I’ve heard that lifetime incidence of being raped for women is about 3% worldwide. I expect it’s considerably less in orderly societies. I definitely consider that high enough that were I a woman, rape would come to mind when thinking of frustrated males.
That said, there are a lot of steps between approaching women out of sexual interest, and rape. I imagine anyone capable of being reached by anti-rape arguments is not a psychopath; I also imagine that only psychopaths actually rape.
I’m also reminded of the recent woman-killer who brought a gun to his gym. Apparently he really did feel that (young?) women as a class owed him some level of sexual validation. It’s true that this is rubbish thinking.
Except for some form of therapy+prostitution that doesn’t exist except in science fiction, I don’t see any help for men who go berserk to the extent of raping+killing in response to general rejection except certainty of punishment, which is any case useless against those who’ve already decided to off themselves. Perhaps a more convenient and self-only way of killing themselves could be made available.
I’ve heard that lifetime incidence of being raped for women is about 3% worldwide.
That’s much lower than the estimates I usually see. E.g., the Wikipedia article Estimates of sexual violence quotes a self-reported rate of 14.8% lifetime incidence among U.S. women, not counting failed rape attempts. This refers to this study[1], which quotes two previous studies with similar results, and also estimates a 22% lifetime incidence rate under a broader definition of sexual assault.
There are whole countries out there where the rape incidence in any single year is far above 3%. Even putting “unstable” countries and temporary situations (those lasting one generation or less) aside, there are many societies where the structure of marriage is such that we ought to estimate a daily incidence of rape, perhaps far above 50%.
[1] Tjaden P, Thoennes N. Full report of the prevalence, incidence and consequences of violence against women: findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. Washington, DC, National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, United States Department of Justice and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000 (NCJ 183781).
I wonder where I read 3% (it was very recent) - unfortunately all I can see now are order-of-magnitude higher estimates for what i presume is the broader category of “sexual assault”.
the UN gives an annual incidence for rape per 100,000 people. If we assume rapes of men or of women outside ages 15-50 are (fairly) negligible, then the victim pool is only about a third of the total pop, if that – giving a rate of 0.03% * 3 = 0.09% for the victim pool. Since women are in the pool for 35 years, that gives a lifetime prevalence of about 3.15% (leaving out the correction for a few individuals being victimized more than once). 3% is high.
That comment uses the figure quoted by the previous comment. But look at the pdf linked there for the UN report—that’s not a number of rapes, that’s a number of “crimes recorded in criminal police statistics!” No wonder it’s much lower than the real figure. (I don’t even know if it includes all reports/accusations or just counts found guilty by a court.)
Incidentally that document is missing some of the more interesting statistics for the US, while it has them for other countries. “Rape average prison sentence served” is one.
I’ve heard considerably higher quoted statistics for “sexual assault” (one in four women, it is said, will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime). I don’t know what percentage of sexual assault cases are “actual” rape, though all things that fall under the sexual assault umbrella are frightening.
I also imagine that only psychopaths actually rape.
Don’t think that, unless in so thinking, you also think that “a psychopath” can be a functional, indistinguishable member of society who you’d never once know even through extended association unless he happened to tell you about that one time at that frat party (or whenever).
I also imagine that only psychopaths actually rape.
Don’t think that, unless in so thinking, you also think that “a psychopath” can be a functional, indistinguishable member of society who you’d never once know even through extended association unless he happened to tell you about that one time at that frat party (or whenever).
This. I know or have known three people who survived rapes and were comfortable enough with me to tell me details of the situations. One was in a mental institution, and was raped by the staff—I don’t know much about the details in that situation, but the person or people involved were indistinguishable enough to be employed in that situation. Another friend was assaulted by her twin brother when they were teenagers; other than that, to hear her talk about him he doesn’t sound psychopathic at all. The situation I know the most about involves a friend who, as a teenager, passed out from hunger in the presence of a male acquaintance—almost a 1:1 correspondence with the ‘lost wallet’ scenario. We’ve talked at some length about him, since he tried to get back in touch with her recently, and while he has quite the sense or entitlement and is in denial about the situation, he’s pretty definitely not a psychopath. (Unless I’m very much misremembering my research on psychopathy, psychopaths don’t do denial in the same way he was doing it, if at all.)
I also imagine that only psychopaths actually rape.
Don’t think that, unless in so thinking, you also think that “a psychopath” can be a functional, indistinguishable member of society who you’d never once know even through extended association unless he happened to tell you about that one time at that frat party (or whenever).
Completely correct. I speak not just from reading about it, but also from knowing one woman (that I know of) who was assaulted and the case quite clearly did not involve psychopaths. It involved a gang of ordinary teenage boys egging each other on when she was in their power.
Rape is (statistically) normal human male behavior, and is not correlated with any diagnosable psychological or physiological condition that I know of.
I imagine anyone capable of being reached by anti-rape arguments is not a psychopath; I also imagine that only psychopaths actually rape.
Yeah, exactly. So these efforts are wasted on me, since after all, I’m not a psychopath. Why, if I could push a button that would KILL all the psychopaths, I’d do it!
I finally read the linked scenario. It’s fun, but I’m not sure what to take from it.
It’s scary to imagine people really believing in overarching arbitrary rules that a sane person would only consider in hypothetical philosophy play. I guess some religions encourage it, but thankfully they usually come with enough hypocrisy or compartmentalization to avoid the fearful consequence.
