Men are more likely to commit violent crimes

Running head: GENDER, CRIME AND VIOLENCE
GENDER, CRIME AND VIOLENCE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1GENDER, CRIME AND VIOLENCE
Sexual assault or sexual abuse is often referred as molestation which is an abusive
sexual conduct or behavior by one person on another person and is mostly perpetrated using
power or force or sometimes taking advantage of another person. The force when of short
duration, immediate and sometimes frequent is often termed sexual assault (Hagan & Reidy,
2015). This paper will view sexual assault from two different theoretical perspectives, one is
from the eyes of social feminism and the other is radical feminism. The different perspective
of the theories will provide a different viewpoint on sexual assault and its occurrence. This
paper will focus on providing different perspectives on sexual assault and will help in
understanding the gendered dimensions of few issues and understand the complexity of the
feminist approaches of these issues.
Socialist feminism had rose in 1960s and the 1970s as a feminist movement which
mainly focused on the interconnectivity of capitalism and patriarchy. According to scholars,
socialist feminists argue the fact that the only way of achieving liberation is by working in
order to end the cultural and the economic sources of the women’s oppression (West, 2019).
People who fight for liberation for women are very well aware of the fact that domestic
violence and sexual assault are among one of the most damaging and destructive
manifestations of oppression on women. Socialist feminism has two major objectives, one is
to refer to the limited roles of women in the society which is considered to be huge aspect in
their oppression and the second is to show that women experience oppression in other was as
well which include education, race, sexual orientation, class and many more.
Radical feminism is considered to be a perspective which states that there is a need
for a radical reordering in the society where male supremacy needs to end in economic as
well as social contexts. Radical feminists generally view society as a patriarchy where men
are seen to dominate the society and usually oppress women. According to scholars, radical
feminist approaches to sexual assault often share three features which is that males often

2GENDER, CRIME AND VIOLENCE
control the reproductive and sexual uses of the bodies of woman as an element or aspect of
patriarchy, they have expanded the meaning of rape in order to encompass the fact that it
more than just physical violence and force and have recognized it as patterns of dominance
and power of males compromising the sexual and the bodily freedom of woman and the third
feature focuses on the oppression which is group based and has led to many thinkers to
monitor and examine the role of sexual assault which is produced not only by patriarchy but
other systems of domination as well which include colonialism and racism (Caswell & Cifor,
2016).
From the perspective of both socialist feminism and radical feminism on sexual
assault it has been seen that both the theories talk about patriarchy being one of the major
reasons for the rise in sexual assault. Patriarchy is considered to be a social system where
men are considered to hold the primary power and are seen to predominate in the role of
moral authority, political leadership and social privilege (Zhao & Wry, 2016). According to
scholars, the patriarchal society has a huge role to play in contributing to the rise in sexual
assaults and sexual violence pandemic which can be seen in a research where adolescent sex
offenders are seen to use sexual violence and assault as a source to overcome the challenges
in terms of their masculinity (Messerschmidt, 2000). Moreover, scholars have suggested that
sexual violence and assault reproduces gender inequalities in the society which has become
more effective as people are often silent about it mostly because of the negative reactions
from the society (Armstrong, Gleckman-Krut & Johnson, 2018). Gavey, (2013) states culture
has a huge role to play in fostering sexual assault and high rate of sexual assault are mostly
expected to be prevalent in the cultures of the society that encourage women to be seen as an
object which instantly makes them inferior to men. Socialist feminism wants to eradicate this
discrimination in the society and strives for equal power on the other hand radical feminists’
focus on transforming the structure of the society by eliminating patriarchy.

3GENDER, CRIME AND VIOLENCE
Both these feminist approaches focus on race as a discrimination and inequality in the
society. Cossins (2003) states that sexual assault in Australia is treated differently in terms of
legality when it comes to the aboriginal women which makes them more vulnerable to sexual
violence and assault which clearly shows an issue with the structure of the society at large.
Moreover, scholars have stated that politics and the society together have contributed to the
domination of black woman (Crenshaw, 1990). It has been seen that woman who are black
have been sexually objectified and assaulted (Olive, 2012).
However, it can be seen that only socialist feminism recognizes oppression and sexual
assault on people with different sexual orientation other than females. Research suggests that
bisexual, queer and gay men often experience sexual assault and intimate partner violence
and have not reported it to the police or taken any medical health, this is mainly due to the
use of drugs in relationships and socialization and the lack of a respectful relationship (Salter
et al 2020). Sexual assault mostly talks about women as victims and however there are many
men who are victims as which one does not talk about. According to scholars, men are
harmed equally due to sexism and their expectation in the society which has led them be quiet
when they are assaulted physically (Javaid, 2016). There is a huge sigma behind sexual
assault of male which is also a social concern in the society and male victimization is hardly
discussed or put any kind of emphasis because of the expectation of the society (Ralston,
2012). Sexual assault is a social issue and it is important to take effective measures to ensure
that this eradicates from the society to ensure wellbeing for all the people in the society.

4GENDER, CRIME AND VIOLENCE
Reference
Armstrong, E. A., Gleckman-Krut, M., & Johnson, L. (2018). Silence, power, and inequality:
An intersectional approach to sexual violence. Annual Review of Sociology, 44, 99-
122.
Caswell, M., & Cifor, M. (2016). From human rights to feminist ethics: radical empathy in
the archives. Archivaria, 81(1), 23-43.
Cossins, A. (2003). Saints, sluts and sexual assault: Rethinking the relationship between sex,
race and gender. Social & Legal Studies, 12(1), 77-103.
Crenshaw, K. (1990). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence
against women of color. Stan. L. Rev., 43, 1241.
Gavey, N. (2013). Just sex?: The cultural scaffolding of rape. Routledge.
Hagan, K. S., & Reidy, L. (2015). Detection of synthetic cathinones in victims of sexual
assault. Forensic science international, 257, 71-75.
Javaid, A. (2016). Feminism, masculinity and male rape: bringing male rape ‘out of the
closet’. Journal of gender studies, 25(3), 283-293.
Messerschmidt, J. W. (2000). Becoming “real men” adolescent masculinity challenges and
sexual violence. Men and masculinities, 2(3), 286-307.
Olive, V. C. (2012). Sexual assault against women of color. Journal of Student
Research, 1(1), 1-9.
Ralston, K. M. (2012). An intersectional approach to understanding stigma associated with
male sexual assault victimization. Sociology Compass, 6(4), 283-292.

5GENDER, CRIME AND VIOLENCE
Salter, M., Robinson, K., Ullman, J., Denson, N., Ovenden, G., Noonan, K., ... & Huppatz, K.
(2020). Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Men’s Attitudes and Understandings of Intimate
Partner Violence and Sexual Assault. Journal of Interpersonal Violence,
0886260519898433.
West, R. (2019). Introduction to the Research Handbook on Feminist Jurisprudence.
In Research Handbook on Feminist Jurisprudence. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Zhao, E. Y., & Wry, T. (2016). Not all inequality is equal: Deconstructing the societal logic
of patriarchy to understand microfinance lending to women. Academy of
Management Journal, 59(6), 1994-2020.