crimes are rarely investigated. This practice certainly has

no basis in the law. If rape is defined as forced intercourse of attempts at forced intercourse, the problem of figuring out what exactly constitutes force remains. How does one measure it? What is the definition of intercourse? Does it include oral and anal intercourse, intercourse with a foreign object, or digital penetrations, or is it confined only to vaginal penetration by the penis? How much penetration is necessary to qualify as intercourse? How does one determine if an attempt at rape or some lesser sexual assault has occurred? How does one deal with the fact that the rapist and even the rape survivor quite often do not believe that a rape has occurred, even when the incident matches the legal definition of rape? Many rapists, for example, do not consider that forcing intercourse on an unwilling woman qualifies as rape because they believe that a womans no actually means yes. Many women think they have not been raped when the perpetrator is their husband or lover, even though the law in most states defines such acts as rape. Fortunately, few people argue that, because rape is so difficult to define and there is no consensus on the best definition, it should therefore not be considered a heinous and illegal act. Similarly, millions of court cases have revolved around arguments as to whether a killing constitutes murder or manslaughter. No one argues that killing should not be subject to legal sanctions just because it takes a court case to decide this question. In contrast, the often-quoted statement of one United States judge that although he could not necessarily define pornography, he could recognize

it when he saw it is frequently cited to support the view that pornography is self-evident or entirely in the eye of the beholder. Many people have argued that because there is no consensus on how to define pornography and/or because it can be difficult to determine whether or not the pornographic label is appropriate in particular cases, pornography should therefore not be subject to legal restraint, or even opprobrium. It is interesting to note that the lack of consensus did not prove to be an obstacle in making pictoral child pornography illegal. This makes it clear that the difficulty of defining pornography is a strategy employed by its apologists in their efforts to derail their opponents by making their work appear futile.

Pornography As Violence Against Women

I don't need studies and statistics to tell me that there is a relationship between pornography and real violence against women. My body remembers. Woman's testimony, 1983. The relationship between particularly sexually violent images in the media and subsequent aggression...is much stronger statistically than the relationship between smoking and lung cancer. Edward Donnerstein, 1983. When addressing the question of whether or not pornography causes rape, as well as other forms of sexual assault and violence, many people fail to acknowledge that the actual making of pornography sometimes involves, or even requires,

violence and sexual assault. Testimony by women and men involved in such activity provide numerous examples of this (Public Hearings, 1983; Attorney General's Commission, 1986). In one case, a man who said he had participated in over a hundred pornographic movies testified at the Commissionhearings in Los Angeles as follows: I, myself, have been on a couple of sets where the young ladies have been forced to do even anal sex scenes with a guy which [sic] is rather large and I have seen them crying in pain (1986, p. 773). Another witness testified at the Los Angeles hearings as follows: Women and young girls were tortured and suffered permanent physical injuries to answer publisher demands for photographs depicting sadomasochistic abuse. When the torturer/photographer inquired of the publisher as to the types of depictions that would sell, the torturer/photographer was instructed to get similar existing publications and use the depictions therein for instruction. The torturer/photographer followed the publisher's instructions, tortured women and girls accordingly, and then sold the photographs to the publisher. The photographs were included in magazines sold nationally in pornographic outlets (1986, pp. 787-788). Peter Bogdanovich writes of Playboy Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratten's response to her

participation in a pornographic movie: A key sequence in Galaxina called for Dorothy to be spread-eagled against a cold water tower. The producers insisted she remain bound there for several hours, day and night. In one shot of the completed film, the tears she cries are real (1984, p. 59). Although this movie was not made for the so-called adult movie houses, I consider it pornography because of its sexist and degrading combination of sexuality and bondage. A letter was sent to the United States Attorney General's Commission on Pornography reporting that: A mother and father in South Oklahoma City forced their four daughters, ages ten to seventeen, to engage in family sex while pornographic pictures were being filmed (1986, p. 780). It should not be assumed that violence occurs only in the making of violent pornography. For example, although many people would classify the movie Deep Throat as non-violent pornography because it does not portray rape or other violence, we now know from Linda (Lovelace) Marchiano's two books (Ordeal, 1980, and Out of Bondage, 1986), as well as from her public testimony (for example, Public Hearings, 1983), that this film is in fact a documentary of her rape from beginning to end. Many people, including some of the best researchers on pornography in this country, ignore the violence used by pornographers in the manufacturing of these misogynist materials (for example, see Malamuth and Donnerstein, 1984). Catharine MacKinnon points out the frequently forgotten fact that before pornography became the pornographer's speech it was somebody's life (1987, p. 179). Testimony presented at the

hearings held on the anti-pornography civil rights ordinance in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1983, provides powerful evidence for the truth of this statement (Public Hearings, 1983; Russell, 1993a). Because it is important to know the proclivities and the state of mind of those who read and view pornography, I will start by discussing some of the data on males' propensity to rape.

