Paper Example on Sexual Victimization

Introduction

The use of aggression and cases of violence against children, youth, and adults have been in existence from the beginning of human history. Victimization is as old as humanity. Sexual victimization is one form of aggression which ranges from verbal coercion to have sexual intercourse with an intimate partner, rape, sexual assault from a bar to the intoxication of a victim to object or consent. Sexual aggression can have different approaches. It can be defined from a medical, legal and a psychological perspective or a total of these. All these approaches view sexual assault as the injury inflicted in the body, a strictly prohibited act or emotional effect on the victim respectively. Sexual assault does not just occur as a single act; it could also happen in a protracted sequence of incidents. This form of crime has victims from a broad spectrum, and hence it dramatically affects the interaction following the offence with the offender, the society and the criminal justice system.

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Explanations Relating to the Crime

How sexual violence comes about can be addressed from different perspectives. One of the causes is sexual motivation, the desire to have sex, which many researchers dispute with the allegation that assault is more of violence than sex. Socialization also plays a big part; the youths are taught to become aggressive and forceful by the society. Machoism refers to a view of human beings as objects to be conquered sexually; this theory drives people into such violent attempts at sexual advancements. The other theory explaining cases of sexual assault is biological background, where men are viewed to have an instinctive reaction in perpetuating species. Psychologically, sexual assault cases are considered to stem out of some illnesses or mental problems. The culture of violence which is propagated by our society also results in this incidences.

Victims of Sexual Victimization

Victims of sexual violence depend on the form in which the act manifests itself. It could be rape by a stranger, acquaintance rape, marital rape, stalking, sexual harassment and verbal coercion. Rapists are noted to select specific victims. Young women are viewed as easy prey when it comes to the case of rape. Marital and acquaintance rape occurs to only a few women. Different explanations have been pointed out as to why women fall victim to this forms of assault. They are as discussed below.

Historical view of the family. The need for privacy prevails at the expense of speaking out.

Lack of spousal immunity. The notion that a husband cannot be viewed to have possibly raped the wife makes women fall victims to this form of crime.

Economics of dependency. This forces women to be submissive to the husband, making them remain silent even when undergoing assault.

The social preoccupation with violence. Many films depict women in a devalued manner and hence viewed as sexual objects.

In the other cases, stalking victimizes celebrities, strangers or relatives. It may take the form of cyberbullying where the victim receives emails or on other personal accounts. Women in workplaces and campuses also fall victim to this menace. Harassment in workplaces ranges from segregation in employment opportunities to inappropriate interaction by professors such as steering and ogling in colleges.

The Interaction That the Victim Needs to Have With the Offender

To answer this question, a critical examination of the various manifestation of sexual victimization goes a long way. The professional interaction could later lead to sexual assault. Research conducted by the U.S. Merit Production Board in 1980 shows more women were subject to sexual harassment at the workplace than their male counterparts. More women were sexually harassed in the period 1980-1994 than men (Jackson and Newman 2004). This research shows that professional interaction often leads to sexual harassment of women. The survey conducted by the board on 23,000 federal employee's shows that 42 per cent of women reported having been subjected to some form of sexual harassment. The chart below shows the findings indicating the percentage of women against men subjected to sexual victimization at the workplaces (Jackson & Newman 2004).

The Interaction of the Victim After the Crime With the Criminal Justice System

The legal framework for dealing with cases of sexual victimization is still a debatable topic. As it stands, the criminal justice system is weak in the society for a long time. Blackstone stated that the legal existence of a woman is entirely suspended after marriage. Attempts to change the laws protecting women raped by their husbands have been made from as early as 1970 were when feminist movements sought to improve the situation (Boulevard 1992). Many rape statutes today give room for persecution against a partner who attempts to rape the other spouse. Legally, marital rape is termed as unlawful sexual engagement with a partner or ex-spouse against their will by use of force or intimidation (Boulevard 1992). Whether it force-only rapes, where a spouse tries to take control on the frequency of sexual intercourse with the partner, battering rape which tries to humiliate or degrade a partner or obsessive rape which involves extreme acts such as anal intercourse without consent, all this sums up to illegal acts.

Once the crime is complete, legally insinuating penetration, the offender if reported to authorities will face legal persecution by the criminal justice system. Testifying openly by the victim in the court is protected by rape shield laws which prohibits the defendant from asking questions on the victim's previous sexual engagements, or introduce other evidence pertaining the same (Boulevard 1992).

How I Would Interact With the Offender, the Criminal Justice System and the Family After Sexual Victimization

From a psychological point of view, sexual victimization is one of the most disgusting acts of violence. If I am a victim in this case, and whether or not I seek legal solace, the event will end up having adverse effects on physical, mental and health wellbeing. It's hard, to forgive the offender after committing such atrocities to me, and thus I would end up seeking justice from the court of law. On the other hand, the ability to fit in with my family would also have some challenges as it would feel as if they are constantly judgmental of my misfortune. However, I would seek counselling to help me adjust and accept the unfortunate incidences which would help me to fit in the society.

Conclusion

In conclusion, sexual victimization is one of the society's signs of moral degradation. Both the community and the criminal justice system has a huge role to play in ending it. Social interactions following victimization with the offender, the society, and the justice system are weak and result in psychological torture.

References

Boulevard, W. (1992, April 22). Rape in America; A Report to the Nation. Retrieved from https://victimsofcrime.org/docs/Reports%20and%20Studies/rape-in-america.pdf?sfvrsn=0. Accessed 03 august 2018

Jackson, R. A., & Newman, M. A. (2004). Sexual Harassment in the Federal Workplace Revisited: Influences on Sexual Harassment by Gender. Public Administration Review, 64(6), 705-717. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6210.2004.00417.x