Rape and sexual assault

According to Kovac & Trussell (2015), young women and men spend their leisure time in pubs and find it as a nightlife entertainment where they gain a sense of belonging, hedonic motivations and pleasure-seeking behavior. The article asserts that nightclubs develop hegemonic sexuality and young men present hyper masculine traits toward women where they engage in heterosexual games to show their masculinity. Women in this case are treated as sexual objects and people of low status by men. There is a nightclub culture which does not favor women but rather forces them to engage in unwanted sexual behaviors (Kovac & Trussell, 2015). Both young men and women find themselves in misogynistic-tolerant environment and women become victims of sexual assaults since alcohol acts as a ‘date-rape drug’. Up to this point, it is important to understand the victim precipitation in this scenario. Note that women become the victim of sexual assault in the nightclub culture. In other words, sexual assault is committed due to the interaction and reinforcement from victims and offenders. Gender difference is socially constructed through social interactions. For example, female gender is constructed in the nightclubs and the constructed gender plays a big role in developing hierarchical relations at macro and micro levels (Kovac & Trussell, 2015). The study in this article explores how feminine identities portray sexuality. The study finds that there are inherent paradoxes which show that nightclub develops relationship and increases the risk of violence. Women behaviors such as dancing, kissing and more in the nightclub give men a sexual power and create both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. In this scenario, there is victim precipitation where women portray sexual behaviors through signs, gestures and more. These behaviors motivate the perpetrator to engage in sexual intercourse. It is clear that sexual assault happens simply because women shows provocative behaviors and increases victimization risk through developing high risk lifestyle (Kovac & Trussell, 2015).

Elliot, Mok & Briere  (2004) state that  sexual assault in women is high than men  since they  experience  about 13% and 25% in their life time while men experience 0.6% and 7.2%.This indicates that women are victims of sexual abuse  while men are the perpetrators. Women develop long-term effects from sexual assists such as low self-esteem, depression and more while men suffer from depression and hostility. Even though both men and women are victims of sexual assault, women are seen as the victims. Other point to understand   is that sexual assault is socially constructed since men are viewed as perpetrators and women are treated as sexual objects. Women suffer from psychosexual consequences which are associated with long-term effects (Elliot & Briere, 2004). Indeed, nonconsensual sexual experiences are regarded as sexual   assault with respect to legal aspects. To minimize the harmful effects which affect women, there should be protective factors and prevention strategies should be implemented.  Victims should be equipped with risk reduction techniques. Policies and social norms should be incorporated in the society to ensure that women and men have an awareness and positive attitude. It is also important to distinguish between real victims and victim precipitation through gathering evidence in order to address the cases effectively. Sexual assault for women is not effectively addressed and it is important to value the life of women and support them with all means including treatment and counseling (Elliot & Briere, 2004). In addition, cognitive behavioral programme is effective in healing the psychological damage.

 

 

Reference

Kovac, L. D., & Trussell, D. E. (2015). ‘Classy and Never Trashy’: Young Women's Experiences of

Nightclubs and the Construction of Gender and Sexuality. Leisure Sciences, 37(3), 195-209.

doi:10.1080/01490400.2014.986347

 

Elliott, D. M., Mok, D. S., & Briere, J. (2004). Adult Sexual Assault: Prevalence, Symptomatology, and Sex

Differences in the General Population. Journal Of Traumatic Stress, 17(3), 203-211.