Chapter 14
Attitudes towards rape victims around the world
(17 college students around the world) -Favorable attitudes: UK, Germany, US, New Zealand -Lessfavorable: Turkey, Mexico, Zimb., India, Japan Countries with more egalitarian views of women have more positive attitudes towards rape victims -Family "honor"- imprisonment of rape victims (little diff, between consented sex/forced sex)
Incidence (child sexual abuse)
-1 in 4 grils and 1 in 6 boys are abused during childhood -Disabled children most likely to be abused -Most sexual abuse is committed by family members or family fired, at the home, and more than once -Girls more likely than boys to confide in others
Perpetrator, Victims, and Effects
-1 in 4 women report being stalked often by former partner -1 in 4 victims being stalked consider suicide
Incidence (rape)
-1 out of 6 when have been victims of rape or attempted rape -1/2 of these victims under 18 and 4/5 under 30 -Rape highest amount native americans -Rape lowest amount asian americans
Prevention (child sexual abuse)
-2/3 of US children are in sexual abuse prevention programs and are more likely to use effective strategies such as refusing, yelling, running away -In all 50 states it is required to inform communities of the presence of known sex offenders
Incidence (dating violence)
-80% of adolescents report at least 1 experience -females engage in mild forms (hitting, slapping) where as males engage in more serious acts of violence -males more likely than females to report being victims of dating aggression -females under report and males overreport
Intimate Partner violence around the world
-Acid is thrown on by rejected suitors (india, pakistan) -Middle East/South Asia wife beating is justified -Women deserve it, learn from it, no help from gov. systems
Child Sexual Abuse
-Both contact and non contact sexual experiences in which the victim is below the age of consent and the abuser is significantly older or in a position of power over the child -Noncontact: sexually suggestive language -Contact abuse: Kissing, oral, fondeling etc -Recent development in child sexual abuse is with the use of the internet
Sexual Harassment at School
-Boys harass girls rather than vise versa -Ethnic minority girls, students with disabilities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender student are more likely to be sexually harassed -Sexual harassment by peers more common than committed by teachers (more distressed)
Feminist theory
-Contends that rape is rooted in the longstanding and pervasive power imbalance between men/women -men use rape as mechanism to control when and maintain dominance -support: gender equal communities have least amount of rape rates
Incidence of Sexual Harassment
-Frequency of sexual harassment on campuses is hard to assess because of few # students complaining -Women likely to experience subtle harassment such as inappropriate jokes/body language rather than blunt advancements -Students receive sexual harassment from students more than professor -Sexual Harassment is higher in poor students, socially isolated, disabled, ethnic minority, or in male dominated majors (engineering) -Feminist more likely confront their harassers
Characteristics of offenders
-Harassers tend to have negative attitudes towards women and hold traditional gender attitudes and perceive sexual relationships as manipulative and exploitative -Traditional men who do not view women as equals
Sex-role spillover theory
-In occupations with few females, mens traditional gender roles spill over into the workplace and influence their interactions with female workers -Incidence is high where male-related physical attributes are ver prominent -Results in viewing women as not as competent workers but targets
Responses to Sexual Harassment
-Most common response is to ignore the behavior -Avoiding harasser- talking to others about the harassment
3 part model of sexual harassment
-Quid Pro Quo- sexual coercion -Hostile Environment 1) Gender Harassment (not for sexual bases) 2)Unwanted sexual behaviors (sexual nature)
Elementary and Secondary School
-Report on Jr/Sr students- 1/2 girls said received sexual comments and looks- 1/2 reported being touched, grabbed, pinched, sexually -Girls harassed more likely to experience academic differences, physical symptoms, relationship problems -Boys feel less distressed than girls about sexual harassment environment
Occupational Characteristics related to Sexual Harassment
-Sexual Harassment common in male dominated, blue collar occupation- auto work, fire dept., constructions, law enforcement -Women subjected to sabotage, isolation, verbal abuse, violence, exposed to hazard environment (military) -20-30% women soldiers were raped in military -physical labor symbolizes masculinity and in these jobs that is threatened
Incest
-Sexual contact between a child and a close relative of other family member -Most frequent report of incest is between daughter and father/stepfather -Brother-sister incest is twice as common, not reported because it is seen more as "sexual curiosity" rather than abuse
Power Theory
-Sexual harassment is an abuse of power to gain sexual favors or to reinforce mens sense of power and privilege in the workplace -men usually have more power, which leads to abuse of this power for sex
Organizational Tolerance
-The negative effects of sexual harassment tend to be minimized and complaints about harassment are not taken seriously
Who engages in dating violence?
