Individual Sexual Violence And Group Sexual Violence: What Are They?
Talking about sexual violence can be controversial given the impact it has on society and due to the popular belief historically transmitted regarding the subject.
When we hear news about a sexual assault, we automatically imagine a male individual, with some mental disorder and somewhat out of touch with society, who stalks in the dark a young woman he does not know to force him sexually in some hidden place and we are surprised. especially when discovering that in the vast majority of cases, this is not what happens.
According to a macro survey conducted by the government in 2017, Only in 18% of cases is sexual assault carried out by a stranger which means that 82% of sexual assaults occur by people known to the victim.
Another relevant fact highlighted by the report on multiple sexual assaults in Spain (2016-2018) is that in 98% of the cases the aggressors are men, between the ages of 18 and 47, and the victims are women between the ages of 18. and 32 years on average. Likewise, the most common scenarios where the attacks took place were the street and the victim’s home with the same percentage of 27%.
It is worth mentioning, however, that in sexual assaults carried out by strangers, greater violence is usually exercised against the victim by the perpetrator and the experience of this usually leads to a greater feeling of helplessness and fear for the victim’s own survival.
How to explain the motivation to sexually assault?
It is difficult to create a profile of a sexual offender, although some common traits can be established.
They are normal-looking people with average intelligence , coming from all cultural, religious and economic groups, who do not necessarily present a psychiatric pathology. Although they may present traits of neuroticism, introversion, immaturity, egocentrism and low self-esteem. But on their own, the exposed traits would not be sufficient or decisive to commit sexual assault.
Other factors must also be considered, such as poor learning of behavioral inhibition poor parental educational models, severe and inconsistent parental discipline, aggressive and/or alcoholic parents, physical and sexual abuse in childhood and notable social deficits, which prevent them from establishing relationships appropriate to their age.
Likewise, the fact of committing a crime of a sexual nature may be preceded by emotional states of prolonged stress, sexual excitement, outbursts of anger abusive alcohol consumption and mood states such as depression, anxiety, anger or loneliness or the interrelation of one or more of these factors.
Finally, it is worth mentioning two important aspects inherent to the exercise of any type of violence: distorted thinking that can rationally justify the behavior carried out and minimize the damage caused to the victim and a context or circumstances conducive to carrying out the attack.
What about group sexual assaults?
What has been explained so far would help us to explain sexual assaults that occur by a single individual with the intention of satisfying their sexual desires and fantasies, but… what happens in the rest of the cases?
Until a couple of years ago, sexual assaults carried out in groups were not contemplated in the studies and they were almost invisible to society. Since 2016, we have witnessed an increase in reports of group rapes, going from 15 cases reported that year to 25 cases, between January and June 2018. Despite this increase in reports, we still do not have data that help clarify why these types of attacks occur.
According to experts, a paradoxical event takes place in gang rapes; most members of an aggressor group would never rape alone the subject does not have to be a psychopath, a sadist or an antisocial person to be involved in a group action of this type, a fact that differentiates them and distances them from the profile of a sexual offender.
Trying to explain this phenomenon, Dr. NG Berrill, forensic psychologist, states that gang rapes are usually carried out by young adults and argues that “there is something related to the typical social psychology of these groups that could contextualize violent group behaviors that Otherwise, they would be inexplicable.”
Other authors, such as Doctor Oliveros’ group, support the hypothesis of group influence and cohesion as an explanation for carrying out sexual assaults, arguing that adolescents and young adults are in stages of life in which the sense of belonging to the group, the importance of reputation and submission to the leader acquire extraordinary relevance.
Returning to the aforementioned Dr. Berrill, he alleges that the fact that group rapists are men is not a product of chance, given that the threat of feeling rejected or censured by their peers is sufficient motivation for some young people to commit rape.
Although the author also points out a neurological underdevelopment, characteristic of this evolutionary stage. The frontal lobe, where execution functions are located, such as the distinction between good and evil, would still be developing.
On the other hand, something that all authors agree on is pointing out drugs and alcohol as factors that increase the risk of committing a group sexual assault. On the other hand, one of the most significant characteristics, when carrying out violent behavior in a group, is that responsibility for one’s own actions is diluted and it does not fall on oneself, but on all the members.
Concluding
Despite the above, there seems to be a lack of arguments that explain this type of aggression and It is worth asking the weight of traditional, patriarchal and sexist culture , in the commission of this type of crimes, are they an attempt to demonstrate male superiority? An attempt to subdue the woman? Experts in gender violence advocate this hypothesis, yet we are faced with a phenomenon that is difficult to explain.
