Sex, crime, and soceity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sex, crime, and soceity - Essay Example Despite the many centuries that have passed, many of the beliefs and biases that have animated patriarchal laws have still managed to leave their imprint on present-day legislation. A reexamination of the purpose of the law is long overdue (Wells, 1985). That precisely is what makes the crime of rape so different from other crimes in the statute books. There are complex issues of gender and power involved and the body is perceived as a political field (Duncan, 1995). To quote Baron and Strauss (1987): According to feminist theory, rape functions as a mechanism of social control in patriarchal societies (Brownmiller, 1975; Riger and Gordon, 1981). Feminist theorists argue that rape and the fear of rape enable men to assert their power over women and maintain the existing system of gender stratification (Adamec & Adamec, 1981; Barry, 1979; Brownmiller, 1975; Riger and Gordon, 1981; Russell, 1984; Sanaday, 1981). Clark and Lewis (1977) argue that rape is more likely to occur in societies where women are regarded as the sexual and reproductive possessions of men. In such societies, men sustain their power and privilege and enforce their sexual rights through threats or use of force. Baron and Strauss further went and described the four theories that underlie the crime of rape, in their paper that presents a theoretical model which integrates the four macrosociological theories of rape. They describe these four theories as follows: One theory holds that rape is a mechanism of gender inequality. A second theory attributes rape to the proliferation of pornographic materials. A third, called cultural spillover theory, maintains that cultural norms which favor violence for socially legitimate purposes tend to be generalized to other social contexts and increase the likelihood of rape. And a final theory holds that social disorganization reduces social constraints against