The Image of the Female Victim

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The Image of the Female Victim

• Chapter 6

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• Until the 1970s, female victims were relatively
  invisible
• New types of victimizations have been identified
  and studied

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• Terms
• Battered woman (1974)
• Sexual harassment (1975)
• Date rape (early 1980s)
• Stalking (crime of the nineties)

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• Many people still dont agree on the behaviors
  that constitute each
• Many people still believe the stereotypes
• Victimization rates are increasing

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• Forms of violence against women
• Suttee
• Foot binding
• Infibulation
• Clitoridectomy
• Dowry death
• Bride burning
• Forced prostitution
• International sexual trafficking
• Human sacrifice
• pornography

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• Sexual victimization and battering
• Most underreported crime
• It has long been believed that these offenses are
  rare, the victims fault and shameful for the
  victim

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• Some crimes that were not recognized until the
  1960s-1980s
• Non-sexual child abuse
• Non-sexual wife abuse
• Sexual abuse of children (incest)

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Link between victimizations and fear

• High fear of crime among women yet men are more
  likely to be victims of crime
• Females constitute approx 30 of victimizations
• Frequency is often ignored
• Our culture encourages women to be afraid of crime

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• Why are the crimes underreported?
• Fear
• Humiliation
• Self-blame
• Too personal to discuss
• Embarrassed
• Fear of reprisal by abuser

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• Rape is the most fear inducing crime
• Women are conditioned to be afraid
• Little Red Riding Hood
• Some tv, movies etc, eroticize male violence
  against women
• When females fail to follow the socially
  prescribe roles, they are blamed for their
  victimization

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• White females report the highest fears of rape
• Women are more likely to be raped by someone
  they know or an intimate rather than a
  stranger
• The media puts a huge emphasis on stranger to
  stranger crimes

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Effects of Culture on Gender roles

• Choose names of children based on their sex
• Historically, women have been viewed as property
  of men
• Rape was considered theft
• Rape laws were designed to protect property of
  middle and upper class white men

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• Our culture often suggests that women need men
  for protection and financial security
• Some view male violence as a natural thing
• Some feel that women are the precipitators of
  mens violence

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• Those who believed rape myths were also more
  likely to blame the victims and support
  conservative gender roles
• Some believe that there are certain types of
  women who get victimized

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• African American women are more likely to be
  battered
• White middle class women are more likely to be
  sexual assault victims
• Rapists white and 90 are intra-racial (within
  the same race)

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Gender Disparities in Power

• Brownmiller she views rape as a conscious means
  by which men control women
• Rape prone societies are associated with lower
  levels of female power and authority

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• As economic, political and legal status of women
  decreased, the rape rate increased
• Rape is a crime of power, domination

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Threat of Violence

• Women are constantly reminded of their
  vulnerability
• Culturally embedded females should restrict
  their behavior, actions and clothing or something
  dreadful will happen
• Many women report that the fear of rape crosses
  their mind regularly

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Victim Blaming

• Women who dont follow societys unwritten rules
  are often blamed if they are raped
• Many believe that girls who drink are partly at
  fault for their victimization
• Men might get females drunk to have sex with them

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• Victims of rape and battering are more likely to
  be blamed than victims of any other crime
• Accused of having provoked the behavior
• Some situations increase risk of being a victim

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• Women are most at risk of being raped by husbands
  and boyfriends but few people are prepared to
  tell women and girls not to date and marry
• What do you think?

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• Clothing revealingness and character more blame
  on the victim
• Some claim that men are violent because of the
  violence from their past
• Since the female victimization rates are so high,
  why arent more females violent?

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• Lerner Just World Hypothesis
• People get what they deserve
• 4 out of 5 rape victims know their assailants

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Victimization of women and girls of color

• 3rd world women in the U.S. are
  disproportionately victims of rape, battering and
  sterilization abuse
• Often the CJ system treats women of color as if
  they are not victims
• Often see more legal response for illegal
  immigrants

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• Large number of women in prison who have
  protected themselves against violent men

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Victimization of Women and girls with disabilities

• Many assume that people with disabilities are
  less at risk for victimization
• NOT TRUE
• It is assumed that no one would want to harm
  someone so vulnerable or find them sexually
  attractive (MYTHS)
• Actually have an increased risk of victimization

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• Children with disabilities are twice as likely as
  those without to be sexually victimized
• Pornography that depicts people with disabilities
  claims to liberate those people when actually it
  turns it into fetishes