-Traditional gender role people -In individuals who were abused as children/exposed to family violence -Victims in high school are also targets later in life
Stalking
-Unwanted, repeated actions towards an individual that induce fear or concern for safety -Attempts to contact person -Place person under surveillance (following...) -1 in 4 stalking victims report some form of cyberstalking via email
Sexual Harassment in an Educational Setting
-Unwelcome verbal/physical behavior of a sexual nature when (a) submission to/region of the behavior forms the basis for decisions about the student (admissions/grades) (b) behavior creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive study enviornment
Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
-Unwelcome verbal/physical behavior when (a) Submission/rejection of behavior forms the basis for work-related decisions (quid pro quo harassment) (b) Behavior creates an hostile environment Quid Pro Quo- offer promotion in exchange for sex- layoff if refuse sex
Consequences (child sexual abuse)
-Victims show earlier sexual activity, more sexual partners, more likely to engage in risky sexual activity and become pregnant -75% of incarcerated women have been sexually/physically abused as a child
Who is harassed?
-Women more apt to feel frightened and degraded, men are more flattered -Younger/unmarried women are more likely -Women of color more likely than white women
Who is Abused? Who Abuses? (elder abuse)
-abused are typically women over 75 (widowed/divorced) -Most elder abuse is committed by family -Most common abuser is middle aged son with drug alcohol abuse or mental problems
Social learning theory
-contends that social behaviors are learned through observation and reinforcement-includes learning both attitudes supportive of rape/ sexual aggression -develop these attitudes via media
Role of disability, social class, and ethnicity
-disabled women experience higher rates and abuse continues for longer periods, and by greater # of people -Black women more likely than white women total police and got to a shelter -asians have lowest rates (because of family honor) -native americans have highest rates
Incidence
-most form of sexual harassment in workplace is sexual remarks/jokes -sexual coercion is relatively rare -Victims usually uneducated, desperate for work -Victims such a latinia farm workers, food packers, merchandise stockers with fear of layoff- deportation- harder labor
Intimate partner violence
-physical/psychological abuse committed by an intimate partner that is a spouse/ romantic partner or former spouse/partner -common couple violence: pushing, slapping -intimate terrorism: systematic use of violence, threats and isolation to control partner (mostly used by men)
The College Campus
1) Behaviors performed by a person with authority (professor) over a target (student) -target perceives behavior as unwelcome -unwanted behavior creates hostile environment 2) Whether sexual relationship between student- professor is sexual harassment if student gives consent -Student/Professor give willingness its acceptable (boys favor this view)
Positive life changes following sexual assault
1. social support 2. approach coping
Acquaintance rape
9 out of 10 cases of rape are acquaintance -victim and perpetrator know each other -10-14% of women get raped by their husbands -victims of rape less likely to tell police, than vicitims of any other crime
Leaving the abusive relationship
Barriers: 1. Financial dependence 2. Fear of retaliation
"Second rape"
Further victimization at the hands of medical, leal, and mental personnel
where are the missing girls in Asia?
In China women give birth to 120 boys for every 100 girls - ~100 million girls/women who should be alive in these countries are "missing" -male preferred countries infanticide girls (down, suffocate, poison) -Poor countries view girls as burdens (sell the babies) -Disproportionate # are leading to rape, prostitution, and abduction of women
Women's responses
Latina women more likely to avoid their harasser
Internally focused
Response that attempt to manage the emotions and cognitives associate with incidents (ignoring the situation)
Externally focused
Responses that attempt to solve the problem (asking the harasser to stop, avoiding the harasser)
Incidence (intimate partner violence)
Violence in lesbian/gay relationships occurs about as often as in heterosexual relationships
Alcohol consumption
alcohol consumption by victim and perpetrator increase the risk of rape/attempted rape
Evolutionary theory
applies the principles of natural selection and its goal of reproductive survival to understand social behavior including rape -rape evolved because it was a strategy males could use to ensure their genes would pass on -forced copulations have been observed in a variety of species (But homo rape-war rape, disprove this theory)
Girls for sale: Horrors of human trafficking
practice of buying and selling people for profit -age of victims is dropping (13, even 8 or 9) -One reason is young girls minimize their risks of HIV
Characteristics of sexually aggressive men
sexually aggressive men likely experience or witness family violence, gender stereotypes, hostile to women Rape myths: 1)forces sex with partner is not rape 2)women lead men on, so they deserve it 3)women make false accusation of rape 4)women secretly want to be forced on to
Sexual Scripts
socialized set of expected behaviors characterized by an aggressive male who initiates and pushes for sexual activity and a gatekeeping female who sets the limits 1)men take the initiator role to extreme 2)men infer sexual interest when its not intended 3)differing roles sets up misunderstanding (yes means yes, no means yes)