Handbook on Sexual Violence (47 page)

Sociology still conceptually places the family at the heart of Western culture, ‘even though the perfect nuclear family is certainly a myth for many of us in the twenty-first century’ (Wykes and Welsh 2009: 92). Despite this, politicians adhere to the myth of the ideal family. In January 2010, Secretary of State for Children Ed Balls launched
Support for All – the Families and Relationships Green Paper
and states in the introduction, ‘Marriage is an important and well- established institution that plays a fundamental role in family life in our society.’ Also in January 2010, in an interview with the
Daily Mail
, Conservative leader David Cameron said he remained committed to tax breaks for married couples, saying, ‘I don’t care if it’s popular or not. I care whether it’s right or not. It’s important to say that commitment matters, that relationships matter, that marriage is a good institution and we should back it rather than undermine it’ (Groves 2010).

Conclusion

The contribution of sociology to understanding violent behaviour has revealed power inequalities and power abuses, and has resulted in some policy changes. Feminism (in whatever guise it takes) is not ‘owned’ by sociology or any other cognate discipline but it has helped to inform the discipline and to advance the ways in which sexual violence can be understood. Feminism has highlighted the entitlement of the powerful to sexually violate women in a myriad of different social circumstances. This entitlement is at the heart of a hegemonic web of commonly taken for granted power relations.

To engage in meaningful research into sexual violence, we need to

understand the connections between the micro-dynamics (why individual

men rape) and the macro patterns (why rape is a global phenomenon). Sexual violence, whether in peace or in war, is functional to patriarchal societies as it creates a sense of fear, restricts women’s freedom of movement and economic activity: ‘All rape is related as it derives from a system of dominance and subjugation that allows, and in fact often encourages, precisely the violent crime of rape as a way of maintaining the system’ (Falco´n 2006: 129). Wherever the violation exists on the continuum of violence, it can result in the demoralisation of survivors, family and friends, limiting their ability to respond effectively, and can tear communities apart by breaking family and community bonds.

Sociological perspectives can be useful in understanding the structural context of sexual violence rather than attributing causality to any individual characteristics of victims or offenders. This more structural analysis might give voice to those outside of the ethnic and economic mainstream and also has implications for service responses to the problem of sexual violence. It highlights the importance of gender as an analytical tool, together with class and race as explanatory variables. In war and in peace it is important that the public and private spheres are not viewed as separate worlds but areas of interwoven influence.

The extent of sexual violence is underestimated in all arenas and violence encompasses more than physical assault, extending across the continuum, and includes all behaviour that acts to control and intimidate women (Kelly 1988). Historically women have been reluctant to reveal the extent to which men are violent but some of the hidden crime has become visible and that is important in assessing what needs to be done to support survivors. The development of rape crisis groups, for example, represents an effective response in countering the self-blame and stigma that victims often face. However, effective support systems alone cannot counter the underpinning cultures of violence and belief systems that are highlighted by prevailing rape myths. The Stern Review (2010: 115) made the point that ‘policies are not the problem. The failures are in the implementation’; and surveys, even large-scale tools such as the British Crime Survey, have failed to measure key structural factors. Research that focuses on the individuals involved and their characteristics, rather than examining the underlying social structures, may only perpetuate the problem because the issue of sexual violence does not necessarily reduce to a question of individual decisions taken by individual men. More systematic measures of violence normalisation underpinned by belief structures which give power to assumptions about acceptable behaviour are urgent imperatives.

What sociological analysis offers is an understanding that efforts to define and respond to sexual violence are built on shifting sands if the foundational social structures of violence are not examined. Sexual violence has its roots in the structural foundations of societal arrangements and relationships. Although it is widely accepted that violence does not represent an acceptable form of behaviour, violence still evades definition and pervades many aspects of life, from the macro arena of war and genocide to the private domain of the home.

