What make a society prone to rape? A Sociological View

I found this old talk announcement on my computer.

What makes a society prone to sexual assault and rape? Professor Peggy Reeves Sanday addressed this question this morning with students in a combined session of two classes, one in sociology and one in philosophy. Sanday is a distinguished anthropologist who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.
Professor Sanday did research on 95 band and tribal societies to see whether rape is a universal phenomenon. It is not, according to Sanday's results. She conducted her study in the late 1970's and published it in 1981 as the lead essay in a special issue on rape in the _Journal of Social Issues_. Rape is not universal. Of the 95 band and tribal societies she studied, Sanday found 47% to be rape-free and 18% rape-prone, with the remaining 35% difficult to classify as one or the other.
The rape-free societies, in which sexual assault is rare, exhibited common characteristics. In them, (1) there are explicit codes emphasizing the importance of consent and choice in sexual relations. (2) Women and men are both conceived as active sexual agents, neither passively available for the other at the other's wishes. Both men and women are seen as potential initiators of sexual activity and intimacy. Finally, (3) the same standards of sexually appropriate behavior apply to both women and men. That is, there is no double standard, for example, where women are thought sexually dirty and men sexually normal for the same level of sexual activity.
In the rape-prone societies, there is clear evidence (1) that men rape women regularly or (2) that forced intercourse is considered normal sex. Also, (3) men may use ceremonies or rituals of rape or group sex to (a) punish women for violating sexual norms, (b) to introduce boys and young men to their sexuality, or (c) to display male sexuality, especially to other men. In such societies, commonly, all-male groups have social hegemony or dominate social life through controlling certain important social ceremonies or rituals. These all-male groups may show strong aversion to homosexual or bisexual men and may engage in activities designed to deny unequivocally any such inclinations of their own.
Professor Sanday offered several explanations for the difference between these two types of society. In rape-prone societies, (1) there is a high level of interpersonal violence. (2) There is a pervasive ideology of male toughness and a polar opposition between masculinity and femininity. (3) Women are not respected as fully enfranchised public citizens and have relative low status socially, politically, and/or economically. (4) There are high levels of sexual segregation (and male identity is often represented with centrally displayed phallic symbols). (5) There is social support or at least tolerance, either explicitly or implicitly, for rape and for men who commit rape. Finally, (6) great importance is placed on maintaining a sexual code defining appropriate from inappropriate sexual relations. In societies with these characteristics, rape is more frequent, more likely, and more condoned.
Sanday will give a lecture this afternoon at 4pm in Kissell titled "No Means No." Her visit to Wittenberg is being sponsored by the Departments of Sociology and Philosophy, the Women's Studies Program, the Women's Program Committee, and the Office of the Provost.