Myths of Rape

MYTH: RAPE IS AN ACT OF PASSION OR LUST.
REALITY: Rape is a crime of violence, hostility or hatred toward someone from the rapist's past who may have abused him physically or mentally. Men CAN control themselves. 60% of all rapists are married and have regular sexual partners. 60% of all rapes are planned in advance and 50% of all rapes do not end in ejaculation. Rapes are becoming more brutal with an increasing number of rapists using a foreign object to commit the rape (such as a pipe, gun barrel, screwdriver, flashlight, shovel handle, etc.).

MYTH: RAPE USUALLY HAPPENS IN DARK, ISOLATED PLACES AT NIGHT.
REALITY: Rape can happen any time of the day or night and in any place a motor vehicle, a park, a stairwell, or housing projects and offices. In New Orleans, 60% of the reported rapes occurred in a residence - 90% in the victim's home, usually between midnight and 3:00 a.m. (31%), on a Sunday morning (18%) in August (13.5%). Approximately 30% of the rapes were by way of breaking and entering.

MYTH: WOMEN CANNOT BE RAPED UNLESS THEY WANT TO BE.
REALITY: Rape is a violent and brutal act. Attacks, intimidation, injury, abuse, humiliation, threats and degradation are not enjoyable. Anyone can be immobilized by the threat of death or violence. A woman's health, size or strength have little, if any, bearing in this situation, especially when a gun or knife is used! However, a woman's preparedness can help overcome the paralyzing effects of terror.

MYTH: RAPE IS INVITED BY THE WAY A FEMALE DRESSES.
REALITY: Studies of convicted rapists have proven that the average rapist turns the other way when he sees a woman dressed provocatively. Rapists are not looking for an erotic experience. They are out to attack a woman in general, being that rape is intended as a humiliation, a way of asserting power over a woman an act of violence! Remember, elderly women and babies are raped as are nurses in uniform, nuns in their habits, and boys as well as young men.

MYTH: WOMEN FALSELY ACCUSE MEN OF RAPE.
REALITY: F.B.I. statistics show that false accusations of rape are the same for any other felony 5%. Every victim who decides to prosecute must undergo an extensive medical examination, a thorough interrogation by the police, and a difficult court appearance to testify. Charges resulting in conviction in New Orleans are 1 in 3; nationally, they are in 1 in 8.

MYTH: "IT CAN'T HAPPEN TO ME!"
REALITY: As with any act of physical violence, any female can be a victim of rape. In fact, according to FBI statistics, 1 woman in 3 stands a chance of being raped within her lifetime.

MYTH: MANY VICTIMS OF RAPE ARE MURDERED.
REALITY: Approximately 1% of rapes reported annually in New Orleans end in murder. Most rape/homicides are the result of a victim's violent resistance (she bit him, kicked him, etc.) and the rapist used excessive force to subdue her. The child molester/murderer usually comes from an extremely disturbed childhood and was either beaten severely by his parents, abandoned, or sexually abused. Through this act he thinks he is striking out at his parents with boiling hatred to show his anger, or the act was a reenactment of his own resentment of guilt from being sexually abused himself.

MYTH: A VICTIM HAS TO FIGHT OFF HER ATTACKER IN ORDER TO BE BELIEVED BY THE POLICE AND IN COURT.
REALITY: The three basic elements of a rape offense are: (1) penetration, however slight; (2) force; and (3) fear of death or great bodily harm. The Forcible Rape Law protects the victim who is unable to fight off her attacker or is too frightened to fight back. The penalty for Forcible Rape is 2 to 40 years at hard labor.

MYTH: IF A WOMAN CARRIES A GUN HER CHANCES ARE BETTER FOR PREVENTING RAPE.
REALITY:Carrying a gun in your purse is illegal in New Orleans unless you have a special permit issued by the New Orleans Police Department. A weapon - any weapon - is risky as the female could have the weapon taken away and used on her by the rapist. Learn to reject your social conditioning that PASSIVITY and WEAKNESS are feminine.