Rape is a crime of power, not sex. ALWAYS true?

Factual Questions
1

Walking down the hallway of a college dorm the other day, I saw an elaborate poster presentation on sexual assault. One section of the poster featured “myths about sexual assault” - there were folded pieces of paper that had the myth on the front and you lifted the flap and saw the “reality” on the inside.

One of them said: “MYTH: Rape is a sexual crime.”

On the inside, it said, “Reality: Rape is a crime of power, not sex. It is not about sexual attraction.”

I’m skeptical about this being true in all instances. I have no doubt that the rape of the “dark alley” sort, where a woman walking along is seized at random by a rapist and dragged into an out-of-the-way place and raped, is a crime of power. That is, it is being perpetrated by someone who gets off on the feeling of overpowering someone and is actually turned on at the idea of forcing himself on somebody. This is why the victims of these kind of rapes range from young to old, from thin to fat, and fit all different kinds of physical descriptions.

However, I have a hard time believing that the kind of rape that goes on on college campuses is always about “a crime of power” and that it has nothing to do with sex. I think the guy who would have sex with a drunken, passed-out girl in a dorm room or frat house would be turned on by the fact that there is a NAKED GIRL IN HIS BED, not by the idea of overpowering her. This kind of guy would obviously not have high moral scruples, since he would be taking advantage of a girl all the same, but this is very different from the kind of guy who is a sadist and gets off on the actual act of raping and overpowering.

In other words, I would think that the rapists of the “power” variety are specifically turned on by rape, and are sexual deviants who enjoy the act of overpowering a woman and assaulting her. The rapists of the type probably most prevalent in college, on the other hand, are overly horny guys who are determined to have a sexual experience with a girl whether she wants to or not. But the point is that the latter rapist would be attracted to the girl in the first place, where the former rapist would not.

I am unwilling to believe that rape is “always” a crime about power and “never” a crime about sex. I think the dessemination of this idea on college campuses is unforgivable misinformation. It is the same as saying that all stealing is based on kleptomania and that all thieves do so out of a compulsive drive and are pathological - and ignoring the thieves that may be doing so out of neccessity, because they wish to have nice things and don’t want to pay for them, because they don’t have any money, because they’re trying to support a drug habit, because they’re a member of a gang, for any other reasons.

A mobster killing an informant is not the same as Ted Bundy killing a woman.
A keptomaniac compulsively stealing from a store is not the same as a homeless man stealing a loaf of bread.
A thug whose knuckles are covered with scar tissue from street fights is not the same as a domestic abuser, a hot-headed man who decks another in an argument, or someone who randomly assaults people on the street.

All of these crimes are the same, but they are all committed for different reasons. Why is rape somehow different and “always a crime of POWER?”

2

It sounds good politically.

If sexual assault didn’t often have a sexual component to it, we wouldn’t call it sexual assault. Of course there’s a sexual aspect to rape.

3

I think of it less as “power” and more as entitlement. In some cases, a rapist will just think, “I want sex. You owe me-I spent money on you, or just that you’re here. If you won’t give me what I want, I’m going to take it, because I have a right to it.”

4

It is inconsistent to say (as feminists have said, with, I daresay, a lot of accuracy) that a great deal of what we are trained to find sexy is eroticized power differences, especially male = predator / female = prey models, and then turn around and say (as per this poster you saw) that rape is about power and not about sex.

As male feminist author Timothy Beneke once pointed out, if the latter statement is true, then sex itself for a lot of people is about power and not about sex, or, more usefully, that rape is very much about sex as sex is portrayed packaged and marketed in a male = predator / female = prey subject-object sexual environment, which is what we’ve still got here.

(That’s a long way from verbatim but it’s a decent paraphrase).

What would be a far more useful statement, in my opinion, would be akin to “Rape isn’t a crime because it involves sex, it’s a crime because it involves coercion”.

I know the rape-crisis people are trying to make the point that it isn’t irresistible waves of male lust that cause rape but rather the appetite for coercing. It happens to be an appetite that gets all wound up in the rapist’s sexuality, I daresay, but I agree with their point, and I acknowledge that it was at one point a very difficult point to make when assumptions about human sexuality always intrinsically being about male = predator / female = prey were more deeply embedded and unquestioned. (i.e., folks often spoke of male sexuality as if all males were rapists thinly leashed by a sense of propriety and a veneer of civilization, but that the nature of men was to rape women, etc)

5

I agree with you, Argent Towers. What’s more, if we’re to believe the oft-repeated tidbit that an overwhelming majority of rapes happen by someone the victim knows (boyfriend, husband, date, “friend”, neighbor), then I think it’s possible that a majority of rapes are sexually motivated.

