Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 09/2013

Rape Perpetration: A Review

R Jewkes

July 2012

The Sexual Violence Research Initiative

Abstract

Rape can have an enduring impact on the lives, and health of victims, their families and communities. Both men and women perpetrate sexual violence (Sikweyiya and Jewkes 2009), however the majority of sexual offences are committed by men (Steffensmeier and Zhong et al 2006). Research on what drives perpetration of rape and other forms of sexual violence is needed to inform prevention programmes – for this it is necessary to study men. This briefing paper summarises the key issues drawn from a larger review on rape perpetration including research on risk factors for sexual violence perpetration, the methodologies used to identify these risk factors and discusses the implications of this research for rape prevention strategies. Most of the literature reviewed focused on perpetration of sexual violence by men against women and girls. For the purposes of this paper, risk factors are factors that increase the risk (likelihood) of a person perpetrating sexual violence.