Males' Propensity To Rape

Why do I want to rape women? Because I am basically, as a male, a predator and all women look to men like prey. I fantasize about the expression on a woman's face when I capture her and she realizes she cannot escape. It's like I won, I own her. Male respondent,

Shere Hite, 1981, p. 718. Research indicates that 25 to 30 of male college students in the United States and Canada admit that there is some likelihood they would rape a woman if they could get away with it. In the first study of males' self-reported likelihood to rape that was conducted at the University of California at Los Angeles, the word rape was not used; instead, an account of rape (described below) was read to the male subjects, of whom 53 said there was some likelihood that they would behave in the same fashion as the man described in the story, if they could be sure of getting away with it (Malamuth, Haber, and Feshbach, 1980). Without this assurance, only 17 said they might emulate the rapist's behavior. It is helpful to know exactly what

behavior these students said they might emulate: Bill soon caught up with Susan and offered to escort her to her car. Susan politely refused him. Bill was enraged by the rejection. Who the hell does this bitch think she is, turning me down, Bill thought to himself as he reached into his pocket and took out a Swiss army knife. With his left hand he placed the knife at her throat. If you try to get away, I'll cut you, said Bill. Susan nodded her head, her eyes wild with terror. The story then depicted the rape. There was a description of sexual acts with the victim continuously portrayed as clearly opposing the assault (Malamuth, Haber, and Feshbach, 1980, p. 124). In another study, 356 male students were asked: If you could be assured that no one would know and that you could in no way be punished for engaging in the following acts, how likely, if at all, would you be to commit such acts? (Briere and Malamuth, 1983). Among the sexual acts listed were the two of interest to these researchers: forcing a female to do something she really didn't want to do and rape (Briere and Malamuth, 1983). Sixty percent of the sample indicated that under the right circumstances, there was some likelihood that they would rape, use force, or do both. In a study of high school males, 50 of those interviewed believed it acceptable for a guy to hold a girl down and force her to have sexual

intercourse in instances such as when she gets him sexually excited or she says she's going to have sex with him and then changes her mind (Goodchilds and Zellman, 1984). Some people dismiss the findings from these studies as merely attitudinal. But this conclusion is incorrect. Malamuth has found that male subjects' self-reported likelihood of raping is correlated with physiological measures of sexual arousal by rape depictions. Clearly, erections cannot be considered attitudes. More specifically, the male students who say they might rape a woman if they could get away with it are significantly more likely than other male students to be sexually aroused by portrayals of rape. Indeed, these males were more sexually aroused by depictions of rape than by mutually consenting depictions. And when asked if they would find committing a rape sexually arousing, they said yes (Donnerstein, 1983, p. 7). They were also more likely than the other male subjects to admit to having used actual physical force to obtain sex with a woman. These latter data were self-reported, but because they refer to actual behavior they too cannot be dismissed as merely attitudinal. Looking at sexual arousal data alone (as measured by penile tumescence), not its correlation with selfreported likelihood to rape, Malamuth reports that: o
About 10 of the population of male students are sexually aroused by very extreme violence with a great deal of blood and gore that has very little of the sexual element.(1985, p.95)

About 20 to 30 show substantial sexual arousal by depictions of rape in which the woman never shows signs of arousal, only

abhorrence (1985, p.95)

About 50 to 60 show some degree of sexual arousal by a rape depiction in which the victim is portrayed as becoming sexually aroused at the end (personal communication, August 18, 1986).

Given these findings, it is hardly surprising that after reviewing a whole series of related experiments, Neil Malamuth concluded that the overall pattern of the data isconsistent with contentions that many men have a proclivity to rape (1981b, p. 139). Shere Hite (1981, p. 1123) provides data on men's self-reported desire to rape women from the general population outside the university laboratory. Distinguishing between those men who answered the question anonymously and those who revealed their identities, Hite reports the following answers by the anonymous group to her question Have you ever wanted to rape a woman? : 46 answered yes or sometimes, 47 answered no, and 7 said they had fantasies of rape, but presumably had not acted them out yet (1981, p. 1123). Surprisingly, the non-anonymous group of men reported slightly more interest in rape; 52 answered yes or sometimes, 36 answered no, and 11 reported having rape fantasies. (Could it be that many men don't think there is anything wrong with wanting to rape women?) Although Hite's survey was not based on a random sample, and therefore, like the experimental work