Heh, I was just trying to be funny, not even really trying to relate to your post.
Personally, I just think the very idea of the psychopath button scenario is funny: “Yes, I’d love to be responsible for the death of all mass-murderers … no, wait, that makes me a …”
There is certainly a degree of irony. But pushing that button out of moral concerns proves that you are not a psychopath, irrespective of whether it is an immoral act.
I’ve heard that lifetime incidence of being raped for women is about 3% worldwide. I expect it’s considerably less in orderly societies. I definitely consider that high enough that were I a woman, rape would come to mind when thinking of frustrated males.
That said, there are a lot of steps between approaching women out of sexual interest, and rape. I imagine anyone capable of being reached by anti-rape arguments is not a psychopath; I also imagine that only psychopaths actually rape.
I’m also reminded of the recent woman-killer who brought a gun to his gym. Apparently he really did feel that (young?) women as a class owed him some level of sexual validation. It’s true that this is rubbish thinking.
Except for some form of therapy+prostitution that doesn’t exist except in science fiction, I don’t see any help for men who go berserk to the extent of raping+killing in response to general rejection except certainty of punishment, which is any case useless against those who’ve already decided to off themselves. Perhaps a more convenient and self-only way of killing themselves could be made available.
I really doubt this; surely acculturation against (or for) rape has an effect.
Agreed; implicit context was a society where rape is punished.
That’s much lower than the estimates I usually see. E.g., the Wikipedia article Estimates of sexual violence quotes a self-reported rate of 14.8% lifetime incidence among U.S. women, not counting failed rape attempts. This refers to this study[1], which quotes two previous studies with similar results, and also estimates a 22% lifetime incidence rate under a broader definition of sexual assault.
There are whole countries out there where the rape incidence in any single year is far above 3%. Even putting “unstable” countries and temporary situations (those lasting one generation or less) aside, there are many societies where the structure of marriage is such that we ought to estimate a daily incidence of rape, perhaps far above 50%.
[1] Tjaden P, Thoennes N. Full report of the prevalence, incidence and consequences of violence against women: findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. Washington, DC, National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, United States Department of Justice and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000 (NCJ 183781).
I wonder where I read 3% (it was very recent) - unfortunately all I can see now are order-of-magnitude higher estimates for what i presume is the broader category of “sexual assault”.
You’re right.
I found my “source”—it was a blog comment
I’ve seen 4-10% elsewhere.
That comment uses the figure quoted by the previous comment. But look at the pdf linked there for the UN report—that’s not a number of rapes, that’s a number of “crimes recorded in criminal police statistics!” No wonder it’s much lower than the real figure. (I don’t even know if it includes all reports/accusations or just counts found guilty by a court.)
Incidentally that document is missing some of the more interesting statistics for the US, while it has them for other countries. “Rape average prison sentence served” is one.
I’ve heard considerably higher quoted statistics for “sexual assault” (one in four women, it is said, will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime). I don’t know what percentage of sexual assault cases are “actual” rape, though all things that fall under the sexual assault umbrella are frightening.
Don’t think that, unless in so thinking, you also think that “a psychopath” can be a functional, indistinguishable member of society who you’d never once know even through extended association unless he happened to tell you about that one time at that frat party (or whenever).
This. I know or have known three people who survived rapes and were comfortable enough with me to tell me details of the situations. One was in a mental institution, and was raped by the staff—I don’t know much about the details in that situation, but the person or people involved were indistinguishable enough to be employed in that situation. Another friend was assaulted by her twin brother when they were teenagers; other than that, to hear her talk about him he doesn’t sound psychopathic at all. The situation I know the most about involves a friend who, as a teenager, passed out from hunger in the presence of a male acquaintance—almost a 1:1 correspondence with the ‘lost wallet’ scenario. We’ve talked at some length about him, since he tried to get back in touch with her recently, and while he has quite the sense or entitlement and is in denial about the situation, he’s pretty definitely not a psychopath. (Unless I’m very much misremembering my research on psychopathy, psychopaths don’t do denial in the same way he was doing it, if at all.)
Completely correct. I speak not just from reading about it, but also from knowing one woman (that I know of) who was assaulted and the case quite clearly did not involve psychopaths. It involved a gang of ordinary teenage boys egging each other on when she was in their power.
Rape is (statistically) normal human male behavior, and is not correlated with any diagnosable psychological or physiological condition that I know of.
I do indeed think psychopaths aren’t readily detected.
Yeah, exactly. So these efforts are wasted on me, since after all, I’m not a psychopath. Why, if I could push a button that would KILL all the psychopaths, I’d do it!
Wait...
I finally read the linked scenario. It’s fun, but I’m not sure what to take from it.
It’s scary to imagine people really believing in overarching arbitrary rules that a sane person would only consider in hypothetical philosophy play. I guess some religions encourage it, but thankfully they usually come with enough hypocrisy or compartmentalization to avoid the fearful consequence.
Heh, I was just trying to be funny, not even really trying to relate to your post.
Personally, I just think the very idea of the psychopath button scenario is funny: “Yes, I’d love to be responsible for the death of all mass-murderers … no, wait, that makes me a …”
There is certainly a degree of irony. But pushing that button out of moral concerns proves that you are not a psychopath, irrespective of whether it is an immoral act.
Sadly, this is not true.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_surrogate