ABSTRACT
The legal category of rape covers an array of situational interactions. The sensual dynamic of a rape, or of murder, may vary greatly; positivist attempts to uncover the structure of the personality of the rapist have inevitably resulted in varying typologies. One basic dilemma lies in the respective roles played by (i) the pursuit of power, or (ii) sexuality. Traditionally, studies have varied in the extent to which they see rape as a sexual crime (ie engaged in purely for sexual gratification) or primarily power based (ie engaged in for the feeling of power achieved by the rapist in getting the victim to do something he or she did not want to do, and the resultant humiliation the victim experiences). Groft (1979) claimed the most common type of rapist was the ‘power rapist’ who wanted to possess his victim sexually rather than harm her to demonstrate mastery and control; the next most common was the ‘anger rapist’, who discharged contempt and hostility towards all women through the act of rape; least common was the ‘sadistic rapist’, who eroticised aggression toward the victim, deriving gratification from her anguish and suffering.
