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Victim-Defending Perspectives “Our daughters, our sisters, our wives, our mothers, our grandmothers have every single right to expect to be free from violence and sexual abuse. No matter what she’s wearing, no matter whether she’s in a bar, in a dormitory, in the back seat of a car, on a street, drunk or sober—no man […]

Victim-Blaming Viewpoints Late one night, a 22-year-old mother of two enters a bar filled with men. She has a few drinks and flirts with some of the patrons. Suddenly, she finds herself held down on a pool table. Six young men force themselves on her as onlookers cheer and she screams and curses. The six

THE CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING QUESTIONS OF SHARED RESPONSIBILITY Despite whatever progress has been made in the way rape cases are viewed in general and how they are handled by the legal system on a daily basis, a number of unresolved controversies still erupt when actual cases make the news and lead to com- plaints and arrests.

  THE CONSEQUENCES OF BEING SEXUALLY ASSAULTED Victimologists have studied the plight of rape vic- tims intensively for several decades. Researchers aim to assess the nature of the suffering and to dis- cover ways to speed the recovery process (see McCahill, Williams, and Fischman, 1979; Girelli et al., 1986; Burt and Katz, 1987; Allison and

THE REDISCOVERY OF THE PLIGHT OF RAPE VICTIMS Forcible rape is surely one of the most heinous vio- lent crimes imaginable, and yet for centuries the social reaction to this offense showed little regard for the well-being of the victim. In the distant past, rape was handled as an offense that harmed the interests of

SEXUAL ASSAULTS AND RAPES: THE SOCIAL REACTION It is up to all of us to ensure victims of sexual violence are not left to face these trials alone. Too often, survivors suffer in silence, fearing retribu- tion, lack of support, or that the criminal justice system will fail to bring the perpetrator to justice. We

10 Victims of Rapes and Other Sexual Assaults CHAPTER OUTLINE Sexual Assaults and Rapes: The Social Reaction The Rediscovery of the Plight of Rape Victims The Consequences of Being Sexually Assaulted The Controversy Surrounding Questions of Shared Responsibility “Real Rapes” as Compared to “Acquaintance Rapes” and “Date Rapes” Victim-Blaming Viewpoints Victim-Defending Perspectives Estimates of the

Battering Within Same-Sex Relationships Because of a growing openness about homosexual- ity, a predictable rediscovery was that physical fight- ing can mar the intimate relationships between gay men and also between lesbians. Violence in gay and lesbian couples is suspected to occur about as fre- quently as within heterosexual relationships, afflict- ing between 25 percent

Abuse of Parents by Adolescents When teenagers batter their parents, the fathers and mothers tend to feel ashamed and usually wish to keep the matter private, so severe underreporting confounds attempts to estimate the scope of the problem. In many cases, the use of force directed at parents can be seen as retaliation for the

THE REDISCOVERY OF OTHER VICTIMS OF BEATINGS When violence in intimate relationships began to be recognized as pervasive, several other rediscov- eries became inevitable. First, battering can emerge during dating and courtship, when the ties that bind the couple are not so strong. Second, violence by adolescents can be directed at their parents. Third, adults