It is about sex, not power, after all

Thursday, January 14th, 2016

In the 1975 bestseller Against Our Will, feminist Susan Brownmiller asserted that rape is about power, not sex — only that’s simply not true:

In the ensuing 45 years, there has been no significant empirical research to support her claim. Yet, almost everyone repeats it.

In examining eight years of FBI data on 250,000 rapes and other sexual assaults, one factor stands head-and-shoulders above the others: the age range of the victims. Herein lies the key to unlocking the mystery of the offender’s motivation.

Social science has demonstrated a strong relationship between age and sexual attractiveness. Heterosexual men are sexually attracted to young women, while homosexual men are attracted to young men. The age preference explains why adult film stars, sex workers, exotic dancers as well as glamour models are often young, and why their earnings decline as they age.

Studying the ages of victims, therefore, provides an opportunity to examine sexual motivation. If rapists are primarily motivated by the desire for power and domination, then one would expect them to prefer middle-aged, career women. However, if rapists primarily desire sex, then one would expect them to prefer young women and men. Our research demonstrates that offenders almost always attack the young (see the figure below). The percentage of female victims who are over 50 is close to zero. Similarly, in male prisons, where women are extremely scarce, heterosexual men target the youngest inmates.

Rape Victim Age

Comments

  1. Wilbur Hassenfus says:

    Yes, but sex is about power too. And in the sexual realm, the young and hot have power. When you are forcing somebody to do something against their will, power is part of the equation.

    Of course it’s not only about power, to the exclusion of sex; that was always obviously insane. The medium is the message.

  2. Dave says:

    Feminism is Marxism, from each according to ability, to each according to need. Women need resources produced by men, therefore they have a right to take them (feminists are of course too ugly to obtain said resources via marriage).

    This also implies that if a man cannot obtain the sex he needs any other way, he has a right to take it by force. To keep the Marxist logic flowing in one direction only, feminists must insist that rape is in no way related to sex.

  3. Essem says:

    It may not be statistically significant, but I have noticed a phenomenon of Black home invaders raping very elderly White women while in the commission of their of other crimes. In that case, I suspect the power/revenge motive is high.

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