This piece, which (to me) represents a woman beating her fist against a closed door, expresses my outrage at the crime of rape, most often, but not always, perpetrated by men upon women and so often employed as a weapon of war (now combined with the passing on of HIV to the victems especially in Africa) .
"The word rape originates from the Latin verb rapere: to seize or take by force. The word originally had no sexual connotation and is still used generically in English. The history of rape, and the alterations of its meaning, is quite complex. The Latin terms for the crime of rape were iniuria (assault) or per vim stuprum (fornication achieved by force), but the ancient Romans regarded rape only as an extenuated form of adultery, and could punish the victim by execution while allowing the perpetrator a lesser punishment such as banishment. Raptus was a general term used to refer to abduction, elopement, or rape in its modern meaning. Confusion over the term led ecclesial commentators on the law to differentiate the terms into raptus seductionis (elopement without parental consent) and raptus violentiae (ravishment) during Late Antiquity. Both forms of raptus had a civil penalty and possible excommunication for the family and village receiving the abducted woman, although raptus violentiae also incurred punishments of mutilation or death.
Rape, in the course of war, also dates back to antiquity, ancient enough to have been mentioned in the Bible. The Israelite, Greek, Persian and Roman troops would routinely rape women and boys in the conquered towns. In the modern era, rape is considered to be a war crime when committed by soldiers in combat.
As many as 80,000 women were raped by the Japanese soldiers during the six weeks of the Nanking Massacre. The term "Comfort women" is a euphemism for the estimated 200,000 women who were forced into prostitution in Japanese military brothels during World War II. At the end of World War II, Red Army soldiers are estimated to have raped around 2,000,000 German women and girls. French Moroccan troops known as Goumiers, committed rapes and other war crimes after the Battle of Monte Cassino."
An estimated 200,000 women were raped during the Bangladesh Liberation War by the Pakistani army and at least 20,000 Bosnian Muslim women were raped by Serb forces during the Bosnian War.
In peacetime, at least, alcohol and/or other drug uses is frequently involved in rape. In 47% of rapes, both the victim and the perpetrator had been drinking. In 17%, only the perpetrator had been. 7% of the time, only the victim had been drinking. Rapes where neither the victim nor the perpetrator had been drinking were 29% of all rapes.
The issue of the rapist’s motivation seems to be multifactoral and is controversial. Most experts assert the primary cause of rape is an aggressive desire to dominate the victim rather than an attempt to achieve sexual fulfillment. "We can think of no other assertion in the social sciences, that has achieved such wide acceptance based on so little evidence," wrote Felson and coauthor Tedeschi, pioneers of the controversial Social-Interactionist Perspective which asserts that sexual desire can be a motivating factor in rape. They consider rape an act of violence rather than principally a sexual encounter. Other groups, such as the Catholic Church, consider some rapes to be motivated by lust. Cundiff (2004) argued that the inavailability of another outlet for male sexual desires, such as prostitution, may contribute to the prevalance of rape.
Most rapists do not have a preference for rape over consensual sex. Around 90% of rapists who participated in a 1986 study by Baxter et al. were more aroused by depictions of mutually enjoyable sex than violent rape. There are not significant differences between the arousal patterns of rapists and nonrapists.
Contrary to widespread belief, rape outdoors is rare. Over two thirds of all rapes occur in someone’s home. 30.9% occur in the perpetrators’ homes, 26.6% in the victims’ homes and 10.1% in homes shared by the victim and perpetrator. 7.2% occur at parties, 7.2% in vehicles, 3.6% outdoors and 2.2% in bars.
According to a news report on BBC1 channel presented in 12 November 2007, there were 85000 women raped in UK last year or about 230 cases every day. The report also showed that 800 persons only were convicted in rape crimes that year.
After being raped it is common for the victim to experience intense, and sometimes unpredictable, emotions, and they may find it hard to deal with their memories of the event. Victims can be severely traumatized by the assault and may have difficulty functioning as well as they had been used to prior to the assault, with disruption of concentration, sleeping patterns and eating habits, for example. They may feel jumpy or be on edge. In the month(s) immediately following the assault these problems may be severe and very upsetting and may prevent the victim from revealing their ordeal to friends or family, or seeking police or medical assistance. This may result in Acute Stress Disorder."
Adapted from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape
Posted by Master’s Diary on 2008-03-02 20:56:28
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