|
On
this page:
Sequential
Context
Table of
Contents
|
1. Target Selection
2. Approach/Test
3. Sexual Violation
4. Intimidation
5. Termination (p. 22).
Target Selection
-
Related to the "Target
Selection" stage (step 1), the
transcripts left me with the viewpoint that these perpetrators met their victims in typical surroundings (e.g., work, party,
church, carnival, etc.).
Developing Trust
[How
did I develop] the trust? The
caring gestures--as far as, if she needed anything, I'd go up and get it
for her. The eye contact. Making her think we were on the same level.
At first, I was real gentle, real caring.
And that just built up.
Another sex offender, Interviewee 7, profiled a similar style:
I
was actin' like a gentleman. I
opened her car door (which I always do for a woman anyway), grabbed her
hand, led her out from the car, and caught the door for her goin' into the
buildin'. Takin' her coat.
Interviewee 13 described his
approach:
“I was bein’
nice to her--like making her drinks, lighting her cigarette for her, sayin’
how pretty she was, making her feel like, not uncomfortable; making her
feel not scared of what she was gonna do.”
Interviewee 3 stated:
I
was really lyin’ to her and makin’ a fool over her, and being
secretive toward her by tellin’ her, “I’m not like the other guys.
You need somebody to take care of you so you can stay home and
work. I’m not like the
other guys, just wantin’ sex.”
You
know what I’m sayin’--I was telling her things that I knew she wanted
to hear, that might make her feel better about herself, to get her to
trust me, to get her to know that “This guy ain’t like nobody else,”
you know....Just to get her in my pocket, that was what I was tryin’ to
do.
Testing the Waters
Interviewee
9 discussed a common technique, namely sexual foreplay:
“As she was driving and I was fondling her breasts and vagina, I
thought she might say ‘Stop’ or something, but she didn't say nothing.
All she said was, ‘Not here; the kid's in the back [seat].’”
Interviewee 10 recalled his “test:”
Oh,
yeah; we were on the dance floor.
After
we got close together, I was like, “Man, is that all you?”--talking
about her breasts. She said
"Yeah.” I’d kind of
grab her breasts, and she’d laugh about it, at first.
I’m like, “Fine!”--thinking, “She’s letting me touch her
breasts right here on the dance floor, so something’s right.”
So, it just progressed as far as hands on the butt.
Then, finally, when we got there, kissing in the back, I had my
hand on her leg, and she didn’t mind that.
And I just slowly worked my way up, each time testing as I
went....so I just proceeded to go all the way after that.
Interviewee 15 explained:
The
foreplay just amounted to kissing.
And
I played with her breasts, sucked on her nipples, arousing her.
That’s what the foreplay was about--to see the willingness,
although I never doubted the willingness.
The way the situation arose, and who she said she had dated,
indicated to me willingness.
-
Besides sexual foreplay to test the
waters, Interviewee 15 named the importance of the context of the date
(i.e., where he met the victim), and her disclosures about her previous
dating partners, as perceived indicators of the woman’s willingness.
When I asked him to explain the comment about her previous male
dates and their basic intent with women, Interviewee 15 said, "They
was all town--there's no phrase you could use except 'low-life.'
And the only situation that I would see them dating her would be
for sex...These guys were not for long-term relationships."
-
Unlike the aggressiveness shown by
assailants described above, some sexual offenders utilized a less
obtrusive manner to assess, as the previous informant termed it, “the
victims’ willingness.”
Interviewee
2 discussed his seemingly non-threatening initiative:
When she took me in the bedroom to see pictures of her family
displayed on the headboard of the bed, I sat down on the bed and took my
shoes off and asked her if she wanted to snuggle.
Sexual Violation
-
As Thompson (1995) indicated from
his studies of date rape encounters, and as I also noted in interview
transcripts, perpetrators tended to move their victims from public
settings to more isolated surroundings.
Communication Patterns
-
"I remember saying that."
Interviewee 7 used similar language.
He commented to his victim:
“Well,
I thought you wanted this like I did.”
In this statement, the date rapist was recalling his inference that
both individuals “wanted” sex.
-
Another
verbal communicative pattern was an assurance that allowing sexual
intercourse to occur would have no undesired side effects.
-
Interviewee 4 explained:
“I
kind of was like, you know, ‘It will be all right.
There would be nothing wrong with it.’
I tried to persuade her.
Tried
to talk her into it.”
-
Interviewee
7 used the same strategy and language:
“I said, ‘Well, come on, baby.
You know it's going to be all right,’ you know?”
-
The final example of this tactic revealed a variation.
Interviewee 16 said:
“I
said, 'Just trust me. Just
trust me and relax and let it go.’”
-
In these transcript excerpts, sexual offenders wanted the women to
relinquish self-control based on some vague and unsubstantiated promise
that the males’ sexual motive did not include any subsequent regrets
for either the men or the women.
-
Having already
developed trust, “tested the waters,” and isolated their female
victims, these sexual offenders reached an emotional and physical state
where they did not intend to abandon their desires that had now evolved
into demands for sexual intercourse.
-
Interviewee 8 recollected:
[She
said “No,” and] “I was like, ‘That
ain't gonna work.’ I
said, ‘Well, it's too late now,’ and went ahead.”
-
Interviewee 7 expressed a similar sentiment:
“I said, ‘Come on, baby; you took me this far, you might as
well go all the way.’”
-
Based on the two previous excerpts
and the one that follows, one may ascertain a clear sense of the date
rapists’ impatience with the victims’ hesitations about their sexual
intent. Interviewee 18 recalled:
[I
was] probably aggressive; most likely aggressive, saying, "Come on;
let's do it." I was a
little mad. That [was] a
pretty long game of “hard-to-get.”
And I was gettin' peeved.
I
figured, 'This far; might as well keep goin'.
And why's she being so cold about it?'
She
said she was worried that Security would find us in the parking lot of the
museum. And I said, “Well,
Security”--Well, really, I said, quote/unquote: “Fuck Security. Let's
just get this over with.” Afterward,
I asked her, I said, “Are you all right?”
She said “No,” but told me to "just get it done; just get
it over with."
Return to
Research Findings
|