Why Men Rape: Applications to Prevention
Mary P. Koss
Arizona Prevention Center,
University of Arizona
Objectives (action on Guiding Principle 8)
To identify targets of primary prevevention
To review levels of influence on rape
To learn the confluence model as an conceptual foundation for prevention
To brainstorm implications in terms of who, what, when, where, and how to
intervene
Understanding Causes Guides Prevention
Who abuses? Reducing conditions that foster perpetration
Who is abused: Increasing avoidance to its maximum potential
Causes of Rape
Influences range from macro society to the molecular level
Determinants change over the life span
Multiple causes operate probabilistically
Society-wide Influences
Valuing male toughness, aggression, competition
Male dominated social system with codified gender imbalance
Cultural practices such as child rearing, sexual initiation, arranged
marriage, norms for dating
Broad social conditions such as war
Influential Institutions
How Institutions Contribute to Rape
Adverse environments
Teach or reinforce male and female role imbalance
Teach or reinforce values favoring impersonal sex
Teach or reinforce attitudes condoning sexual abuse of women
Absent or maladaptive teaching of alternatives to violence
Peer Group:
Self selection, negative influence, or both?
Gang or delinquent associations
Sexual activity norms and pressure
Drug/alcohol norms and pressure
Dyads
Type and stage of relationship
Characteristics of the woman
Communication
Determinants Within Individuals
Hereditary traits & mental processes
Physiology, neurophysiology, brain dysfunction, psychopathology
Interactions of above with alcohol
Personality traits
Traditional gender schema
Sex and power motives
Attitudes reflecting rape myths
Social learning history--arousal, rejection
Feminist Theory of Rape
Men desire to dominate women and establish social institutions to do so
Rape is the ultimate form of domination and enforces male superiority
Women are targets because they are vulnerable and are useful to men
Men learn rape through socialization including attitudes, sex roles,
emotions, perceptions, and cognitions that justify male dominance
Questions to Ask
Q. Why are patriarchal cultures so widespread?
Q. Why havent women established female dominant cultures?
Q. Why is rape of women by men nearly universal?
Q. Why are women sexual aggressors so rare?
Q. Why do men rape women and not vice versa during war?
The Confluence Model
Re-conceptualizes at individual level and maintains the emphasis on
modification by culture, environment, and social learning of attitudes,
scripts, values, perceptions, arousal patterns
Primary motivator of rape is seen as mechanisms governing sexuality
Women are targeted because rape is motivated by sexual desire
Assumes that all male children possess characteristics that enable rape
Confluence Model is Evolutionary-based
The human mind formed in response to adaptive problems faced by ancestors
over many generations
Mechanisms cannot be understood in terms of current environments
Adaptations
Mind is composed of many specific adaptations for accomplishing goals
They are evolved structures or processes that overcome environmentally posed
obstacles
Most identical for men and women
Sexual strategies differ due to different biological capacities
Evolutionary does not mean fixed
Open mental program-- directs development via interaction with environment
(facultative)
Closed mental program-- minimally affected by variations in environment
(obligatory)
Sexual Access Strategies
Convergent interests--pair bonding, emotional investment, long-term
relationship, mutually satisfying sex, raising of offspring
Divergent interests--short-term, unemotional relationships, uncommitted
Major Components of the Confluence Model of Sexual Coercion
Individual personality traits of dominance versus nuturance continuum
Impersonal versus personal sexuality programmed by benign or harsh
environments
Hostile masculinity--emotions and attitudes that mobilize the use of
coercive tactics when facing conflict
Dominance and Nuturance
Heritable personality traits
Reflect the extent to which person focuses exclusively on own interests
When dominance is high relative to nuturance, impersonal sexuality is most
likely
Impersonal Sexuality
Not just high sex drive--
Emphasis on partner variety
Sexuality is devoid of affection and bonding, noncommittal, gameplaying
Looks for sex earlier in relationship
More than one concurrent relationship
Many one-time partners, unfaithful when in monogamous relationships
Hostile Masculinity
The force that directs impersonal sex into coercion--
Hypersensitive and distrustful towards women
Uses sex as a means of asserting dominance
Perceive hurt and rejection by women
Coercive sex reduces anger, anxiety and low self-esteem
Adverse Childhood Environments
The force that triggers development of impersonal sexual interests--
Emotional or physical neglect
Sexual, physical, emotional maltreatment
Witness violence
Parental drug abuse or mental illness
Parental loss or absence
Negative role models
Pair Bonding
Mother/infant bond universal across primates
Emotional bonding in monogamous couples more common when there is shortage
of women
Emotional bonding a strong predictor of sexual satisfaction
Extent to which a person solves problems by focusing on his/her own
interests
When dominance is high relative to nuturance, short-term sexual strategies
are more likely
Securely Attached People
Ideally seek a relationship with few mates over long periods of time
Place more emphasis on physical appearance in short compared to long-term
relationships
No sex differences
Social Learning
AGGRESSION IS NOT INEVITABLE--Even in violence-prone animals,
aggression is always an optional strategy
All organisms have coevolved equally
potent inhibitory mechanisms that
suppress aggression when it is in their
interest to do so.
SEXUAL AGGRESSION MAY NOT BE UNIQUE--other forms of violence
against women share many of these same causal factors. There are
links to peer violence, school violence, hate crimes, sexual harassment, and
physical assault in relationships
Implications for Prevention Education
Who should we be targeting?
When should interventions occur?
What content might be added?
Where should interventions occur?
Are there institutions we could be partnering with?
How would change be measured?