Victim And Feminist Analysis

A victim is defined in the victims’ code as someone who has suffered harm, including physical, mental or emotional harm or economic loss which was directly caused by criminal conduct, or is a close relative of a person whose death was directly caused by criminal conduct (Cps.gov.uk, 2014). The following essay will be focusing on both positivist and feminist views of victims and to be more specific, the victims of rape. The criminal act of rape is defined as forced penetration of the mouth, vagina or anus by a penis with no consent (Sexual Offences Act, 2003), meaning that, by law, only men can rape. Positivism is an approach that dates back to the nineteenth century, and which focuses on biological, psychological and sociological causes of
A sign of this is the statistic that 97% of men who have raped other men identify themselves and see themselves as heterosexual and in no way homosexual or in any way attracted to other men (Lees, 1997). Due to this statistic, it is clear to see that if men identify as heterosexual, yet rape other men, it must be about something other than sexual pleasure. In a survey answered by hundreds of rape and sexual assault support agencies, it was estimated that around 93.7 percent of male rape perpetrators are male and just 6.3 percent were female (Greenberg, Bruess and Haffner, 2000). Feminists are strong in the view that men do not rape others to fulfil sexual desires or receive gratification, they rape due to it being a ‘deliberate act of power, dominance and humiliation’ (Brownmiller, 2013). Brownmiller says that men rape to show off and secure their masculinity, while believing that women are wishing to be raped as part of their
Some believe that the female in the situation sometimes encourages rape by using what can be interpreted as indecency in her language and gestures, or constitutes what could be believed as an invitation to sexual acts (Amir 1971: 266, cited in Abdullah-Khan, 2008). The idea of functional responsibility came from Schafer. He said that there is a disregard of the victims responsibility for mobilising the criminal passion coming from the perpetrator and that it should be important when looking at who is responsible for an offence (Schafer, 1967). It is suggested that perhaps the victim motivates the criminal by either consciously or unconsciously neglecting his or her own risk and so makes them an easy target and so is, in a way, responsible for becoming a victim. If a victim has been drinking heavily, or is in some way encourages the offence or causing it themselves, then they would be seen as undeserving victims (Goodey, 2005). A victim would only be deserving if they have been seen to do everything they can to avoid becoming a victim of an offence. Only then will they be deserving and see as a true victim. If they lead what is believed to be an undesirable life, such as working as a prostitute, then they are undeserving victims as they are openly putting themselves in situations where they may become victims and so it is their own