Social views and constructs

In ancient history, rape was viewed less as a type of assault on the female, than a serious property
crime against the man to whom she belonged, typically the father or husband. The loss of virginity was
an especially serious matter. The damage due to loss of virginity was reflected in her reduced prospects
in finding a husband and in her bride price. This was especially true in the case of betrothed virgins, as
the loss of chastity was perceived as severely depreciating her value to a prospective husband. In such
cases, the law would void the betrothal and demand financial compensation from the rapist, payable to
the woman's household, whose "goods" were "damaged".[12! "nder biblical law, the rapist might be
compelled to marry the unmarried woman instead of receiving the civil penalty if her father agreed.
This was especially prevalent in laws where the crime of rape did not include, as a necessary element,
the violation of the woman's body, thus dividing the crime in the current meaning of rape and a means
for a man and woman to force their families to permit marriage. #$ee %euteronomy 22&2'(2).*
+rom the classical anti,uity of -reece and .ome into the /olonial period, rape along with arson,
treason and murder was a capital offense. "Those committing rape were sub0ect to a wide range of
capital punishments that were seemingly brutal, fre,uently bloody, and at times spectacular." In the
12th century, 1insmen of the victim were given the option of e2ecuting the punishment themselves. "In
3ngland in the early fourteenth century, a victim of rape might be e2pected to gouge out the eyes
and4or sever the offender's testicles herself."[12'! %espite the harshness of these laws, actual
punishments were usually far less severe& in late 5edieval 3urope, cases concerning rapes of
marriageable women, wives, widows, or members of the lower class were rarely brought forward, and
usually ended with only a small monetary fine or a marriage between the victim and the rapist.[116! In
the 16 and 17th centuries, rape in the 8as,ue charters #3n1arterri, %urangaldea* was punished with
death for the offender and the person who was helping him.[12)!
9dult women were often e2tremely reluctant to bring up charges of rape& public admission of having
been raped was severely damaging to one's social standing, courts tended to be s1eptical of the charges,
conviction rates were low, and, in the event that the accusation could not be proved, the victim could
then be accused of committing adultery with the rapist #traditionally a serious offense that could have
been punished by mutilation[1:;! or even death*. /ertain classes of women, such as prostitutes, were
banned from raising accusations of rape altogether.[116! [1:1!
The ius primae noctis #"law of the first night"* is a term now popularly used to describe an alleged
legal right allowing the lord of an estate to ta1e the virginity of his serfs' maiden daughters. <ittle or no
historical evidence has been unearthed from the 5iddle 9ges to support the idea that such a right ever
actually e2isted.[1:2! [1::!
The medieval theologian Thomas 9,uinas argued that rape, though sinful, was much less sinful than
masturbation or coitus interruptus, because it fulfilled the procreative function of se2, while the other
acts violated the purpose of se2.[1:=! [1:6! [1:7!
In 5edieval 3urope, a woman could be legally married by her parents to a stranger without her
consent, and, once she was married, she could no longer refuse to consent to se2& the medieval concept
of rape did not allow for the possibility of being raped by one's husband. In 167:, the /ouncil of Trent
e2pressly declared that legal /atholic marriages had to be done with consent of both parties, but did not
re,uire parental consent, essentially declaring forced marriages invalid.[1:! This was not universally
accepted& for e2ample, in +rance, women were not granted the right to marry without parental consent
until 1):.[1:'!
The criminal 0ustice system of many countries was widely regarded as unfair to se2ual assault victims.
8oth se2ist stereotypes and common law combined to ma1e rape a "criminal proceeding on which the
victim and her behavior were tried rather than the defendant".[1:)! 9dditionally, gender neutral laws
have combated the older perception that rape never occurs to men,[1=;! while other laws have
eliminated the term altogether.[1=1!
$ince the 1);s, many changes have occurred in the perception of se2ual assault due in large part to the
feminist movement and its public characteri>ation of rape as a crime of power and control rather than
purely of se2. In some countries the women's liberation movement of the 1);s created the first rape
crisis centers. ?ne of the first two rape crisis centers, the %./. .ape /risis /enter, opened in 1)2. It
was created to promote sensitivity and understanding of rape and its effects on the victim. In 1)7; law
enforcement cited false reporting rates at 2;@. 8y 1): the statistics had dropped to 16@.
War rape
5ain article& Aar rape
In 1))', Budge Cavanethem Dillay of the International /riminal Tribunal for .wanda said&
+rom time immemorial, rape has been regarded as spoils of war. Cow it will be considered
a war crime. Ae want to send out a strong message that rape is no longer a trophy of war.
E[1=2!
La vuelta del maln #The return of the raiders* by Fngel %ella Galle #1')2*.
