JAMAICAN MEN in the age group 16-25 are responsible for most of the rapes that occur in the country, and according to a clinical sexologist, poverty and social alienation are the driving forces behind many of these rapes.
In 2004, of the 423 cases of rape reported to the Jamaica Constabulary Force, 45 per cent were carried out by males 16-25 (24 per cent or 101 rapes were carried out by males 16-20). Men 26-30 were responsible for 22 per cent.
Dr. Sidney McGill, clinical sexologist, explained that the adolescent male is doubly disadvantaged in Jamaican society by his poverty and by the social alienation communicated to him by his parents.
"If he developed psychologically and emotionally as he should, then normal social interactions with his peers would be second nature. However, if there are problems with who he thinks he is, if his social skills are marred but his sexual developments normal, his sex drive pushes him to satisfaction (by any means necessary)," explained Dr. McGill.
"So, he sees a woman who looks frail, who seems easy to overpower and he decides to take his chances. He will act especially if she seems insecure in her demeanour and the way she dresses. He can misread dress codes to mean 'I am easy and am available'."
The psychologist posits a relationship between economic disempowerment and the fragile male ego.
YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
Figures show that the youth unemployment rate in Jamaica (30.6 per cent) remains more than four times that of the adult unemployment rate (11.4 per cent average). Male youth unemployment (23.4 per cent) is still only half of female youth unemployment (40.6 per cent). The job-seeking rate among this group is however only 4.4 per cent, compared to 8.3 per cent for females.
Women's Media Watch claims that within the inner city there is a culture of violence (political, tribal violence, drug and gang violence etc) so that sexual violence is simply a part of an overall culture of violence.
Patriarchy is a primary cause, says Hillary Nicholson of Women's Media Watch. According to her, many years of participatory research with women and men has shown that sexual violence reflects a gender ideology that constructs masculinity and femininity in ways that may contribute to, and even 'normalise' sexual violence.
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