Popular Culture: The Stigma Of Rape
Stigma of Rape
Because Popular culture depicts a “typical” rape as being perpetrated by “sick” or crazy men where the rape is a “sudden, violent attack by a stranger in a deserted, public space, after which the victim is expected to provide evidence of the attach and of her active resistance” (Williams, 1984). This stereotype script frames rapists as strangers and the literature refers to such a description as the “classic” rape scenario (Williams, 1994).
Women whose experiences do not conform to this stereotype or script are regularly seen as less than “real” or true victims. They are sometimes framed as women who have brought it upon themselves because their demeanor, behavior, or dress provoked the assailant (Williams, 1994) or because they were once engaged in an intimate relationship with the assailant. Since rape scripts assign extensive blame to the victim and since most rapes do not conform the “classic” scenario, survivors of acquaintance rape are less apt than victims of stranger rape to label the experience of sexual assault as rape. (Koss, 1992). They are also less likely to report their victimization to the police (Koss, 1992), and more likely to be blamed by others …show more content…
For example, when Pennebaker and his colleagues (1988) examined effects of disclosing traumatic events and its physiological and psychological consequences, they found that individuals who did not disclose their feelings and the facts of their trauma, were more likely to develop health problems compared to those who disclosed the trauma. Thus, the role of stigma and the components of it –devaluation of the victim and the feeling of being different or “marked”– lead to social rejection of stigmatized people, which in turn, caused social isolation. The stigma of rape in most of the cases causes, self-blame, and low self esteem on the survivors (Kilpatrick et al.,
Because Popular culture depicts a “typical” rape as being perpetrated by “sick” or crazy men where the rape is a “sudden, violent attack by a stranger in a deserted, public space, after which the victim is expected to provide evidence of the attach and of her active resistance” (Williams, 1984). This stereotype script frames rapists as strangers and the literature refers to such a description as the “classic” rape scenario (Williams, 1994).
Women whose experiences do not conform to this stereotype or script are regularly seen as less than “real” or true victims. They are sometimes framed as women who have brought it upon themselves because their demeanor, behavior, or dress provoked the assailant (Williams, 1994) or because they were once engaged in an intimate relationship with the assailant. Since rape scripts assign extensive blame to the victim and since most rapes do not conform the “classic” scenario, survivors of acquaintance rape are less apt than victims of stranger rape to label the experience of sexual assault as rape. (Koss, 1992). They are also less likely to report their victimization to the police (Koss, 1992), and more likely to be blamed by others …show more content…
For example, when Pennebaker and his colleagues (1988) examined effects of disclosing traumatic events and its physiological and psychological consequences, they found that individuals who did not disclose their feelings and the facts of their trauma, were more likely to develop health problems compared to those who disclosed the trauma. Thus, the role of stigma and the components of it –devaluation of the victim and the feeling of being different or “marked”– lead to social rejection of stigmatized people, which in turn, caused social isolation. The stigma of rape in most of the cases causes, self-blame, and low self esteem on the survivors (Kilpatrick et al.,