Gang rape: Is it a race issue?
Sunday, 21 June 2009
A high proportion of such attacks appears to be carried out by young black men, according to Metropolitan Police statistics. Sorious Samura investigates this horrendous crime – and what it says about Britain today:
Gang rape: Is it a race issue? - Crime, UK - The Independent
Ever hear this?
All Men Potential Rapists, Claim Authors
NEW YORK (APBnews.com) -- A storm of controversy is brewing around an upcoming book by two evolutionary biologists who argue that rape is rooted in sex, not violence, occurring as part of a "natural biological phenomenon."
"Rape is, in its very essence, a sexual act ... which has evolved over millennia of human history along with courtship, sexual attraction and other behaviors related to the production of offspring," writes Thornhill, a professor at the University of New Mexico and Palmer, an instructor at the University of Colorado.
Book: Potential exists in all men
At the heart of their controversial argument is the idea that all men -- under the right circumstances -- could be potential rapists, Thornhill told APBnews.com.
"It has to do with conditions under which men are raised that influence their proneness [to rape], like the characteristics of men's upbringings, boys who are raised in poverty or conditions where social relationships are not enduring. Those things are important conditions for influencing rape proneness," said Thornhill.
But there are certain conditions, he said, such as being isolated with a woman, or in the context of warfare, which may influence "rape proneness."
"A guy, regardless of how he has been raised ... finding a female in a real vulnerable situation ... in some conditions rapes her," Thornhill said.
Rejects 'aggression' motive
The authors reject the position of many social scientists who see rape primarily as an act of aggression. They say that for 25 years, the course of rape treatment and prevention has been steered by feminist ideology, an argument vociferously challenged by social historians.
The theory that rape is a violent crime motivated by the urge to exert power and control was put forth by Susan Brownmiller in her highly acclaimed 1975 work, Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape.
The book debunked the Freudian idea that "no woman could be raped against [her] will" and prompted new laws shifting the burden of proof away from the victim.
Feminists incensed
She said the publication of A Natural History shows that women are being forced to once more fight the "Victorian notion that men can't help themselves."
All Men Potential Rapists, Claim Authors