Further reading

A primary question addressed within this c
hapter concerned whether sociological analysis can tell us anything about the extent of sexual violence. For a comprehensive guide to researching sexual violence, see Tina Skinner, Marianne Hester and Ellen Malos’s
Researching Gender Violence: Feminist Methodology in Action
(2005) Cullompton: Willan Publishing. The website of Rape Crisis (England and Wales) is a useful starting point when researching sexual violence (http://www.rapecrisis.org.u
k/) and for an overview of the history of Rape Crisis see
Rape Crisis: Responding to Sexual Violence
(Helen Jones and Kate Cook 2008). Recent changes in legal procedures can be illustrative of how the legal system views societal attitudes to victims of sexual violence. The website ‘Rights of Women’ provides up-to-date materials on a range of legal issues, including rape and domestic violence
(http://www.rightsofwomen.org.uk/). Media and cultural analysis can uncover the phenomenon of rape myth acceptance and Natasha Walter in
Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism
(2010) provides a thorough debate on the connections between gender inequality and the normalisation of sexual violence. Finally,
The Stern Review
(2010) points to future changes in how statutory agencies deal with rape, highlighting the need to tackle misconceptions and join up services.

References

Abbott, P. and Wallace, C. (1990)
An Introduction to Sociology: Feminist Perspectives
.

London: Routledge.

AIHRC (2010)
Evaluation report on General Situation of Women in Afghanistan
. Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. Available at: http://www.aihrc.org.af/ Evaluation_Rep_G
en_Sit_Wom.htm (accessed on 19 March 2010).

Amnesty International (2004)
It’s In Our Hands: Stop Violence Against Women
. Oxford: Alden Press.

Banyard, K. (2010)
The Equality Illusion: The Truth About Men and Women Today
. London: Faber and Faber.

BBC News (2009)
Records of rape crime ’distorted’
. 21 September. Available at: http:// news.bbc.c
o.uk/1/hi/uk/8266014.stm (accessed on 19 March 2010).

BBC News (2010) M
en cleared as rape woman’s group sex fantasy revealed
. 12 January. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/8455161.s
tm (accessed on 19 March 2010).

Bourke, J. (2007)
Rape: A History from 1860 to the Present
. London: Virago.

Brooks, G. (1996)
Nine Parts of Desire: Hidden World of Islamic Women
. London: Bantam Doubleday.

Brownmiller, S. (1975)
Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape
. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Bufkin, J. and Eschholz, S. (2000) ‘Images of sex and rape’,
Violence Against Women
, 6(12): 1317–44.

Burt, M. (1980) ‘Cultural myths and support for rape’,
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
, 28: 217–30.

Canning, V. and Tobin, A. (2010) ’Policy, impunity, safety and community: Women, rape and asylum’,
Journeys and Justice: Forced Migration, Seeking Asylum and Human Rights
, Amnesty International Conference, University of Leeds, 29 January 2010.

Childline (2009) Childline Casenotes. London: NSPCC. Available at: http:// www.nspcc.org.uk/inform/publications/casenotes/clcasenotessexualabuse2_wdf 69493.pd
f (accessed on 19 March 2010).

Coleman, K., Jansson, K., Kalza, P. and Reed, E. (2007)
Homicides, Firearms Offences and Intimate Violence 2005/2006 (Supplementary Volume to Crime in England and Wales 2005/ 2006)
. Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate. Available at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/hosb0207.pd
f (accessed on 19 March 2010).

Connell, R. (1987)
Gender and Power
. Stanford: Stanford University.

Cooley, C.H. (1902)
Human Nature and the Social Order
. New York: Scribner’s.

Dodd, V. (2009) ‘Rape complaints were not classified as crimes by police’,
The Guardian
, 16 March. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/16/rape-complaints-
police-breached-guidelines (accessed on 19 March 2010).

Enloe, C. (2000)
Manoeuvres: The International Politics of Militarizing Women’s Lives
.

Berkeley: University of California Press.

Falco´n, S. (2006) ‘National security and the violation of women’, in Incite! (eds)
Color of Violence: The Incite! Anthology
. Cambridge, Mass: South End Press.

Fawcett (2009)
Regional Rape Conviction Rates
. Available at: http://www.fawcettsociety.
org.uk/index.asp?PageID=244 (accessed on 19 March 2010).