cited above, cannot be generalized to the population at large, her finding that roughly half of the more than 7,000 men she surveyed admitted to having wanted to rape a woman on one of more occasions suggests that men's propensity to rape is probably very widespread indeed. It is interesting that Hite's percentages are comparable to my finding that 44 of a probability sample of 930 adult women residing in San Francisco reported having been the victim of one or more rapes or attempted rapes over the course of their lives (Russell, 1984). The studies reviewed here suggest that at this time in the history of our culture, a substantial percentage of the male population has some desire or proclivity to rape females. Indeed, some males in this culture consider themselves deviant for not wanting to rape a woman. For example, the answer of one of Hite's male respondents was: I have never raped a woman, or wanted to. In this I guess I am somewhat odd. Many of my friends talk about rape a lot and fantasize about it. The whole idea leaves me cold (1981, p. 719; emphasis added). Another replied: I must admit a certain part of me would receive some sort of thrill at ripping the clothes from a woman and ravishing her. But I would probably collapse into tears of pity and weep with my victim, unlike the traditional man (1981, p. 719; emphasis added). Some feminists are among the optimists who believe that males' proclivity to rape is largely a consequence of social and cultural forces, not biological ones. And, of course, having a desire to behave in a certain way is not the same as actually behaving in that way, particularly in the case of antisocial behavior. Nevertheless, it is helpful to have this kind of baseline information on the desire and predispositions of males, who are, after all, the chief consumers of pornography.

A THEORY ABOUT THE CAUSATIVE ROLE OF PORNOGRAPHY

Sociologist David Finkelhor has developed a very useful multicausal theory to explain the occurrence of child sexual abuse (1984). According to Finkelhors model, in order for child sexual abuse to occur, four conditions have to be met. First, someone has to want to abuse a child sexually. Second, this persons internal inhibitions against acting out this desire have to be undermined. Third, this persons social inhibitions against acting out this desire (e.g., fear of being caught and punished) have to be undermined. Fourth, the would-be perpetrator has to undermine or overcome his or her chosen victims capacity to avoid or resist the sexual abuse. According to my theory, these conditions also have to be met in order for rape, battery, and other forms of sexual assault on adult women to occur (Russell, 1984). Although my theory can be applied to other forms of sexual abuse and violence against women besides rape, the following formulation of it will focus on rape because most of the research relevant to my theory is limited to this form of sexual assault. In Sexual Exploitation (1984) I suggest many factors that may predispose a large number of males in the United States to want to rape or assault women sexually. Some examples discussed in this book are (1) biological factors, (2) childhood experiences of sexual abuse, (3) male sex-role socialization, (4) exposure to mass media that

encourage rape, and (5) exposure to pornography. Here I will discuss only the role of pornography. Although women have been known to rape both males and females, males are by far the predominant perpetrators of sexual assault as well as the biggest consumers of pornography. Hence, my theory will focus on male perpetrators. A diagrammatic presentation of this theory appears in Figure 1. As previously noted, in order for rape to occur, a man must not only be predisposed to rape, but his internal and social inhibitions against acting out his rape desires must be undermined. My theory, in a nutshell, is that pornography (1) predisposes some males to want to rape women and intensifies the predisposition in other males already so predisposed; (2) undermines some males internal inhibitions against acting out their desire to rape; and (3) undermines some males social inhibitions against acting out their desire to rape.

THE MEANING OF CAUSE

Given the intense debate about whether or not pornography plays a causal role in rape, it is surprising that so few of those engaged in it ever state what they mean by cause. A definition of the concept of simple causation follows: An event (or events) that precedes and results in the occurrence of another event. Whenever the first event (the cause) occurs, the second event (the effect) necessarily or inevitably follows. Moreover, in simple causation the second event does not occur unless the first event has occurred. Thus the cause is both

the sufficient condition and the necessary condition for the occurrence of the effect (Theodorson and Theodorson, 1979). By this definition, pornography clearly does not cause rape, as it seems safe to assume that some pornography consumers do not rape women, and that many rapes are unrelated to pornography. However, the concept ofmultiple causation is applicable to the relationship between pornography and rape. With the concept of multiple causation, various possible causes may be seen for a given event, any one of which may be a sufficient but not necessary condition for the occurrence of the effect, or a necessary but not sufficient condition. In the case of multiple causation, then, the given effect may occur in the absence of all but one of the possible sufficient but not necessary causes; and, conversely, the given effect would not follow the occurrence of some but not all of the various necessary but not sufficient causes (Theodorson and Theodorson, 1979). As I have already presented the research on males proclivity to rape, I will next discuss some of the evidence that pornography can be a sufficient (though not necessary) condition for males to desire to rape (see the list on the far right of Figure 1). I will mention when the research findings I describe apply to violent pornography and when to pornography that appears to the

viewer to be non-violent.

