In scholarly literature and criminology, gang rape, also called serial gang rape, party rape, group rape, or multiple perpetrator rape,Ullman, S. E. (2013). 11 Multiple perpetrator rape victimization. Handbook on the Study of Multiple Perpetrator Rape: A Multidisciplinary Response to an International Problem, Miranda A.H Horvath, Jessica Woodhams (Editors), 4, Chapter 11; is the rape of a single victim by two or more violators.Neumann, Stephani. Gang Rape: Examining Peer Support and Alcohol in Fraternities. Sex Crimes and Paraphilia. Hickey, Eric W., 397-407 Gang rapes are forged on shared identity, religion, ethnic group, or race. There are multiple motives for serial gang rapes, such as for sexual entitlement, asserting sexual prowess, or punishment.
Gang rapes often occur during warfare, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.Stiglmayer, A. (Ed.). (1994). Mass rape: The war against women in Bosnia-Herzegovina, University of Nebraska Press
Gang rape in literature
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible documents two narratives of gang rapes: the infamous account of Sodom (Genesis 19:4–11) and the story of the Levite Concubine in Gibeah, (Judges 20–21) which is presented as a doublet with mimicking literary structure to the former. Both instances result in the judgement of God through destruction and war respectively.
Perpetrator characteristics Gang rapes are typically perpetrated by men, two or more, and tend to have somewhat different characteristics than rapes by individuals. For instance, gang rapists tend to be younger and are more often repeat offenders, and the gang is more likely to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Gang rapes are more violent on average compared to its individual counterpart, with significantly more severe sexual and non-sexual injuries to the victim. The gang members also typically dehumanize the victim more before and during the rape.Ullman, Sarah (1999). A comparison of gang and individual rape incidents. Violence and victims, 14(2), pp. 123–133Porter, L. E., & Alison, L. J. (2001). A Partially Ordered Scale of Influence in Violent Group Behavior An Example From Gang Rape. Small Group Research, 32(4), pp. 475–497 Gang rapes are almost always premeditated in their intent, target victim(s), social proof, and psychological causes.Smith, Merril (Ed.). (2004). Encyclopedia of rape. Greenwood Publishing Group.Ellis, Lee (Ed.). (1989). Theories of Rape: Recent Inquiries Into the Causes of Sexual Aggression. Taylor & Francis. Social factors such as civil wars, hate propaganda, and ethnic conflicts increase the rate of gang rape.Thompson, Allan (Ed.) (2007), The media and the Rwanda genocide. IDRC, Barnes, A. (Ed.). (2005). The handbook of women, psychology, and the law. John Wiley & Sons
Rape gang members often have a binding force such as the same race, or place of residence thereby forming a close-knit peer pressure group, encouraged by the behavior of their fellow criminals. Gang rape can result from a group form of criminal spin, in which the group starts with less serious offenses which ultimately lead them to go well beyond their initial intention.
In a 2013 study based on 25-year crime data from US and Europe, between 10% and 20% of all rapes were gang rapes. Fewer than one in three gang rapes are reported, while fewer than 1 in 20 attempted but failed gang rapes are reported.
Motives Sexual entitlement and entertainment A 2013 Lancet report found that among the motives for rape were sexual entitlement and seeking of entertainment. Associated factors in the crime included alcohol misuse, poverty, personal history of childhood victimization, need to prove heterosexual performance, dominance over women, and participation in gangs and related activities. , according to the report, most cases were not reported to law enforcement, and just 23% of single or multiple perpetrator rapes that were reported by the victims ended in prison sentence. The 1886 Mount Rennie rape case in Sydney, Australia falls in this category.
As an act of war
Gang rapes during civil wars and ethnic riots take added dimension of becoming a means of revenge, sending a message to the victims' community, inducing fear in opponents or creating a sense of solidarity among the rapists.Miller, Jody, & Glassner, Barry (1997). The 'inside'and the 'outside': finding realities in interviews. Qualitative research, pp. 99–112, chapter 8 At least 20,000 women were raped or gang raped and afterwards killed by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Nanjing Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Major ethnic conflicts and wars since World War II have witnessed several campaigns of gang rapes.Card, Claudia, Rape as a Weapon of War, Hypatia 11.4 (1996), pp. 5–18 Rapes by Soviet soldiers and the Mahmudiyah rape and killings by five United States Army soldiers are examples of such war crimes.
