ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews feminist explanations of rape and offers M. Gottfredson and T. Hirschi’s self-control theory as an alternative explanation. Various strains of feminist criminology may be identified and each makes different assumptions about the nature of patriarchy. Most notably the feminist literature has shifted the conception of rape as a phenomenon of “sick” males to one in which the offender is seen as reacting to prescribed social norms. The shared primary assumption of feminist perspectives, then, is that rape results from institutionalized sexism and/or violent subcultures, rather than psychopathology or victim precipitation. Feminists view rape, as well as gender stratification, as by-products of specific cultural, economic, and political arrangements. The chapter analyzes characteristics of rapists and rape victims to support Gottfredson and Hirschi’s self-control hypothesis. The opportunity theory proposes that self-control varies between individuals but remains reasonably constant for individuals because they are socialized differently.
