velvetpage (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
velvetpage) wrote2009-11-23 06:14 pm
velvetpage) wrote2009-11-23 06:14 pm
It's strange to talk about good news on a topic like this.
Nevertheless, there is good news here. It's that the overwhelming majority of acquaintance rapes are committed by a small proportion of men - eight or nine percent of the samples. That's a vast improvement over the statistic that says one in every six women is raped, therefore one in every six men is a rapist.
The bad news is there too, of course. The bad news is that the stereotypical stranger rape is barely represented in these studies at all. The stereotype of rape that we should have, and that should result in convictions, is the drunk guy forcing a drunker woman half an hour after they've left a bar. Furthermore, the attacker was known to their victim in the overwhelming majority of cases. The other bad news is that these rapists are also responsible for about 28% of interpersonal violence - primarily against partners and children.
The studies are by no means complete or conclusive. They're too small and they did not specify the gender of the victim, for example, so rapes of men against men or women against women or men are either not present or not pulled out of the other data. It leaves plenty of room for additional research. But it's a start, and it's a start that needs to change the social discourse about what constitutes "rape-rape." (I was so disillusioned when Whoopi Goldberg said that.)
The bad news is there too, of course. The bad news is that the stereotypical stranger rape is barely represented in these studies at all. The stereotype of rape that we should have, and that should result in convictions, is the drunk guy forcing a drunker woman half an hour after they've left a bar. Furthermore, the attacker was known to their victim in the overwhelming majority of cases. The other bad news is that these rapists are also responsible for about 28% of interpersonal violence - primarily against partners and children.
The studies are by no means complete or conclusive. They're too small and they did not specify the gender of the victim, for example, so rapes of men against men or women against women or men are either not present or not pulled out of the other data. It leaves plenty of room for additional research. But it's a start, and it's a start that needs to change the social discourse about what constitutes "rape-rape." (I was so disillusioned when Whoopi Goldberg said that.)