I just received an email from a community group in which one of the members has a child living in Japan. The person wrote to update the community members about his daughter's situation and painted a rather grim picture about the darker side of what this disaster has presented for the women of Japan, one we're not seeing on the news here in the United States. He reports that in the area in which his daughter is staying, there have been many rapes since the earthquake and tsunami.
I am not a scholar of rape (what a grim subject to study for any length of time). However, I have read a number of books by feminist writers, such as Susan Faludi. In her book, Stiffed, she writes not about rape, but rather about the abuse of women. She was interested in what causes men to lash out at women, and wanted to understand what she thought was the power men felt when they abused women. She attended support and recovery groups for male abusers. What she found was this: men did not gain or feel a sense of power before, during or after episodes of violence. Instead, the men in these groups spoke about a loss of control and a sense of powerlessness that instigated the abuse. The lashing out was the result of feeling they had no control over things in their lives, not from a real sense of control over their girlfriends or wives.
You find rape in out-of-control war zones. There are documented instances of otherwise well-adjusted men participating in group rape during Vietnam, and of the militarily condoned rape as part of war, such as in Kosovo. During Hurricane Katrina, word of rape running as rampant as the water filtered into news coverage. Now, there is a natural disaster in Japan, and men preying on women.
Hearing about women in Japan who are under attack, I wonder what it is about war, natural disasters and other extreme situations that drives this behavior in some men. Is it part of the flight/fight response and rape in these extreme circumstances is "merely" a version of fighting when between a man and woman? (As I reiterate in the next paragraph when I ask equally provocative questions, I do not attempt to rationalize or excuse the act of rape whatsoever by asking this question.) Why do men feeling out of control or threatened commit violence and/or rape? (I don't mean all men, but a greater number than you find among women.) I assume that the men in question, in Vietnam, Kosovo, New Orleans and now Japan, are not otherwise rapists. The assumption is that without this extreme circumstance, these men would not engage in this behavior. (Yes, there are people who take advantage of those in dire situations from various angles and by various means. However, I refer here specifically to people who are not otherwise swindlers, thieves, or prone to violence or rape.)
I wonder if at its most basic level, when the life of the man is threatened, such as in war or a natural disaster, is rape part of the biological imperative? I by no means excuse this behavior or seek to rationalize or condone it in any way by asking that question. We are in modern societies where our education and socialization can and should overcome many otherwise biological desires. For example, pregnancy just because we've become fertile is not socially acceptable in modern times, nor has it been for some time. As life expectancy grows, reproduction has been delayed in developed societies. With the growth of towns and cities, we also delay our most basic biological functions such as voiding the bladder and ridding our bodies of excrement. Thus, even if the brain stem contributes somehow to a man seeking out a woman to rape because of extreme circumstances, the man's social conditioning and evolved human brain should kick in and help him realize the ultimate error of this action. And, again, for good measure, even if there was some biological explanation for this behavior in these extreme circumstances, it would still never, ever excuse or otherwise make it "o.k." for someone to commit rape.
I ask these questions because I wonder if we reflected more upon them, we could thereby negate the behavior with awareness. We're always asked those "what if you were on a deserted island?" questions or to consider "what would you do as one of the last few people on earth?" scenarios. What if we started asking one another if we would or could ever rape another person? It's not exactly first-date or ice-breaker at a party conversation, yet like other topics, it might be one worth discussing. The more we understand ourselves, the more we understand one another, and vice verse.
The parent posting to the group said his daughter does not leave the apartment unless she is with her boyfriend. She keeps the doors and windows locked if he's not home, as well. When we think of roads being "unfit" for lone women travelers, we think of early history when it was safe for neither men nor women to travel unaccompanied. We think of the year 1011, not 2011.
As always, if you are more comfortable replying via private email, I'm open to that option, too.
Lastly, I openly admit that I have not studied rape or its possible origins in human behavior. I ask these questions as I admit my ignorance of this subject. I seek further education about it, and that is why I make this post. Like all learning, but especially that which seeks to eradicate something, we ask silly questions, propose various hypotheses and study the mechanism of whatever it is we're desirous of eradicating. Be it a disease or a social ill, this is the process of repairing what we find wrong.
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