A behavioral view of rape

Abstract

In our consideration of rapists we will use the term “rapist” to describe men who have sexually assaulted nonconsenting adult females. This will include, therefore, not just those men who have forced women to have vaginal intercourse, but also men who have forced fellatio, cunnilingus, or anal intercourse on their adult female victims. Most researchers and clinicians do not distinguish amongst these acts (e.g. Gebhard, Gagnon, Pomeroy & Christenson, 1965), although some writers attempt to distinguish amongst the offenders usually on the basis of inferred motives (e.g. Groth, 1979). Some of these crimes go unreported; indeed a large percentage of sexual assaults are not reported (Amir, 197 1; Offir, 1975). Even when an offence is reported only a small percentage of those confirmed, lead to a conviction (F.B.I., Uniform Crime Reports, 1982). However, researchers are only able to evaluate those men who are convicted, although it is important to note that many of these convicted rapists have committed numerous additional offenses for which they have never been charged. This, of course, means that any analysis of rape is necessarily restricted in meaning to those men who have been convicted of sexual aggression. Unfortunately this will exclude some rapists, although we do not know how many. It is often inferred from the estimated rates of sexual aggression, and actual conviction rates, that the algebraic difference between these rates represents the number of offenders who go free. Given, however, that rapists who come to the attention of treatment agencies report having raped, on average, nine women (Abel 1981), it is clear that convicted rapists account for many of the unreported or unresolved sexual attacks. In any case, convicted felons are the only ones available for study at the moment. It might be valuable to distinguish different types of sexual assault in terms of the circumstances under which the offense occurs, since, for our later elaboration of a social learning theory of rape, these circumstantial factors are important. Similarly the circumstances influence whether or not the offense is reported and, to some extent, whether or not a conviction is pursued and secured. Rapes committed by friends or relatives are far less likely to be reported and this is particularly so for rapes that occur in the context of a