Female Gender Stereotypes

Introduction

A topic that has dominated the media over the past few months has been rape and sexual assault allegations. These largely public cases have dominated the public’s eye and there seems to be more of a discussion regarding these topics than ever before. These allegations have resulted in more public discussions, which have been both positive and negative. Rape is no longer seen as the problem of a woman, but a problem both genders face. Through oppression of female gender stereotypes, victims of both genders have suffered through the socialization process when it comes to sexual assault and rape cases. This paper will aim to answer how traditional gender roles affect themes of sexual assault and rape in the court system. There tends

Typically people assume a victim to be someone that is shy and weak, often a child or a female. This is because individuals unconsciously apply attitudes and stereotypes reflecting the society or cultural norms. It is often thought that men cannot be the victim of rape or sexual assault and this is due to the gender construct of men and women over time. Men were always expected to be strong and hold the family together. There has always been gender inequality and as women have dealt with the oppression in attempts to rise above the male dominant roles, men have continued to suffer (Lippard, et al., 2009; Javaid,

This example of a double standard makes male victims feel hopeless in coming forward as it would result in more harm than good (Scarce, 1997). The act of female on male rape is very under-researched compared to any other forms of sexual assault. As a result, there are no statistical numbers for the amount of rape victims whose perpetrators were female. It is however found that if a male does report they are a victim of rape where the perpetrator was a female, it usually is only because penetration was forced. A study by the United States National Crime Victimization Survey was done in 2008 where 98 males were interviewed. The survey found that 46% of the men reported some sort of sexual violation by a woman. This shows that it is in fact a larger problem than people believed, and reinforces why more research is needed (Bureau of Justice Statistics,