Differences in Recovery: Stranger versus Acquaintance Rape

The Psychological Implication of Attribution Dr. Julie B. Hanauer Differences in Recovery:Stranger versus Acquaintance Rape

“Rape is impossible: A woman can run faster with her dress up than a man with his pants down. “ ― Unknown, circa 1948 “Every man I meet wants to protect me. I can't figure out what from.” ― Mae West "The only difference between rape and a good time depends on whether the girl’s parents were awake when she finally came home.“ ― Alfred Kinsey, circa 1950 “It already is bigger than everything else. It lives in front of me, behind me, next to me, inside me every single day. My schedule is dictated by it, my habits by it, my music by it.” ― Daisy Whitney, The Mockingbirds

What is rape? • “The involuntary penetration of the vagina or anus by the penis or another object.” • Focused • Calculated Harm • Involves the most intimate of interpersonal acts

Statistics • Every 2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted. • According to the U.S. Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey --there is an average of 207,754REPORTED victims (age 12 or older) of rape and sexual assault each year. • There are 525,600 minutes in a non-leap year. That makes 31,536,000 seconds/year. So, 31,536,000 divided by 207,754 comes out to 1 sexual assault every 152 seconds, or about 1 every 2 minutes.

More statistics… • 44% of victims are under age 18 • 80% are under age 30 • 1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime • 17.7 million American women have been victims of attempted or completed rape.

Reporting Rate • 61% of sexual assaults are not reported to police • If a rape is reported, there is a 50.8% chance of prosecution. • If there is a prosecution, there is a 68% chance of conviction. • So, even in the 39% of attacks that are reported to police, there is only a 16.3% chance the rapist will end up in prison. • Factoring in unreported rapes, only about 6% of rapists ever serve a day in jail. • 15 of 16 rapists will never spend a day in jail.

More statistics… • 77% of sexual assaults were perpetrated by a non-stranger (someone known to the victim). • 46% of rapists are a friend or acquaintance. • 28% are an intimate. • 7% are a relative.

More statistics… • More than 50% of all rape/sexual assault incidents were reported by victims to have occurred within 1 mile of their home or at their home. • 4 in 10 take place at the victim's home. • 2 in 10 take place at the home of a friend, neighbor, or relative. • 1 in 12 take place in a parking garage.

Rape is injury • But the post-rape period is often another injury itself. • The second injury is caused by the negative responses women have to endure throughout their recovery. • The post rape is not physical nor does it leave any bodily scars like the first injury may, but its effects on the victim are, at times, devastating.

The “Rape” of Mr. Smith • "Mr. Smith, you were held up at gunpoint on the corner of 16th & Locust?“ • "Did you struggle with the robber?“ • "Why not?" • "Then you made a conscious decision to comply with his demands rather than to resist?” • "Did you scream? Cry out?“ • "I see. Have you ever been held up before?" • "Have you ever given money away?" • "And did you do so willingly?" • "Yes.” • "No.” • "He was armed.” • “Yes.” • "No. I was afraid.” • "No.” • "Yes, of course –” • "What are you getting at?"

The “Rape” of Mr. Smith • “Well, let's put it like this, Mr. Smith. You've given away money in the past -- in fact, you have quite a reputation for donating money. How can we be sure that you weren't contriving to have your money taken away from you by force?" • "Never mind. What time did this holdup take place, Mr. Smith?" • "You were out on the streets at 11 p.m.? Doing what?" • "Just walking? You know that it's dangerous being out on the street that late at night. Weren't you aware that you could have been held up?" • "Listen, if I wanted…" • "About 11 p.m.” • "Just walking." • "I hadn't thought about it."