I think the idea that rape isn’t about sex came about because people were trying to get folks to stop blaming the rape victim. If a rape is about sex, then there’s the temptation to blame the woman: she was being too sexy, or sluty or whatever. By saying that rape isn’t about sex, we’re saying it’s not caused by her sexuality. I’m glad we’re not as likely to blame the victim anymore, but we seem to have thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

6

Since you are in college, you will be exposed to a lot of PC nonsense. Just pay proper lip service to it and forget about it. When I was in college, the women’s studies majors said that (1) all sex is rape and (2) rape has nothing to do with sex. It was also claimed that it’s impossible for “people of color” to be racist.

7

I think that’s what I was trying to say, but you said it more succinctly.

8

This site discusses rapist typologies.

Besides various categories of rapists that are motivated by power or anger issues (in which sexual gratification may also be a component), another type of rape is mentioned, that is, Opportunistic Rape, in which sex is the primary motivation. Opportunistic rapes may take place during the commission of another crime, such as burglary.

Opportunistic rapes also include many “date rape.” Although some men who commit date rape may be driven by power issues, probably most would prefer to have a willing partner. The real issue for them is the sex, and rape is just a way to get it. This is in contrast to other kinds of rapists, who may prefer an unwilling partner.

Rape is a crime that involves both sex and power in varying degrees, depending on the motivation of the rapist. Some rape is mainly about power, with sex as the manifestation of that power. Some is mainly about sex, and power is used to obtain it.

9

This is exactly what I mean.

One thief might steal a stereo because he wants a stereo. If someone were to buy him the same stereo as a gift, he would be just as happy.

Another thief would steal the stereo because he gets a thrill from stealing stereos.

I have no doubt that Chad Bradley at the local Sigma Nu chapter would rather that Ashley would have sex with him willingly, and this would be his optimal situation, but he might be willing to push on even if she drunkenly murmered “no.”

10

So…sex has nothing to do with sex? Huh.

11

Oh, and don’t forget all men are rapists. I know many men who are not and completely offended by that.

12

Per the OP :

I had precisely the same response to the idea that rape is a crime of power and not of passion. I’m quite staunchly feminist, but I could certainly imagine a young man raping someone because he couldn’t stand being a virgin any longer. Even a rampant sociopath who rapes purely for the sexual pleasure could make the denial of sexual desire as a motivation seem just plain dumb.

The epiphany for me came when I was in some XXXXX-Studies class talking about perspective and how it shapes reality. I thought, Ohhhhhh - that statement means looking at rape from the victim/survivor’s viewpoint. They are not feeling like they are having sex with someone, they are feeling assaulted. For them it IS about power, and how the rapist is asserting power over them.

13

Oddly, in my four years at UC Santa Cruz, ultra-feminist University extrodanaire, I never once heard anyone say that- even in my "Women in the culture of violence (AKA rape sucks) class. The only time we heard “all heterosexual sex is rape” was when we were reading some works by the individual woman who said that- Catherine McKinnon. Her quotes are interesting from a historical perspective, but our unit on her focused on the movements that evolved out of an usually opposing her views. There are a lot of facets to feminism, even the sometimes shortsighted form favored by undergrads, and there is no shortage of healthy debate. Feminists are no more in agreement about all the details than “liberals” are or “conservatives” are.

14

I think many here are confusing motive and method.
Let’s substitute the word “dominance” for “power”. Lust may, or may not, be a motivation, but w/o enthusiastic consent any sexual act is dominance over the victim.
If you drive your date into the boonies and tell her, “put out or get out”, and she consents, it’s still dominance.
Even statutory rape is often an act of dominance.
Sexual attraction, on the part of the perpetrator, may be part of the motivation, but it’s still about dominance.

15

Catherine MacKinnon-with-an-“a”

I believe the “all sex is rape” thing was developed with Andrea Dworkin.

I’ve had the same idea as the OP for some time. Kinda interesting that MacKinnon went to Smith, an all-female school… didn’t know that til just now.

16

So, if all hetero sex is rape, then how is the human race to reproduce? Does she have an explaination for that?

:confused:

17

I’ve never waded through great detail but it seems people are the product of a sort of “male original sin” (my term not theirs). Seems a depressing way to approach life.

18

Just so we are clear. Andrea Dworkin died in her sleep this past Saturday evening, in Washington,D.C. She was married to a man, though she was out as a lesbian.

In fact, she never said sex was rape ( see cite ). And,

Apparently she wrote from experience as well as from observing and working with others. A powerful mind.

Cartooniverse

19

I am speculating, so do not take this as fact.

Perhaps when this was originally said, rape had a much narrower definition than today. We have expanded the definition - and rightly so - to be any sexual congress without a woman’s consent.

However, in my youth when rape was spoken about I usually assumed it meant the violent crime that happens in a back alley or park.

20

Very good post. I agree. I think that just because you don’t overpower a passed out drunk woman doesn’t mean you don’t have the mindset of “getting away with something” or pulling the wool over someone’s eyes. Compare it to a guy doing a hold-up in a convenience store vs. quitely pocketing a pack of gum. One is violent, one is very passive…both are stealing.