Sexual Violence Flashcards
What do laws reflect?
Reflect changes in societies values eg legalisation of homosexuality in 1967
criminalisation of rape within marriage in 1994
Male rape only criminal since 1994
What were the new offences in the 2003 sexual offences act?
Range of offences including exposure, exploitation offences, voyeurism, grooming, sexual penetration of a corpse, intercourse with an animal, causing or inciting sexual offences, trafficking, rape, assault by penetration, sexual assault, sexual activity in a public lavatory, sex with an adult relative etc….
What did the sexual offences act of 2003 do?
Strengthened sentences and improved protection from known sexual offenders.
Enhanced protection for individuals with mental orders
“Breach of a relationship of care”.
Stopped discrimination = Both men and women commit sexual offences and both men and women can be the victims of sexual offences but majority carried out by men against women and children.
What is the definition of consent?
a person consents to sexual activity, if they agrees by choice, and have the freedom and capacity to make that choice.
What did Kershaw et al 2008 discover about prevalence of sexual violence?
twice as many crimes estimated by BCS than recorded police figures
Why would only 11% of victims report sexual violence?
Humiliation
Thinking police could not help
Family matter
(HOARE AND JANSSON 2007)
Male victims -
Research shows that the majority of male rape is committed by heterosexual males and is a way of showing power domination and control rather than sexual attraction.
What are cognitive distortions?
Self statements that distort reality in such a way that an individual’s behaviour may appear acceptable or excusable to himself and many offenders believe to the outside world (Hudson 2005)
Thoughts, perceptions, beliefs and ideas that are understood to present obstacles to the offender taking responsibility for his crimes’’ (Marshall et al. 2011: 118).
What are schema theories?
(Polaschek and Ward 2002)
Previous experience guides interpretations of social cues when in similar situations
May develop during childhood and carried out as the male becomes sexually active
What is social learning theory?
the formation of one’s identity to be a learned response to social stimuli
What is feminist theory?
sexual violence is a result of a ‘learned masculinity’.
What are rape myths?
descriptive or prescriptive beliefs about rape (i.e. about its causes, context, consequences, perpetrators, victims and their interaction) that serve to deny, downplay or justify sexual violence that men commit against women”.
(Bohner 1998)
What are the four main types of rape myth?
Imply only certain types of women get raped.
Blame the victim for their rape.
Exonerate perpetrators.
Express disbelief in claims of rape (Bohner et al, 2009).
What are five elements involved in empathy?
Perspective taking The ability to experience emotion, A belief that others are worthy of compassion and respect, Situational factors An ability to manage personal distress.
What are biological perspectives?
Biological Perspectives
Medical Theories
(Rape) is the result of mental illness
(Rape) is the result of uncontrollable sexual impulses
Criticisms
Small % of offenders psychotic at the time of their crime.
Removed from everyday life and associated with ‘abnormal’ men (Scully and Morolla 1984)
Everyone is responsible for their (sexual) behaviour