The “Rape” of Mr. Smith • "What were you wearing at the time, Mr. Smith?" • "An expensive suit?" • "In other words, Mr. Smith, you were walking around the streets late at night in a suit that practically advertised the fact that you might be a good target for some easy money, isn't that so? I mean, if we didn't know better, Mr. Smith, we might even think you were asking for this to happen, correct?" • "I'm afraid not, Mr. Smith. I don't think you would want to violate his rights, now, would you?" • "Let's see. A suit. Yes, a suit.” • "Well -- yes.“ • "Look, can't we talk about the past history of the guy who did this to me?“

Did you find this humorous or even ridiculous? • Why is it easy to find this scenario humorous yet it remains appropriate to ask such questions of a woman who has accused a man of rape?

Would this ever happen? • Of course not. • Society sympathizes with victims of many other crimes. • We tend NOT to do that with rape victims.

Society’s thoughts … • “What were you wearing?” • “How much were you drinking?” • “Why were you so foolish?” • “Why did you go back to his house/room?” • “Why did you invite him back to yours?” • “How much did you lead him on?” • “Did you at least enjoy it?” • “What (pre)sexual activity did you engage in?” • “How many other individuals haveyouslept with?” • “How did you say ‘no’?” • “How much did you really resist?” • “What kind of moral characters do you have?” • “Are you lying?”

Some common rape myths: • When women talk and act sexy, they are inviting rape. • Many rapes happen because women lead men on. • When a woman is raped, she usually did something careless to put herself in that situation • Any woman who teases a man sexually and doesn’t finish what she started realistically deserves what she gets. • In some rape cases, the woman actually wanted it to happen. • Many so-called rape victims are actually women who had sex and “changed their minds” afterwards. • Even though a woman called it rape, she probably enjoyed it. • A rape probably didn’t happen if the woman has no bruises or marks. • If a woman is raped, it is because she didn’t say no clearly enough. • Women tend to exaggerate how much rape affects them. • In any rape case, one would have to question whether the victim is promiscuous or has a bad reputation. • If a man pays all the bills, he has a right to have sex with her whenever he wants.

The message: • A woman who does not truly wish to be raped cannot be raped. • It is her responsibility.

What does this produce? • Victims who blame themselves rather than their assailant(s). • They interpret societal messages and feel that perhaps they brought this victimization onto themselves through weakness, through their own behaviors. • They question themselves. • Usually they are not ANGRY, they are ASHAMED.

With the undisturbed vision of retrospect, they consider ways they could have changed their behavior, fought off the attack, screamed for help, or simply, escaped.

The Victim’s Thoughts… • “Why did I flirt with him?” • “Why was I walking there?” • “Why did I agree to let him drive me home?” • “Why did I wear this?” • “Why did I go back to his room?” • “Why did I invite him back to mine?” • “Why did I drink so much?” • “Why was I so foolish?” • “Why didn’t I fight harder?” • “Why didn’t I think of some trick to break away?” • “Why didn’t I engage in some other act [obvious now] which would have prevented the rape?” • “This is all my fault.” • “This is all my fault.” • “This is all my fault.” • “This is all my fault.” • “This is all my fault.”

Rape rarely occurs with witnesses. • So, the woman, especially if she was not physically wounded, has nothing to rely on but her own insistence. She must maintain that she did not want the rape to occur. • Society questions this so the woman usually begins to doubt/question herself.

This self blame is the second injury.

64% of women who went to a rape crisis center evidenced this form of self blame. • Rather than look elsewhere, the raped woman usually looks for answers for the attack in herself because she feels the rapist must have recognized something awful in her. • By internalizing that the rape is a personal attack (“all my fault”) and by focusing the rape on herself, the raped woman may not feel betrayal or anger, but overwhelming guilt.

What does this lead to? • An inability to focus her bitterness/anger outward toward the rapist; she then turns it onto herself. This leads to: • Disgrace • Powerlessness • Feeling damaged • Unworthy • Negative/lasting attitudes towards sex and intimacy.

Another traditional myth: The Stranger • 77% of completed rapes are committed by non-strangers (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1997). A woman is four times more likely to be raped by an acquaintance than by a stranger (Illinois Coaliltion Against Sexual Assault, 2002). • Acquaintance rape is rarely reported to police. Less than 2% of acquaintance rape victims reported the assault whereas 21% of women raped by strangers reported the crime to police (Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, 2002). • Every year, an estimated one in eight women in college is raped and in 85% of those assaults the women knew their attacker (Texas Woman's University, 2007.