I. The Role Of Pornography In Predisposing Some Males To Want To Rape

I went to a porno bookstore, put a quarter in a slot, and saw this porn movie. It was just a guy coming up from behind a girl and attacking her and raping her. That's when I started having rape fantasies. When I saw that movie, it was like somebody lit a fuse from my childhood on up... I just went for it, went out and raped. Rapist interviewed by Beneke, 1982, pp. 73-74. According to Factor I in my theoretical model, pornography can induce a desire to rape women in males who previously had no such desire, and it can increase or intensify the desire to rape in males who already have felt this desire. This section will provide the evidence for the four different ways in which pornography can induce this predisposition that are listed alongside Factor I in Figure 1.
(I) Pairing sexually arousing/gratifying stimuli with rape

The laws of social learning (for example, classical conditioning, instrumental conditioning, and social modeling), about which there is now considerable consensus among psychologists, apply to all the mass media, including pornography. As

Donnerstein testified at the Hearings in Minneapolis: If you assume that your child can learn from Sesame Street how to count one, two, three, four, five, believe me, they can learn how to pick up a gun (Donnerstein, 1983, p. 11). Presumably, males can learn equally well how to rape, beat, sexually abuse, and degrade females. A simple application of the laws of social learning suggests that viewers of pornography can develop arousal responses to depictions of rape, murder, child sexual abuse, or other assaultive behavior. Researcher S. Rachman of the Institute of Psychiatry, Maudsley Hospital, London, has demonstrated that male subjects can learn to become sexually aroused by seeing a picture of a woman's boot after repeatedly seeing women's boots in association with sexually arousing slides of nude females (Rachman and Hodgson, 1968). The laws of learning that operated in the acquisition of the boot fetish can also teach males who were not previously aroused by depictions of rape to become so. All it may take is the repeated association of rape with arousing portrayals of female nudity (or clothed females in provocative poses). Even for males who are not sexually excited during movie portrayals of rape, masturbation subsequent to the movie reinforces the association. This constitutes what R.J. McGuire, J.M. Carlisle and B.G. Young refer to as masturbatory conditioning (Cline, 1974, p. 210). The pleasurable experience of orgasman expected and plannedfor activity in many pornography parlorsis an exceptionally potent reinforcer. The fact that pornography is widely used by males as ejaculation material is a major factor that differentiates it from other mass media, intensifying the lessons that male

consumers learn from it.

(II) Increasing males' self-generated rape fantasies

Further evidence that exposure to pornography can create in males a predisposition to rape where none existed before is provided by an experiment conducted by Malamuth. Malamuth classified 29 male students as sexually force-oriented or nonforce-oriented on the basis of their responses to a questionnaire (1981a). These students were then randomly assigned to view either a rape version or a mutally consenting version of a slide-audio presentation. The account of rape and accompanying pictures were based on a story in a popular pornographic magazine, which Malamuth describes as follows: The man in this story finds an attractive woman on a deserted road. When he approaches her, she faints with fear. In the rape version, the man ties her up and forcibly undresses her. The accompanying narrative is as follows: You take her into the car. Though this experience is new to you, there is a temptation too powerful to resist. When she awakens, you tell her she had better do exactly as you say or she'll be sorry. With terrified eyes she agrees. She is undressed and she is willing to succumb to whatever you want. You kiss her and she returns the kiss. Portrayal of the man and woman in sexual acts follows; intercourse is implied rather than explicit

(1981a, p. 38). In the mutually consenting version of the story the victim was not tied up or threatened. Instead, on her awakening in the car, the man told her that she is safe and that no one will do her any harm. She seems to like you and you begin to kiss. The rest of the story is identical to the rape version (Malamuth, 1981a, p. 38). All subjects were then exposed to the same audio description of a rape read by a female. This rape involved threats with a knife, beatings, and physical restraint. The victim was portrayed as pleading, crying, screaming, and fighting against the rapist (Abel, Barlow, Blanchard, and Guild, 1977, p. 898). Malamuth reports that measures of penile tumescence as well as self-reported arousal indicated that relatively high levels of sexual arousal were generated by all the experimental stimuli (1981a, p. 33). After the 29 male students had been exposed to the rape audio tape, they were asked to try to reach as high a level