.ape, in the course of war, dates bac1 to anti,uity, ancient enough to have been mentioned in the 8ible.
[1=:! The Israelite, Dersian, -ree1 and .oman armies reportedly engaged in war rape.[1==! The
5ongols, who established the 5ongol 3mpire across much of 3urasia, caused much destruction during
their invasions.[1=6! %ocuments written during or after -enghis Hhan's reign say that after a con,uest,
the 5ongol soldiers looted, pillaged and raped.[1=7! .ogerius, a mon1 who survived the 5ongol
invasion of Iungary, pointed out not only the genocidal element of the occupation, but also that the
5ongols especially "found pleasure" in humiliating women.[1=!
The systematic rape of as many as ';,;;; women by the Bapanese soldiers during the si2 wee1s of the
Can1ing 5assacre is an e2ample of such atrocities.[1='! %uring Aorld Aar II an estimated 2;;,;;;
Horean and /hinese women were forced into prostitution in Bapanese military brothels, as soJcalled
"/omfort women".[1=)! +rench 5oroccan troops 1nown as -oumiers committed rapes and other war
crimes after the 8attle of 5onte /assino. (See Marocchinate.)[16;! +rench women in Cormandy
complained about rapes during the liberation of Cormandy.[161! [162! $oldiers raping women and girls
was common in many areas occupied by the .ed 9rmy. 9 female $oviet war correspondent described
what she had witnessed& "The .ussian soldiers were raping every -erman female from eight to eighty.
It was an army of rapists."[16:!
It has been alleged that an estimated 2;;,;;; women were raped during the 8angladesh <iberation Aar
by the Da1istani army[16=! #though this has been disputed by Indian academic $armila 8ose [166!*, and
that at least 2;,;;; 8osnian 5uslim women were raped by $erb forces during the 8osnian Aar.[167!
Aartime propaganda often alleges, and e2aggerates, mistreatment of the civilian population by enemy
forces and allegations of rape figure prominently in this. 9s a result, it is often very difficult, both
practically and politically, to assemble an accurate view of what really happened.
9 young ethnic /hinese woman who was in one of the Imperial Bapanese 9rmy's "comfort battalions"
is interviewed by an 9llied officer. 9ugust 1)=6, .angoon, 8urma.
/ommenting on rape of children and women in recent 9frican conflict >ones, "CI/3+ said that rape
was no longer 0ust perpetrated by combatants but also by civilians. 9ccording to "CI/3+, rape is
common in countries affected by wars and natural disasters, drawing a lin1 between the occurrence of
se2ual violence with the significant uprooting of a society and the crumbling of social norms. "CI/3+
states that in Henya reported cases of se2ual violence doubled within days of postJelection conflicts.
They state that rape was prevalent in conflict >ones in $udan, /had and the %emocratic .epublic of
/ongo.[16! It is estimated that more than 2;;,;;; women living in the %emocratic .epublic of the
/ongo today have been raped in recent conflicts.[16'! [16)! [17;! 9 recent study says more than
=;;,;;; women are raped in the %./ annually.[171!
In 1))', the International /riminal Tribunal for .wanda found that systematic rape was used in the
.wandan genocide. The Tribunal held that "se2ual assault [in .wanda! formed an integral part of the
process of destroying the Tutsi ethnic group and that the rape was systematic and had been perpetrated
against Tutsi women only, manifesting the specific intent re,uired for those acts to constitute
genocide."[172! 9n estimated 6;;,;;; women were raped during the 1))= .wandan -enocide.[17:!
The .ome $tatute, which defines the 0urisdiction of the International /riminal /ourt, recogni>es rape,
se2ual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterili>ation, "or any other form of
se2ual violence of comparable gravity" as crime against humanity if the action is part of a widespread
or systematic practice.[17=! [176!
.ape was first recogni>ed as crime against humanity when the International /riminal Tribunal for the
former Kugoslavia issued arrest warrants based on the -eneva /onventions and Giolations of the <aws
or /ustoms of Aar. $pecifically, it was recogni>ed that 5uslim women in +oLa #southeastern 8osnia
and Ier>egovina* were sub0ected to systematic and widespread gang rape, torture and enslavement by
8osnian $erb soldiers, policemen and members of paramilitary groups after the ta1eover of the city in
9pril 1))2.[177! The indictment was of ma0or legal significance and was the first time that se2ual
assaults were investigated for the purpose of prosecution under the rubric of torture and enslavement as
a crime against humanity.[177! The indictment was confirmed by a 2;;1 verdict of the International
/riminal Tribunal for the former Kugoslavia that rape and se2ual enslavement are crimes against
humanity. 9mnesty International stated that the ruling challenged the widespread acceptance of the
torture of women as an intrinsic part of war