Why do some men commit rape?

I’ve been trying to remember the first time I heard the word rape. It was probably in secondary school*, a news report, scandals about the church or a reconstruction or an episode of Crimeline, certainly before I ever used the internet in the late 1990s. It's likely there were references* to things like football team A raped team B, before Youtube comments, internet death threats and social media. Banter, 'banter', or 'rape culture'?

Clearly, rape something I regard as deeply disturbing. It's affront to everything I believe. This undoubtedly holds true for most people. I’ve never known anyone who has been brought before the courts in relation to this crime. I have spoken to one person who was affected by it and it instilled a fear in her I can’t imagine, for many years, and severe mental health issues. To be blunt, I don’t know how anyone gets an erection at the thought of doing it. Obviously some do. We know that sexual thoughts and impulses aren’t always easy to categorise, and out of this it's not surprising that some are more pathological in nature.

If we look at the CSI version of rape, it’s usually dealt with in 45 minutes. It’s a family member, a work colleague or maybe a popular school boy whose word most the town will take over the girl’s. Therefore it's not reported or dismissed as being her fault. Occasionally, it’s a man down the dark alley. Or the serial off the wall weirdo teased out over a couple of episodes in a more high quality show. Infrequently in popular culture is the full extent of the reality of rape depicted accurately, I suspect.

With the tabloid media, the headlines often appear to for a 'depraved monster', type approach. I don't think this is particularly helpful when you consider that many attacks have been carried out by those in positions of trust. This is not to say the tabloids don't go into that aspect, I'm sure they do, but I think outing someone as a monster doesn't particularly remind people that some attacks are likely carried out by 'ordinary' men, not CSI psychopaths.

There's the 'it's about power' perspective which tends to get thrown around. I've never fully understood this because it seems to be just left at that. Power in the moment, physical or psychological power? Something else?

I've just finished Asking for It by Louise O’ Neill which is a rather unflinching look at rape. Some of Louise's response to the recent UCD situation and her rise in prominence in the world of Irish feminism had me concerned she's cut from the same cloth of as Una Mullally in that hyperfocused way of making every other thing about gender. The book is good, though. At its heart is the local and wider response to rape - blame, blame, blame. Hence the title. In turn, the experience of victim is that of racing thoughts, the self-doubt, self-blame. It's set in current times with the impact of social media underpinning the level of judgement and a disproportionately negative response to the main character, Emma. The author also has a couple of things to say about the low conviction rate and how the judicial system is tilted more towards the accused. I should also say that the attackers in the book appear to be entitled dickheads who can fall back on their community reputation as part of their denial. Handy thing, that.

To get back to the title of this post, why do some men rape? Well, I had a look on ye old Google. This led me to an Australian website/rape and sexual assault service, which states:

There is strong evidence to show that a significant proportion of men - and some women - honestly believe that it is alright for a man to force a woman to have sex, whether she wants to or not.

Three research projects have been carried out in different areas of South Australia, involving over 1000 young men. About one third of them could identify situations in which they believe that it is OK for a man to force a woman to have sex. (The word 'force' is actually used in the question.)

The circumstances include

• they have had sex together before
• she has had sex with other men before
• she has let him touch her 'above the waist'
• she has let him touch her 'below the waist'
• he has spent a lot of money on her

People who hold these beliefs do not think of 'forcing a woman to have sex' as being wrong. They probably do not think of it as being rape.

The article also addresses power, violence, feminist interpretations of rape and responsibility as regards victims. Note that this page has a copyright for 2005 and says the last update was in April 2010. One might attack the somewhat vague stats here ('about one third', vague demographics, etc), but it's interesting that some women appear to hold these beliefs too. I would interpret the 5 bullet points as the following:

1) It's happened before, therefore I get a free pass, fcuk consent
2) She's experienced, easy. She's horny like me, all the time.
3) She's open to it, actually communicating she wants the ride.
4) As above
5) Entitlement, expecting something back, mememe syndrome.

For the Irish context, I had a look on Rape Crisis Centre website and didn't really find a webpage directly comparable to the above. There is the 2002 SAVI report, which is almost 400 pages long.

The prevalence of sexual violence in Ireland is unknown. Incomplete evidence from crime statistics, previous research reports and service uptake figures is insufficient to understand the nature and extent of the problem and to plan and evaluate services and preventive interventions.

~

A survey assessing the prevalence of sexual violence was conducted by anonymous telephone interviews with randomly selected participants from the general population in Ireland. They were interviewed at home telephone numbers in the period March to June 2001.

Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Child Sexual Abuse (defined as sexual abuse of children and adolescents under age 17 years)

Girls: One in five women (20.4 per cent) reported experiencing contact sexual abuse in childhood with a further one in ten (10.0 per cent) reporting non-contact sexual abuse. In over a quarter of cases of contact abuse (i.e. 5.6 per cent of all girls), the abuse involved penetrative sex — either vaginal, anal or oral sex.

Boys: One in six men (16.2 per cent) reported experiencing contact sexual abuse in childhood with a further one in fourteen (7.4 per cent) reporting non-contact sexual abuse. In one of every six cases of contact abuse (i.e. 2.7 per cent of all boys), the abuse involved penetrative sex — either anal or oral sex.

~

In sum, in four-fifths of cases of child sexual abuse, the perpetrator was known to the abused person. The perpetrator was another child or adolescent (17 years old or younger) in one out of every four cases.

The report also discusses the experience of adults. More recently, the RCC's 2014 annual report it says that 23.5% of over 9,000 counselling calls it received were from males.

I see that the RCC has teamed up with the Union of Students in Ireland with its 'ask consent', campaign.

Maybe you’re a little unsure about what consent is – and what it isn’t? You may have heard the idea that “no means no,” but this doesn’t really cover it because it puts the responsibility on one person to resist or accept, rather than both of you being responsible for taking things to the next level. It also makes consent about what a partner doesn’t want, instead of about being able to openly express what they do want. Consent should be freely given, and an enthusiastic, clearly communicated and ongoing yes. Never assume consent.

Yes, I'm unsure about being a human being, unsure about the other person's sobriety, ability to communicate, basic decency. Unsure and assuming the other person is open to stuff 24/7. #angrywhitemanoninternetzbasheskeyboard

Despite all of this, I feel as though I could spend days researching and even with some of the attitudes on display, I don't think I'd be any wiser about why rape occurs, pathologically. Maybe that's a job for Google Scholar. I know I've not addressed pornography, either. Finally, let me briefly repeat what I said in another thread, if we (Irish society: broadcast and print media) are to have a productive discourse on rape, it should be victim centred, not Una "yet every group of guys has a buddy who is a little wayward, and whose behaviour towards women is dubious" Mullally leading the charge.

Over to you, tGC.