A Great Essay on the Characteristics of a Rapist

CHARACTERISTICS OF A RAPIST


Rapists who assault women lead double lives. On the outside they may appear no different from other men. They are members of every race, religion, profession, and socioeconomic group; they are of varying ages and are often members of churches. Many of them impress others as dedicated family men who are good providers.

They are not insane nor are they "sowing some wild oats." They are men who have serious psychological or personality disorders, which they discharge trough sexual violence. The consequences of this behavior (what may happen to him or to others) has no meaning to the rapist at the time of the assault. Therefore, he is not deterred by such logical considerations as punishment, disgrace to his family, injury to his victim, etc.

Rape is always an aggressive and/or violent act. In every act of rape, aggression is involved, but it is clear that the sexual acts are the means of expressing the aggressive needs and feelings that operate in the offender. Either anger or power is the dominant component so that rape, rather than being primarily an expression of sexual desire, is in fact the use of sexuality to express his issues of power and anger. Basically, it involves sexual behavior in the primary service of non-sexual needs.

ANGER RAPE

In some cases of sexual assault it is very apparent that sexuality becomes a means of expressing and discharging feelings of pent-up anger and rage. This type of offender attacks his victims and the assault is characterized by physical brutality. More actual force is used in the commission of the offense than would be necessary if the intent were simply to overpower the victim. He may use a blitz style of attack, a violent surprise offensive in which the victim is caught completely off guard. Or he may use a confidence-style approach to gain access to the victim and then launch a sudden, overpowering attack. In the former situation, the offender approaches the victim directly by hitting her. In the latter situation, victims often relate that at first the assailant seemed pleasant enough, but at some point he changed; suddenly and without warning he became mean and angry.

The rape experience for this type of offender is one of conscious anger and rage, and he expresses his fury both physically and verbally. His aim is to hurt and debase his victim, and he expresses his contempt for her through abusive and profane language. If his primary motive is one of anger, and if he is not sexually motivated, why doesn't this offender confine his assault to a battering of the victim? Why does he also rape her? The answer seems to be that such a man considers rape the ultimate offense he can commit against another person. Sex becomes his weapon, and rape constitutes the ultimate expression of his anger. The survivor is faceless to the anger rapist. His victim is an object for his rage.

POWER RAPE

In a power rape, power appears to be the dominant factor motivating the offender. In these assaults, it is not the offender's desire to harm his victim but to possess her sexually. Sexuality becomes a means of compensating for underlying feelings of inadequacy and serves to express issues of mastery, strength, control, authority, identity, and capability. His goal is sexual conquest, and he uses only the amount of force necessary to accomplish this objective. His aim is to capture and control his victim.

Physical aggression can be used to overpower and subdue the victim; however the intent of the offender usually is to achieve sexual intercourse with his victim as evidence of conquest. To accomplish this, he resorts to whatever force he finds necessary to overcome his victim's resistance and to render her helpless.

Such offenders entertain obsessional thoughts and masturbatory fantasies about sexual conquest and rape. In reality, the offender tends to find little sexual satisfaction in the rape. The assault is disappointing, for it never lives up to his fantasy. Whatever he may tell himself to explain the situation, at some level of experience he senses that he has not found what he is looking for in the offense. Something he cannot clearly identify or define is missing or lacking. He does not fell reassured by either his own performance or his victim's response to the assault, and, therefore, he must go out an find another victim, this time, "the Right one." His offenses become repetitive and compulsive, and he may commit a whole series of rapes over a relatively short period of time.

The offenses themselves are either premeditated (the offender goes out in search of a victim with the clear intent of sexual assault) or opportunistic. The choice of a victim is predominantly determined by availability, accessibility, and vulnerability.

The sexual assaults most frequently coexist with consenting sexual relations in the life of the offender.

Frequently, the power rapist denies that the sexual encounter was forcible. He needs to believe the victim wanted and enjoyed it. Following the assault, he may insist on buying the victim a drink or dinner and express a wish to see her again. In some cases, this may be understood as a gesture of friendliness and "no hard feelings," or a way of discrediting any subsequent report of rape by her. But in other cases it reflects his fantasy expectations that sexual conquest has created a desire for him on the part of the victim.

SADISTIC RAPE

In a third pattern of rape, both sexuality and aggression become fused into a single psychological experience known as sadism. There is a sexual transformation of anger and power so that aggression itself becomes eroticized. This offender finds the intentional maltreatment of his victim intensely gratifying and takes pleasure in her torment, anguish, distress, helplessness, and suffering.

OVERVIEW

In one study examining the incidence of these three primary patterns of rape, it was found that power rapes constitute the most prominent pattern. More than half (55%) of the cases in this particular study were power rapes. Approximately 40% were anger rapes and about 5% were sadistic rapes. However, since the study examined primarily convicted offenders, this may be an inflated estimate in regard to the anger rapist and an underestimate in regard to the power rapist.

Sexuality is NOT the primary motive underlying rape. It is, however the means through which conflicts surrounding issues of anger and power become discharged.

Excerpts from: Men Who Rape: The Psychology of the Offender. A. Nicholas Groth. Plenum press, New York. 1981.


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