Thursday, November 01, 2012

[squgcgve] Rape from the perpetrator's POV

There seem to be two forms of rape, and using the same word for both clouds the issue.

We actually need to distinguish between three issues.  The first is rape from the victim's point of view, a term to be used, for example, to discuss care and recovery for the victim.  It is, in essence, a medical (including psychiatric) issue, much like any other psychological or physical injury.

The other two are rape from the perpetrator's point of view.  As an analogy, is it an assassination, a premeditated murder, or involuntary manslaughter?  From the victim's point of view it's all the same: he or she is dead.  But from the perpetrator's point of view, they are vastly different crimes, with different motivations, different punishments, and -- this is important -- different measures needed to prevent each crime.

When discussing crime prevention, the discussion must be from the perpetrator's point of view, just like for all other crimes.  I feel we are doing this wrong for rape.  Neverthless, considering rape from the perpetrator's point of view seems a taboo topic.

Here are two categories:

I have no good names for these two forms of rape, and maybe that's the problem: not having a names for these things is what's preventing progress.

The first form of rape is more famous: control fetish rape.  The perpetrator is motivated by, and takes pleasure in, making the victim do something against his or her will.  The motivation is the feeling of power and accomplishment of subjugating someone else to your will.  The motivation is not for orgasm.

I struggle to come up with a good name for the second form of rape: sex fetish rape.  Normally the word "fetish" is used for sexual pleasure in something not related to sex, but in this case, it is tautologically taking sexual pleasure in taking sexual pleasure.  The perpetrator is motivated by the biological desire to have sex, an urge so strong that it overpowers respect and property lines.

Are there other forms?  Is it a gray scale?  Where should crime prevention efforts be concentrated for greatest effect?  What social or biological forces produce perpetrators of each category?

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