Fitzpatrick, C. (2001) ‘Hypothetical rape scenarios as a pedagogical device to facilitate students learning about prosecutorial decision-making and discretion’,
Journal of Criminal Justice Education
, 12: 169–91.

Forbes, J. (1992) ‘Female sexual abusers: the contemporary search for equivalence’,

Practice
, 6: 102–11.

Gray, M.W. and Marek, S. (2008) ‘The statistics of genocide,’ in J. Asher, D. Banks and

F. J. Scheuren (eds)
Statistical Methods for Human Rights
. New York: Springer.

Grover, C. and Soothill, K. (1996) ‘A murderous ‘‘underclass’’? The press reporting of sexually motivated murder’,
Sociological Review
, 44: 398–415.

Groves, J. (2010) ‘Something deeply wrong in society’,
Daily Mail
, 23 January. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1245171/David-Cameron-charges-Brown- social-recession.html#ixzz0fcx
DshHC (accessed on 19 March 2010).

Hagemann-White, C. (2001) ‘European research on the prevalence of violence against women’,
Violence Against Women
, 7: 732–59.

Hartmann, H. (1981) ‘The unhappy marriage of Marxism and feminism’, in L. Sargent,

Women and Revolution: A Discussion of the Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism
. Boston: South End Press.

Home Office (1999)
A Question of Evidence? Investigating and Prosecuting Rape in the 1990s
.

London: HMSO.

Horvath, M. and Brown, J. (2009)
Rape: Challenging Contemporary Thinking
. Cullompton: Willan Publishing.

Human Rights Watch (2001) ‘Afghanistan: Humanity Denied’,
Human Rights Watch
. Available at: http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2001/10/29/h
umanity-denied (accessed on 19 March 2010).

Jones, H. (2005) ‘Visible rights: Watching out for women’,
Surveillance and Society
, 2(4): 589–93.

Jones, H. (2010) ‘One hand on the keyboard: sexual violence in hyperspace’,
Crime and Social Justice Seminar Series
, Manchester Metropolitan University, 1 February.

Jones, H. and Cook, K. (2008)
Rape Crisis: Responding to Sexual Violence
. Lyme Regis: Russell House.

Jones, H. and Wachala, K. (2006) ‘Watching over the rights of women’,
Social Policy and Society
, 5(1): 127–36.

Kelly, L. (1988)
Surviving Sexual Violence
. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Kershaw, C., Nicholas, S. and Walker, A. (2008)
Crime in England and Wales 2007–08: Findings from the British Crime Survey and police recorded crime
. Home Office Research, Development and Statistics. Available at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs08/

hosb0708.pdf (accessed on 19 March 2010).

Kimmel, M. (2004)
The Gendered Society
. New York: Oxford University Press.

Lees, S. (1997)
Ruling Passions: Sexual Violence, Reputation and the Law
. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Lovett, J. and Kelly, L. (2009)
Different systems, similar outcomes? Tracking attrition in reported rape cases in eleven countries
. Country briefing: ENGLAND. Available at: http://www.cwasu.org/publication_display.asp?type=1&pageid=PAPERS&pagekey

=44 (accessed on 19 March 2010).

MacKinnon, C. (1987)
Feminism Unmodified: Discourses on Life and Law
. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Mason, P. and Monckton-Smith, J. (2008) ‘Conflation, collocation and confusion: British

press coverage of the sexual murder of women’,
Journalism
, 9(6): 691–710.

McLeod, M a.nd Saraga, E. (1988) ‘Challenging the orthodoxy: towards a feminist theory and practice’,
Feminist Review
, 28: 16–55.

Metropolitan Police Authority (2010)
Crime Statistics
. Available at: http://www.mpa. gov.uk/statistics/crime-st
ats/#h1000 (accessed on 19 March 2010).

Morris, S. and Carter, H. (2009) ‘Vanessa George: from angel to paedophile’,
The Guardian
, 1 October. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/oct/01/ vanessa-george-plymouth-abus
e-background (accessed on 19 March 2010).