Acquaintance vs. Stranger Rape: Are there differences in the ability to cope? YES!The question is why?

Attribution • Attribution:process through which people seek to identify the causes of others’ behavior and so gain knowledge of traits/personality. • Dispositional (internal) Attribution: locates the cause of the behavior within the individual . • “It is her fault that she was raped. It is my fault that I was raped.” • Situational (external) Attribution: locates the cause of the behavior outside the individual. • “He overpowered her/me. He took advantage of her/me. She/I was in a bad place. She/I couldn’t get away. He didn’t listen when she/I said ‘NO’.”

Attribution • When multiple potential causes for behavior are present, the following may occur: • Discounting Principle:tendency to attach less importance to one potential cause of some behavior when other potential causes are also present • Discount HIS behavior, discount the circumstances. • Augmenting Principle:tendency to attach greater importance to a potential cause of behavior if the behavior occurs despite the presence of other, inhibitory causes • Pay attention to HER behavior; pay attention to her dress, her mannerisms, her intoxication.

Fundamental attribution error The tendency to explain others’ actions as stemming from dispositions even in the presence of clear situational causes; tendency to overestimate the impact of dispositional factors • When analyzing a rape, society and the victim overemphasize her dispositional (internal) attribution • She’s/I’m a slut; she/l led him on; she/I flirted too much; she/I never should have…; she/I must have deserved it … • At the same time, society discounts/undervalues the situational (external) attributions • He overpowered her; he was coercive; he didn’t listen to her say no; he lied to her; he manipulated her; he said she could trust him.

Attribution • This is even more evident when analyzing acquaintance vs. stranger rape. The victim of the acquaintance rape begins to believe it is her fault, much more so than the victim of a stranger rape who can blame the situational (external) circumstances much more.

If a victim and assailant are not acquainted and have not engaged in prior contact, and if the incident does involve obvious physical force, less causality, responsibility and/or blame is attributed to the victim. • Rather than internal, some external attributions about the victim is usually made.

This is not so for acquaintance rape… • Rather than making an external attribution, society says “This is your fault.” • This type of logic continually keeps us in the mind set of blaming the victim and she keeps herself in the mindset of blaming herself.

Studies confirming this: • Klemmack and Klemack (1996): presented participants with descriptions of situations which met the legal definition of rape yet varied in respect to the level of acquaintance between victim and assailant. Participants were asked to indicate which of the descriptions constituted rape. • Results indicated that when any relationship existed “no matter how casual,” ONLY slightly less than ½ of the respondents considered the incident to be rape.

More studies… • Field and Bienson (2004) found that a majority of the participants in their study maintained that a woman who goes to a man’s apartment on a first date is responsible if she is forced to have sex. • Jenkins and Dembrot (2007) found that their female participants on date where a man paid were most to blame for rape.

The Message • Her provocativeness was attributed more strongly to the DATE in comparison to the stranger rapes. • The victim’s qualities (disreputable) were used to explain the date rapes more so than the stranger rapes. • Because the victim and offender are acquainted, it is usually interpreted to mean that the rape was precipitated by the victim. • Society does this…and so do the victims. • “I am responsible. I am to blame.”

The triggers… • Her home • Her surroundings • Her clothing • Her… • Her… • Her…

What to do… • The rape victims’ self blame is associated with poorer adjustment, fear, self defeating attitudes, and depression. • Therefore, education is key. • Educate society about these rape myths. • Educate society about the fundamental attribution error and self blame. • Educate rape victims to focus blame/responsibility on the assailant. • Barriers need to be broken so that reporting a rape is as easy as reporting a robbery. • Lift the shame so that healing can begin.

Thank you!

Differences in Recovery: Stranger versus Acquaintance Rape