Intimidation

 

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Sequential Context

Table of Contents

 

 

 

  Definition

  • In Thompson’s (1995) five-step pattern of behavior called "the rape sequence," step 4 is Intimidation. 

  • In this stage, Thompson believes the male sex offender utilizes force to deter resistance after negotiation has failed.  This force is a form of retaliation to create fear (p. 22).  I concur with this operational definition. 

 

  Intimidation Often Accompanies Sexual Violation

  • However, I perceived force as often accompanying the perpetrators’ verbal and nonverbal communication tactics that occur in step 3, Sexual Violation; that is, it is not always a distinct step in the sequence. 

  • For instance, these were common physical actions, “I pushed her on the bed,” “I grabbed her by her arm,” “I grabbed her ankles and pulled her down,” “I pulled her into the room,” “I moved over from the steering wheel and I got up in front of her as much as I could, and I forced myself on her.”

 

  Fear vs. Physical Coercion

  • The threat of force to create fear, as opposed to actual physical coercion, was an intimidating phenomenon I observed when reviewing the in-depth personal interview transcripts. 

  • For instance, the fear of abusiveness prompted many female victims to succumb to the date rapists’ demands. 

To illustrate this determination, Interviewee 6 recalled:  “She had her clothes on, but she had a button that was unbuttoned.  Then she took 'em off, because she felt that I mighta hurt her real bad.” 

Another sexual offender expressed a similar conclusion.  Interviewee 3 recalled, “I think she was scared I’d become more abusive to her.”

A final illustration from transcripts where a male participant had used fear involved the man’s reputation as a gang member.  Interviewee 12 was asked whether his victim might have consented because she was afraid he might get more aggressive than he'd already been, which was considerable.  He responded:

Yeah.  My reputation would carry me a long way....Well, the way everything is, is that, okay, she knows my family.  She knows how my family acts, or whatever.  Her sister told her about my reputation of bein’ out there wild.  I got all these females, and, you know, I didn’t rob this person, with this person I’m a gun carrier, or whatever.  By her being in that controlled environment with a dangerous person.  You know, she’s in a hotel room with me, you know.  The only way she got home is through me.  Unless she just walks out the room.  Which, maybe she thought that I wasn’t going to let her.

 

  Weapons

  • Besides the fear of bodily harm, perpetrators in the in-depth personal interviews utilized weapons (i.e., guns) as a threat if the female victims did not comply with the date rapists' sexual intent. 

 For instance, Interviewee 6 remarked about the pistol on his bed:

She knew it was on my bed...I had it like this on the bed when I came.  It was on the bed, and I put my hand on the bed with it on the bed....I just put my hand on the gun.  She knew the type of person that I was anyway.  She knew that I wouldn't have shot her, but I mighta woulda beat her up or somethin'.

  • Based on analysis of transcripts, I did not have the impression that these sex offenders planned to use their weapons against female victims; rather, the weapons were simply a means to create fear. 

In another case, Interviewee 12 mentioned anxiety felt by his female victim based on her belief that he had his gun with him and would use it against her.  Her anxiety was misplaced, for Interviewee 12 clarified the facts about his gun:  "I had one, but it was in the trunk of the car.  She didn't know it."

 

  Fear of No Escape

  • Besides fears involving physical force and weapons, there are two other fears that emerge during a date rape that are worthy of discussion here.  Those related to physical force and weapons involve a threat of violence; the latter two types are more subtle. 

  • One type involves statements similar to those in the physical force category, but without the threat of a weapon; the second type, a more subtle threat, is fear that the offender will not let the female victim leave the location (e.g., his car).  Interviewee 16 recollected:

I did make it perfectly clear that this is something that I wanted to do.  And since it was my car in which I had--I didn't make any indications that I was goin' along and takin' her wherever she wanted to go until we was finished.  I never threatened her in any way.  I was just very aggressive in the manner which I took with her to get that sexual contact.

 

  Fear of Children Harmed

  • The second type of more subtle fear I wish to address is the victim’s fear that her children might be harmed if she does not cooperate with the perpetrator’s sexual desires.  It was more subtle because the perpetrator did not directly threaten to harm the victim's children. 

For instance, Interviewee 1 stated:  “She didn’t say nothing, because, from what I understand, she was scared for her kids--afraid I was going to murder her kids.”

 

  Thompson's Final Step

  • Thompson (1995) called the fifth step in his "rape sequence" Termination. 

  • However, I obtained no data to validate Thompson’s claim that date rapists may threaten victims with physical harm or may place blame on the women, indicating that they prompted the incidents, if they report the sexual assaults to police.

 

 

 

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