Content Warning: Sexual Assault, Violence

Against Women
Please feel free to leave class now or at anytime during the presentation
if today’s topics will be overwhelming or unsettling for you
 RAPE
Presented by: Lily Bates, Lauren Witty, Olivia Brandon, Clarissa
Santiano
 “
So long as contemporary culture reinforces traditional
constructs of masculinity, ignores the subjugation of
women, encourages silence, justifies violence as an
appealing or inevitable expression of power, blames
the victim, and enacts oppression in all of its forms,
sexual violence will persist.
-Psychology Today

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 1.
American Historical Context

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 InColonialism
two or threeand
columns
War

Terrorization of Native Psychological POWER

Populations Warfare - Both times, act
- Native Tribes - Rape of men vs was primarily
already guilty of women perpetrated by
sexual sin - Purposeful STD men with some
- Purity and excusal transmission sort of power and
of Rape - Undermining dominance
- Excusal from patriarchal
church structures
- Troop
expectations
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 American Slavery

◉ Sexual and biological control of enslaved women

◉ Excuses of why white slavemaster would have sex with his “caste
inferior”
○ Basis of stereotypes of black women being sexually
promiscuous
○ Laws of the status of a child born during these assaults
◉ Coercion of black women to enter into sexual relationship with
their slavemaster
◉ George vs States case says only white women can be raped
○ White vs Black imprisonment
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 White Women American Slavery

◉ Memoir of Harriet Jacobs

○ Abuse or liberation of the children concived during
rape
○ Abuse of the assaulted women / mothers
◉ White women held power in how assaulted women
and their children would be treated after

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 1955- The murder of Emmett Till

◉ 14 years old in August of 1955

◉ Allegedly whistled and grabbed a white
women
◉ Her husband and brother in law kidnapped,
beat, and murdered Emmett
◉ Carolyn later admitted her claims were false

WHO IS BELIEVED IN THE AMERICAN

JUSTICE SYSTEM?
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Gender Norms, Power Dynamics & Rape

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 Why Do People Rape?

◉ No consensus on why people rape, as it is such a

prevalent crime with a diversity of cases

◉ Hypothesized Reasons:
○ Rape is ingrained in our history, culture and current institutions
○ Stigmatized Topic - not thoroughly discussed
○ Pressure to assimilate to gender roles
○ To perpetuate dominance

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 Gender Stereotypes & Rape Myths

◉ Rape Myths: prejudicial, stereotyped, or false beliefs about rape, rape victims and
rapists
○ "was just playing hard to get."
○ "most women say 'no' at first most times. A man has to persist to determine if she
really means it."
◉ Fueled by Gender Stereotypes
○ Men: powerful, dominant and sexually aggressive
○ Women: fragile, passive, and submissive, yet still responsible for controlling the
extent of their sexual activity
◉ Sex-Role Socialization Analysis of Rape - individuals are taught by culture and
societal structure what is appropriate for their gender, which guides the “appropriate”
gender role behaviors in sexual interactions

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 Rape & Power Dynamics

Rape is a crime of dominance - in which one person is physically in control

of another’s body

◉ Those with higher socioeconomic status or in positions of power are

more likely to minimize the rape and it’s impact, place responsibility on
the survivor, and subscribe to rape myths
◉ Women who are assaulted by men in power are generally assumed to
be “seeking power or money,” by filing an accusation
◉ Men in power who commit sexual assault are more likely to be met with
belief in innocence
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 Case Study: Prison Rape
The Intersection of Power Dynamics & Gender Norms

◉ “Rape in prison is rarely a sexual act, but one of violence,

politics, and an acting out of power roles.” - Rideau, The
Sexual Jungle
◉ Solicit sex as “protection”
○ Generates a submissive and dominant partner
■ The submissive individual is typically referred
to as a “prison wife”
○ Adds to gender norm of men “protecting” women
while maintaining control over them
◉ System of dominance, in which one individual controls the
other
○ Rape is used to maintain power, humiliate others,
prove superiority and is a “punishment”

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 Demographics

There are 433,648 survivors of sexual assault every year in

the US (RAINN)

- 90% of adult rape survivors are

female, 10% are male
- Female college student (18-24)
are 3x more likely to be
survivors of rape, attempted
rape, and sexual assault
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 Demographics

Stats:
- 66% of rapists are white
- Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Media Portrayal:
- I was unable to find statistic on this other than “large
majority”
- Creates a stereotype of black men being dangerous
and violent
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 Demographics

- 46% of bisexual women have been raped (17% of

heterosexual women, and 13% of homosexual women)
- 40% of homosexual men have been raped
- (According to the Human Rights Campaign)
- 47% of trasngender people will be raped in their lifetime
- U.S. Government National Survey
- LGBTQ+ Rape Survivors can be denied services from
NCAVP
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 Demographics

Department of Justice created a survey and found:

- 56% of Native American and Alaskan Native women
have experience sexual violence (HighCountry News)

Tribal Courts do not have jurisdiction to prosecute

non-tribal members
- Majority of rape and violence commited by
non-tribal members (over 90%)
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 Demographics

Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

1978 Supreme Court Case: Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian
Tribe
- Tribal Courts cannot try or punish “non-Indians”
despite that 86% of rape assailants again Native
wimen are non-Native and 70% are white (WCSAP)

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 Mental Effects

PTSD
- 94% of women experience within 2 weeks of the trauma
- 30% after 9 months (RAINN)

Suicide
- 1 in 3 survivors contemplate suicide
- 13% attempt suicide (RAINN)

Hard to quantify impacts on relationships, career, stress.

