Learning
about dangerous sex offenders depends almost exclusively on studies of those
who have been convicted. The information obtained from these studies cannot be
applied to all dangerous sex offenders because those who are less intelligent and
less affluent are most likely to be arrested and found guilty, whereas offenders,
who are affluent, are less likely to be reported and brought to justice.
Convicted
violent sex offenders are not all alike. Their motivations for raping, and
their methods of finding a victim varies.
One of the
key advances in studying violent sex offenders has been the realization that
sex offenders are not oversexed men and that rape is usually an expression of
power or anger, and not an act of sexual desire. In most cases the aggressive
components are so predominant that the sexuality of the act is missing.
Forcible
rape can be classified as either power rape or anger rape. None of the rape
cases showed sex as the dominant motive. In power rape, the offender
tries to intimidate his victim by using a weapon, physical force, and threats
of bodily harm. He is usually awkward in
interpersonal relationships and feels inadequate as a person. Rape becomes a
way for him to reassure himself about his strength, identity, and sexual
adequacy.
In anger
rape, the rapist brutalizes his victim and expressage rage and hatred by
physical assault and verbal abuse. The motive behind this type of rape is often
revenge and punishment against women in general and not the victim specifically.
The anger rapist usually gets little or no sexually satisfaction from the rape
and may have difficulty getting an erection.
Other forms
of sexual assault include partner rape, spousal rape, date rape, incest, child
pornography and sex rings, and sexual harassment at work.
Summary, boys can be taught different sexual values
and attitudes if we protect them from violent entertainment (or at least help
them see how the violence in our media is not an endorsement of what should
happen in real life) and teach them, from childhood, to view themselves as
future nurturing, nonviolent, responsible fathers.
In the final analysis, the process of
changing our society’s attitudes toward sexual violence is not simple and will
not happen quickly. But we are now in the process of recognizing the dimensions
of the problem more acutely than we have in the past, which is the necessary
first step along the way.
Rape will not stop
until both men and women are allowed our full humanity. It is difficult , if
not impossible, to harm another whom one perceives as equally human. The
violence that comes from bias, hatred, and inequality can change when we figure
out how to relate to one another as equals…
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