What's behind the dramatic rise in rapes?

Ebony, Sept, 1991 by Lynn Norment

RAPE. It can happen anywhere, to any woman, and lately it seems to be happening everywhere to an alarming and increasing number of women. Corporate executives are not immune; nor are children, wives and grandmothers. It takes place in dark alleys and deserted parking lots, but also in college dorms and in private homes. While many of its victims are poor and powerless, others are wealthy and even famous.

And the perpetrators of this ofttimes violent, degrading crime are more likely to be acquaintances than strangers.

The statistics are startling. In 1990, the number of rapes reported in the United States exceeded 100,000 for the first time, shattering the previous record of 94,504. More than half the states had a record number of rapes.

Every five minutes, a woman is raped in the United States. That translates into 12 women raped every hour, nearly 300 every day.

And that only accounts for the approximately 7 percent of rapes that are reported to authorities. Officials estimate that, in reality, as many as 2 million women are raped each year, with the majority of them not reporting this violent crime because of the stigma that society still imposes on the victim.

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, recently released a report indicating that rape "has reached epidemic proportions" in the U.S. "American women are in greater peril now from attack than they have ever been in the history of our nation," he says.

Just why are so many men resorting to this senseless, violent crime? Why has the rape rate increased four times faster than the overall crime rate during the past 10 years? Just what is it about our American society that makes tens of thousands of men feel they can sexually assault women at will?

Those who have studied this social malignancy point to American society's overwhelming obsession with sex and violence, which are promoted in the press, sensationalized on television and popularized in the movies. On prime-time television and the silver screen, naked bodies and explicit lovemaking have become as common as a kiss or embrace. Violent movies are all the rage, and many such films include aggressive, if not violent, sex.

"Media condone violence and society is addicted to it," says Dr. William Hobson, director of the sex offender program at the Connecticut Correctional Institute at Somers. "The higher the violence level, the higher the rape rate. Sex is tremendously powerful and holds great importance in our society. It is used to sell things that have nothing to do with sex. Sex has become a larger-than-life issue."

Dr. James E. Savage Jr., director of the Institute for Life Enrichment in Washington, D.C., which focuses on problems of Black men, agrees that exposure to violence can lead people to violent behavior. "There's an unconscious part of ourselves that tends to sometimes become uncontrolled," he says. "Society has a lot of loose boundaries as it relates to violence, and it permits this to manifest."

Lt. Shirley Britton, commander of the sex crimes unit of the Atlanta Police Department, adds that some rapes are prompted by drug use. She cites the case of two young Atlanta men who raped a 12-year old girl and her mother. The assailants viciously beat and robbed the husband. "It was strictly for money for drugs," says Lt. Britton. "Later when we arrested them we found drugs on the scene. One perpetrtor started crying right there and confessed. It was his first offense, but his accomplice was convicted of eight counts of rape."

Also contributing to the rising rape statistics is the fact that more women now are reporting rape, even acquaintance and date rape. "Women are no longer staying in the background and being afraid," says Lt. Britton. "They are coming forward and telling what has happened to them."

Many argue tht the only way to discourage potential rapists is for women to report rape, even when the attacker is a family member, date or other acquaintance.

RAPE is sexual activity forced upon an individual against theindividual's will. It is a sexual expression of aggression rather than an aggressive expression of sexuality, says Dr. Hobson. He and other experts says rape primarily is rooted in nonsexual motivation in the psychology of the offender; it is tied to hostility and anger and the need to exert power and control. Passion and sexuality are not the primary motivators.

This anger and thrist for power stem from the fact that the rapist himself feels powerless, worthless and has exceptionally low self-esteem, according to psychologists who have studied rapists. In addition to feeling that he has no control of his life, the rapist views other men as competitors and adversaries, and women as untrustworthy, manipulative and exploitative.

"Rape is a real power trip," says Alvine F. Poussaint, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "It's an act to control and subdue someone perceived as weaker or vulnerable, and to act out rage in that way. When someone rapes his date, it's a power trip in the same way."