Rape as a Hate Crime
A new topic in the news lately is that of misogynist inspired rape as a hate (or bias) crime against people of a certain gender. It is a highly controversial topic and one that deserves discussion. Other topics to consider are bias crimes against people with disabilities such as PTSD and rape trauma syndrome, and discrimination against the survivor and feminist community. People often fear what they do not understand and most people do not know what rape trauma syndrome is or how to assist those living with it. In order to amend this situation this website seeks to explore and illuminate the topic.
Controversial resources for discussion:
Rape as a hate crime
Rape: The paradigmatic hate crime
Recognizing Violence Against Women: Gender and the Hate Crimes Statistics Act
Hate Crime as a Crime Category Worthy of Policy Attention
Gender based hate crimes
Re-classifying rape from a sex crime to a hate crime
To make clear that the motive of rape is power - not passion.
Why Isn’t Rape a ‘Hate Crime?’
Rape as a hate crime
Resources on gender bias:
Sex Rights - The Amnesty Oxford Lectures
"Discrimination due to gender and sexual orientation tends nowadays to be prohibited under international human rights instruments, as well as under the national laws of many countries that express their commitment to defending human rights. Nonetheless, as the work of Amnesty International has shown, violence against women (whatever their sexual orientation), gay men, trans-gendered and transsexual persons remains an appallingly constant phenomenon, both in countries that have an official commitment to fighting these forms of discrimination and in those that do not."
Gender bias in the courts
Guidelines for Gender Neutral Courtroom Procedures
More about the subject:
Overview:
The Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation currently states that "A hate crime, also known as a bias crime, is a criminal offense committed against a person, property, orsociety that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias against a:
Recent legislation expanded hate crimes laws to cover other types of discrimination. The Hate Crimes website also lists gender as a possible source of discrimination.
"In addition to the other categories of hate crime, gender is increasingly being included as a status category in State and Federal hate crime laws. The current study explored how prosecutors view gender as a status category in hate crime law, specifically in terms of their knowledge of gender-bias violence and their willingness to charge violence against women as a hate crime... The authors recommend adopting an advocacy approach that supports the notion of violence against women as an issue of power and control while at the same time educates and encourages prosecutors and the public to adopt a hate crime perspective on violence against women. " (McPhail & DiNitto 2005) Violence Against Women: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal NCJRS
Stigmas such as suffering from rape related PTSD result in the person being devalued, lowered in status, stereotyped and victimized by prejudice and discrimination. (Margulis, 2003) They also result in further breaches of privacy because the unstigmatized treat them as objects of curiosity. If the subject is unable to handle these social interactions they feel embarrassed and unwanted. (Margulis, 2003) This is known as secondary victimization or victim blame.
Most people do not understand what RTS (rape trauma syndrome) is or know what the symptoms are. It can be a difficult thing to comprehend if you have never heard of it before. Dissociative identity disorder in particular is usually not spoken about openly. That does not mean people you know aren't suffering from it. PTSD is a more commonly recognized aspect of rape trauma syndrome. Other disorders associated with sexual assault are OCD, Eating disorders and Self injury. The invisibility of the rape survivor community and the general ignorance of the nature of rape trauma syndrome and PTSD contribute to the frequency of hate crimes and hate speech against rape survivors. The public's unfamiliarity with dissociation, dissociative identity disorder, self injury and other disabilities suffered by rape victims may be a contributing factor.
Bias crimes against members of a certain community are also a problem for rape survivors. The rape survivor community is considered to be nearly invisible to society at large. This contrasts with the estimation that between 1 in 4 and 1 in 6 college aged women will be sexually assaulted within their lifetimes. The survivor community is a tolerant community which is visible through the international network of online support groups. Members maintain social support networks and personal websites which interlink with one another.
"post-traumatic stress disorder." Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Scholastic Library Publishing, 2006 <http://gme.grolier.com> (January 6, 2006).
Margulis, S. (2003). On the status and contribution of westin's and altman's theories of privacy. Journal of Social Issues, 59 (2) 411-429.
Margulis, S. (2003). Privacy as a social issue and behavioral concept. Journal of Social Issues, 59.
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