Hey, Can A Woman "Ask To Get Raped"?

Quote:

Since psychological health is defined as "being normal

wrong. it is defined as emotionally well, as in happy and functioning the way you want to be. Being normal has nothing to do with it.

When women in their 80's and 90's are getting raped, with alarming frequency, it clearly has nothing to do with provocative clothing. Or flirting. Or anything that the woman does. Women do not ask to get raped.

firefly wrote:

When women in their 80's and 90's are getting raped, with alarming frequency, it clearly has nothing to do with provocative clothing. Or flirting. Or anything that the woman does. Women do not ask to get raped.

A 61 year old woman who was visiting a relatives grave in a cemetary in Toronto last week was dragged into the trees and sexually attacked.

The extent of sexual violence against older women may be far greater than press reports suggest. Earlier this year a report appeared in an American social work journal on sexual abuse of the elderly in Britain. Its author, Malcolm Holt, a Northumberland social worker, wrote to all the medical and social work journals in this country for cases of sexual abuse of the elderly by carers. By the time he wrote the report a year ago, he had 90 cases of sexual abuse by family members. The numbers have now grown to the hundreds. The most frequently reported abusers, 55 per cent, were sons. 'Frail, dependent elderly people, who suffer mental impairment, are very attractive as potential abuse victims' Holt wrote. Who will believe what they say? he asks.

When Holt began his research, there was scepticism about the need for such a study. One GP questioned what harm could be done to a victim who had been raped by her son, since she was old and confused. It was colleagues who remembered the early days of uncovering the extent of child sexual abuse who encouraged Holt to continue with his research.

Why does it happen? 'The issues are the same, whether it's abuse in the home or rape by a stranger,' Holt argues. 'It's about wielding power, leaving the victim totally shocked and humiliated and not willing to give evidence because they are confused and the evidence is unreliable. An American study says that sex offenders can move from children to old people. If their source of victim is denied, they find another.'

The real shame is not the kind that elderly women feel who have been raped, but our ignorance of the subject. A study of sexual assaults on elderly women would throw light on the nature of rape itself, perhaps finally removing any lingering doubt that rape is about power rather than sex. Child sexual abuse, sexual abuse of frail, elderly women, is there so much difference? At the beginning and at the end of life, the weakest, the least likely to be believed, are the rapist's most vulnerable victims.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/why-do-young-men-rape-elderly-women-and-why-does-nobody-care-a-special-report-by-linda-grant-on-a-shocking-crime-which-it-seems-we-all-prefer-to-ignore-1408839.html

Man Sentenced for Rape of Elderly Woman
by Minna Sugimoto

(KHNL) - Prosecutors say David Baldaino's wife refused to have sex with him, so he walked across the street, broke into his elderly neighbor's home and raped her. On Wednesday, a judge sentenced him for the crime.

He's either a monster or an upstanding citizen, depending on who you ask.

"His history speaks volumes into the state's rendition of this defendant as a sexual predator," Lori Wada, deputy prosecutor, said.

"He is not just one thing. He has many sides. He's complex as any, many people are," Debra Loy, deputy public defender said.

David Baldaino admits he broke into his elderly neighbor's home while she was sleeping, and raped her at knife-point. The woman, who's now 86, is too traumatized to speak at the sentencing. She sends a letter instead.

"I had imagined my final years to be peaceful and stress free. You have taken that away from me. Every night, I barricade myself inside my bedroom, and wake with a start at any sound," the victim's letter said.

Under a plea deal with prosecutors, the 38-year-old is sentenced to 20 years in prison for sex assault, kidnapping and burglary, followed by 10 years in prison for failing to meet sex offender registry requirements.

Prosecutors say since the attack, the victim has put in locks on her bedroom door, has frosted the windows at her home and has installed motion detectors around her property. One reason prosecutors entered into the plea agreement is to spare the victim from having to testify at a trial.
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/story.asp?s=5003177

While crime statistics make it appear practically non-existent, rape of the elderly can and does occur. When it does, it frequently turns deadly. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics report “Sex Offense and Offenders,” 1 in 7 sexual assault murder victims were 60 or older. 2.6% of rape victims over the age of 60 were killed during the rape. Only one age group of rape victims—ages 13 through 17—had a higher murder rate, at 3.3%.

Special Agent Mark E. Safarik, a profiler in the Behavioral Analysis Unit at the FBI Academy, has researched and written extensively about the topic of sexual homicides of elderly women. The study, published in the May issue of the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, involved a review of 110 offenders who perpetrated the rape and murder of 128 women 60 years and older. The mean age of the victims was 77.

“People find it difficult to imagine why a rapist would target an elderly victim, because society still equates sexual arousal and desire with rape,” Safarik said in a phone interview. “You’re dealing with issues of power and anger in these cases, and for a number of these offenders the victim is largely symbolic,” he added. Safarik speculated that the anger level, particularly with those who target elderly women, could be one explanation for the high murder rate of victims.

Safarik found that rapists who target and murder elderly women varied greatly by age and race, but were homogenous in many other characteristics and methods of operation.

The study found that these individuals are typically undereducated, unemployed and substance abusers--usually alcohol. They are socially incompetent, do not fit into their peer group, and sexually inadequate with only 48% of the offenders leaving semen at the crime scene.

