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Several theories concerning the causation of rape are important because they beget strategies for rape prevention. Psychopathological explanations of rape focus on individuals, while sociocultural explanations emphasize the importance of the social structure.

Psychopathological explanations make the assumption that male aggressive sexual behavior is unusual or strange. These approaches remove sexual violence from the "everyday" norm, portraying sexually violent men as outsiders and thus eliminating any connection or threat to "normal" men. Such models view rape as no more than a collection of individual problems, thereby ignoring the cultural and structural contexts in which rape occurs. Consequently, these theories of individual disorder cannot account for the vast number of rapes committed in the United States. Nor can theories predicated on individual pathology account for the norms and values of the larger culture concerning rape. It is precisely these individualistic theories that produce rape myths.

Sociocultural theories rest on a presumption of normality rather than pathology and generate questions from the experiences that women, not men, have of rape. The primary assumption of the sociocultural perspective is that rape is a socially learned behavior. The fundamental premise is that all behavior is learned through direct association with others as well as indirectly through cultural contact (behavioral techniques, rape myths).

In this view, U.S. culture produces rapists through the socialization of its societal members when it encourages men to subscribe to values of control/dominance, callousness/competitiveness, and anger/aggression and when it discourages expression by men of vulnerability, sharing, and cooperation. At the same time, it socializes women to be submissive/indecisive, empathetic/giving, and subtle/non-aggressive and not to be authoritative, strong willed, and assertive. We then throw such differentially socialized individuals into dating situations and expect everything to go smoothly. When it doesn't, we blame the individuals. From a sociocultural perspective, such blame is ludicrous.

Those who adhere to the sociocultural model explain date or acquaintance rape as the logical extension of a cultural perspective that defines men as possessors of women, thus making women legitimate objects of sexual aggression. The American dating system, in particular, places females in the position of sexual objects that men purchase. Women are groomed to compete for men who will shower them with attention and favors, men who are socialized to expect sexual reward (or at least try for that reward) for their attention to women. This perspective presents the woman as a legitimate object of victimization: if a man is unable to seduce a woman and yet has provided her with certain attention and gifts, then he has a right to expect sexual payment. Only the situation of rape by a total stranger escapes the influence of this reasoning.

Research reveals many gender attitudinal differences about date rape. For example, males are significantly more likely than females to hold attitudes condoning aggressive sexual behavior. The sociocultural model suggests that these gender differences are the result of gendered socialization and education. Sex role socialization regarding dating behavior leads to a rape-supportive culture in which the use of coercion and physical force to obtain sex is seen as normative rather than deviant behavior. Traditional sex roles, sex role expectations, and attitudes toward women all play a part in molding one's attitudes regarding rape.

The common thread through all of the findings is that these attitudes and behaviors are learned. Rape is not the result of some uncontrollable impulse, but rather, a socially constructed behavior that men learn. Therefore, this is behavior that can be unlearned.

Bibliography:

1) Brownmiller, Susan. 1993. Against Our Will. New York: Ballantine.

2) Herman, Dianne F. 1984. "The Rape Culture." Women: A Feminist Perspective. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.

3) Martin, Patricia Yancey. 2005. Rape Work: Victims, Gender, and Emotions in Organization and Community Context. New York: Routledge.

4) Scully, Diana. 1990. Understanding Sexual Violence: A Study of Convicted Rapists. Boston: Unwin Hyman.

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