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 Physical Effects: Threat to Reproductive Justice

Rape Pregnancies
- National rape-related pregnancy rate: 5.0% among
victims of reproductive age (aged 12 to 45)
Sexual Dysfunction
- 10-20% of women survivors develop long-lasting
sexual difficulties
- Attitudinal changes about body
- Resentment towards men → difficult to connect
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What obstacles do survivors face in obtaining
justice for themselves?

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 Victim-blaming

I. The Psychology of Victim-Blaming

A. Tendency prompted by cognitive dissonance with two
unsavory ideals
1. Bad things can happen to good people
2. Normal people can do bad things
B. Victim blaming is a “self-defense” mechanism that can
cause a lot more harm than good
1. We feel safer at the expense of allowing the
perpetrator evade accountability

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 Changing the Culture of Victim-Blaming

I. “Don’t Be That Guy” Vancouver Campaign

A. Campaign designed by the Sexual
Assault Voices of Edmonton &
implemented by the Vancover Police
Department in 2011
1. Central message: sex without
consent is sexual assault
2. After six months, incidents of
reported sexual assault in
Vancouver decreased by 10%
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 Retraumatizing Survivors of Rape

I. The legal process of getting the case to trial is taxing on a

physical and emotional level
A. Forensic evaluation
1. Purpose: gather evidence or triangulate information
that can be used to support evidence in a legal
proceeding
2. Process includes “poking, prodding, photographing”
3. Less likely to include nurturing elements
a) “In a forensic setting, I’m not there to heal them”

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 Retraumatizing Survivors of Rape
Case Study: Jenny

I. Trial for Jenny’s case of rape abundant with retraumatizing

elements
A. Presentation of evidence = potential for retraumatizing
1. Listened to her 911 call from the night she was raped in
addition to her friends’ testimonies
2. Had to prepare herself for victim-blaming as they
showed Facebook pictures of her drunk and wearing
tight clothes from the night of the incident
B. Confronting the attacker
1. Attacker couldn’t speak English, so court had him
reenact his version of events with a blow-up doll
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 Sources

- https://www.rainn.org/statistics/victims-sexual-violence (RAINN)
- https://www.hcn.org/articles/tribal-affairs-why-native-american-women-still-have-the-highest-rates-of-rape-and-assault (HighCountry News)
- https://www.wcsap.org/advocacy/culturally-specific/native-americans (WCSAP)
- https://www.hrc.org/resources/sexual-assault-and-the-lgbt-community (Human Rights Campaign)
- https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/crime/ucr.asp?table_in=2&selYrs=2000&rdoGroups=1&rdoData=c (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention)
- https://womenshealth.obgyn.msu.edu/blog/changing-culture-victim-blaming (Women’s Health Research Institute)
- Anderson, Laurie. “What Teenage Boys Still Don't Know About Sexual Assault.” Time, Time, 15 Jan. 2019,
time.com/5503804/ive-talked-with-teenage-boys-about-sexual-assault-for-20-years-this-is-what-they-still-dont-know/.
- Chammah, Story by Maurice. “Rape in the American Prison.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 20 Apr. 2018,
www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/02/rape-in-the-american-prison/385550/.
- Gale, Mary Ellen. “Rape as the Ultimate Exercise of Man's Domination of Women.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 Oct. 1975,
www.nytimes.com/1975/10/12/archives/rape-as-the-ultimate-exercise-of-mans-domination-of-women.html.
- Ben-David, Sarah, and Ofra Schneider. “Rape Perceptions, Gender Role Attitudes, and Victim-Perpetrator Acquaintance.” Sex Roles, vol. 53, no. 5-6, 2005, pp.
385–399., doi:10.1007/s11199-005-6761-4.
- Murphy, Heather. “What Experts Know About Men Who Rape.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 Oct. 2017,
www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/health/men-rape-sexual-assault.html.
- Niwako Yamawaki, Ryan Darby & Adriane Queiroz (2007) The Moderating Role of Ambivalent Sexism: The Influence of Power Status on Perception of Rape Victim
and Rapist, The Journal of Social Psychology, 147:1, 41-56, DOI: 10.3200/SOCP.147.1.41-56
- Pokorak, Jeffrey. RAPE as a BADGE of SLAVERY: THE LEGAL HISTORY OF, and REMEDIES FOR, PROSECUTORIAL RACE-OF-VICTIM CHARGING DISPARITIES.
- Roberts, Kayleigh. “The Psychology of Victim-Blaming” The Atlantic.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/10/the-psychology-of-victim-blaming/502661/
- SMITH, ANDREA. “Not an Indian Tradition: The Sexual Colonization of Native Peoples.” Hypatia, vol. 18, no. 2, May 2003, pp. 70–85,
racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/NotIndianTradition.pdf, 10.1111/j.1527-2001.2003.tb00802.x.
- “The Murder of Emmett till | Articles and Essays | Civil Rights History Project | Digital Collections | Library of Congress.” The Library of Congress, 2015,
www.loc.gov/collections/civil-rights-history-project/articles-and-essays/murder-of-emmett-till/. Accessed 24 Feb. 2021.
- Turse, Nick. “Rape Was Rampant during the Vietnam War. Why Doesn’t US History Remember This?” Mother Jones, 19 Mar. 2013,
www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/rape-wartime-vietnam/. Accessed 24 Feb. 2021.
- “Woman Linked to 1955 Emmett till Murder Tells Historian Her Claims Were False (Published 2017).” The New York Times, 2021,
www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/us/emmett-till-lynching-carolyn-bryant-donham.html. Accessed 24 Feb. 2021.

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Discussion Questions:
- Why does society consider rape to be a “women’s issue”
when men are most likely to commit the crime?
- Why hasn’t more been done to decrease the prevalence
of rape?
- How has rape culture evolved? Or has it?
- How do you attempt to correct a systemic issue? How do
you balance individual and societal accountability?

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