The vast majority (92%) have some sort of criminal history, but mostly misdemeanor incidents. “In approximately 80% of the cases, you will not find them in your sex offender database,” said Safarik.

They are not criminally sophisticated criminals, and frequently leave evidence at the crime scene. Another commonality is their proximity to the victim. 56% of the assailants live within six blocks of their victim, and 30% of those on the very same street. “Focus the initial investigation on the neighborhood,” Safarik suggests.

“Contrary to what some might think, their primary goal is the sexual assault,” says Safarik. Although they will usually make off with cash or jewelry afterwards, burglary is not the primary motivation—it is an afterthought.
http://www.volcanopress.com/pages/news.cgi?newscatid=5&newsid=19

Myth: Rape is an impulsive, uncontrollable act of sexual gratification. Most rape are spontaneous acts of passion where the assailant cannot control him/herself.

FACT: Rape is a premeditated act of violence, not a spontaneous act of passion. 71% of rapes are planned in advance. 60% of convicted rapists were married or had regular sexual partners at the time of the assault. Men can control their sexual impulses. The vast majority of rapists are motivated by power, anger, and control, not sexual gratification.

Myth: Rape only happens to young attractive women.

Fact: Rape can and does strike anyone at anytime. Age, social class, ethnic group and has no bearing on the person a rapist chooses to attack. Research data clearly proves that a way a woman dresses and / or acts does not influence the rapists choice of victims. His decision to rape is based on how easily he perceives his target can be intimidated. Rapists are looking for available and vulnerable targets.

Statistics were obtained from various sources including the study Rape in America, 1992, National Victim Center, The Federal Bureau of Investigations and the National Crime Survey.
http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/jhamlin/3925/myths.html

Friday, April 16, 2010
Death Sentence Upheld in Rape, Murder of Woman, 80
By SHERRI M. OKAMOTO, Staff Writer

The California Supreme Court yesterday unanimously affirmed the death sentence imposed for the felony murder of an 80-year-old San Diego woman who apparently died of fright during a sexual assault.

Writing for the high court, Justice Ming W. Chin rejected Brandon Taylor’s multiple claims of error on automatic appeal from his conviction for the 1995 death of Rosa Mae Dixon.

According to the prosecution’s evidence, Dixon and her sister were sitting and conversing on a sofa in her living room when they looked up and saw Taylor standing in front of them. Dixon confronted Taylor, who then grabbed the women and forced them down the hall to a bedroom.

A neighbor heard one of the women call for help and looked through a window to investigate. He saw Taylor hunched over Dixon and left to summon the police.

Meanwhile, Taylor raped Dixon and took about $65 from her purse, which was sitting open on a table. At this point, Dixon was ashen and no longer breathing or moving.

Taylor fled out the back door of the house and was apprehended in the back yard. Officers found Dixon lying on the floor of the bedroom where Taylor had left her, with her nightgown bunched up around her waist. There was blood on her leg and underneath her pelvic area, and she was unresponsive and not breathing.

Her pulse was restored through cardiopulmonary resuscitation and emergency heart medications, but she suffered seizures and kidney failure after arriving at a local hospital. The following evening, after being declared brain dead, she was removed from life support without having ever regained consciousness.

At trial before San Diego Superior Court Judge Frederic L. Link, Dixon’s sister and neighbor identified Taylor as the man they had seen attack Dixon. The results of DNA testing of blood and sperm collected from Dixon and from Taylor at the time of his arrest also identified him as the perpetrator.

Medical experts for the prosecution testified that Dixon died from the extreme fear, pain, and stress the sexual assault caused, but acknowledged on cross-examination that either vascular or heart disease was a contributing cause of death, and that a younger woman would have survived the attack.

A jury voted to convict Taylor of murder, rape, oral copulation and burglary, but deadlocked on the penalty. Link then declared a mistrial and impaneled a second jury, which recommended a sentence of death.
http://www.metnews.com/articles/2010/tayl041610.htm

Man convicted of raping elderly woman
The Associated Press

SALINA - A Kansas jury deliberated slightly more than an hour Monday before convicting a 47-year-old Salina man of raping an elderly patient in her hospital room.

Paul Henry Parker Jr. acknowledged during testimony last week that he had gone into the woman's room at Salina Regional Medical Center on Feb. 20 looking for a bathroom. But he denied assaulting the patient, a woman in her 90s who was recovering from surgery.

The Saline County District Court jury found Parker guilty of two counts each of rape, attempted rape, aggravated sexual battery and battery, and one count of aggravated burglary. Sentencing is set for Sept. 3, and the jury recommended the judge impose a sentence harsher for rape than the 50-plus years prescribed by the state's guidelines.
http://www.hutchnews.com/Localregional/kansas-rape--1

The People vs. Larry Flynt
In a large convention center made up to look like a Presidential nominating convention, Larry address a crowd. Behind him is a huge screen projecting images of death and sex, and the hall is filled with red, white, and blue streamers. "What is more obscene?" he asks rhetorically. "Sex or war?" He then goes on to point out that if you take a picture of someone committing a murder and put it on the cover of "Time", you may win a Pulitzer Prize. If you take a picture of someone committing sex or just a picture of a completely naked woman and put it on the cover of a magazine, you may be arrested and thrown in prison for obscenity.

I lived in the fifties, hon.

That anyone thinks its justifiable, in any way, to rape is just way beyond me.

No one question real rape should be punish