Although there are many underlying motives behind why a man would rape, three of the most conspicuous are anger, power, and sadistic purposes. When an average person hears of a rape, he frequently assumes the offender was reacting to sexual frustration or that he was a demented sex-fiend harboring insatiable and perverted lasciviousness. The rape offender is often accused of being primarily motivated by sexual desires, and by committing the act of forced assault, he is gratifying only his sexual needs. On the contrary, according to A. Nicholas Groth and H. Jean Birnbaum, “Careful clinical study of offenders reveals that rape is in fact serving primarily nonsexual needs. It is the sexual expression of power and anger” (2). No matter what induces these crimes, without a doubt, the only factor they share is rape. However, the influences and circumstances which effectuate rape are as varied and defined as each individual act. Awareness and a conscious effort on the part of all people may not stop rape; nevertheless, through understanding why a man would rape and learning how to recognize the contributing factors, we as a society may be able to prevent some such attacks.Most people accept one of the most commonly held opinions when referring to this type of forced assault; men rape to gain power and strength over women. A man rapes with the desire to promote his status in society, while at the same time, robbing the female victim, through her body, of her strength and self-esteem. Although not the sole reason, the need to display power tends to be the most significant underlying factor in a large number of the rapes occurring in today’s society. A man who commits a “power rape” does so by means of force or fear. The act is an attempt to frighten and intimidate the victim into submission; he may accomplish this through use of a verbal threat such as, “Do what I say and you won’t get hurt!...