The Kivu conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo saw thousands of gang rapes every week, with each relief center reporting 10 or more daily victims of gang rape with battering of women. The Rwandan genocide of 1994 witnessed numerous gang rapes by soldiers.Morris, M. (1996). By force of arms: Rape, war, and military culture. Duke Law Journal, 45, pp. 651–699 The Bosnian War during the 1990s saw a similar campaign of gang rapes. In the 1990s, the Kashmir region which was a battlefield between Muslim militant groups and Indian security forces also saw a number of gang rapes which were perpetrated by both sides of the conflict to instill fear in the population of the opposing side. In the 2000s, civil war-torn countries such as Sudan, Afghanistan and Syria reported high rates of gang rapes by government security forces, insurgents, and militias.Farr, Kathryn. "Extreme war rape in today's civil-war-torn states: A contextual and comparative analysis." Gender Issues 26.1 (2009): pp. 1–41 Similar incidents have been recorded in Libya, and Mali.
During the Russo-Ukrainian War, especially after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, numerous cases of gang rapes of Ukrainian women and men, including children, by Russian soldiers were recorded.Ukraine: Rape and torture by Russian forces continuing, rights experts reportRussian troops gang-rape 12-year-old girl in eastern Ukraine - interceptSexual violence by Russian forces is genocide against Ukrainian peopleReuters: Russian soldiers sexually abused 4-year-old child, raped her mother in Kyiv OblastUN Commission publishes report on rape and torture in Russian-occupied territories During the October 7 attacks, Palestinian militants committed gang rapes against Israeli women and men. In the subsequent Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, dozens of alleged cases of sexual assault, including gang rapes, by Israeli security forces against Palestinian detainees of all ages—both male and female—were reported by the detainees.
As punishment
A 2013 Lancet report on rape and gang rape in Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Sri Lanka found that the crime was committed for various motives, including as a means to inflict punishment on the victim.
Traditionally, the Cheyenne people of North America used gang rape as punishment for female transgressions. A similar practice existed among the Munduruku people of South America.
In the Mpumalanga province of South Africa, there are instances of gang rape as punishment. In Argentina and Pakistan, gang rape has been reported to have been ordered as punishment.
Religious or racial factors Though having the same race or religion often acts as a binding force for creating a close-knit serial rape gangs, studies reported that 30% of these shared-identity rape gangs specifically targeted people of another religion or race.
Gang rape by country This is an incomplete list of countries, where government or media have acknowledged the problem of gang rape. A study found that gang rapes involved more alcohol and drug use, night attacks and severe sexual assault outcomes and less victim resistance and fewer weapons than individual rapes. Another study found that group sexual assaults were more violent and had greater resistance from the victim than individual sexual assaults and that victims of group sexual assaults were more likely to seek crisis and police services, to contemplate suicide and seek psychotherapy than those involved in individual assaults. The two groups were about the same in the amount of drug use and drinking during the assault.
Porter and Alison have analyzed 739 gang rape cases from US and UK, and found over 20% of the gang rape victims died from injuries from the gang rape. Gang rape is sometimes stereotyped in media as a crime of poor, minorities, or culture; however, gang rape incidence rates are high in wealthy college campuses, among non-minorities and every culture.Sanday, P. (2007). Fraternity gang rape: Sex, brotherhood, and privilege on campus. New York University Press,
Australia
Gang rape has been a historical and ongoing issue in Australia, with several high-profile cases receiving significant media and political attention over the years.
Bangladesh A 2013 Lancet study reports 1.9% of all rural men in Bangladesh have committed multiple perpetrator rape (gang rape) of a woman who was not a partner, compared to 1.4% urban men. 35% of those who have committed gang rapes against women have also committed additional rapes where the victim was a man. The motives of rape included a combination of reasons. Two thirds of the gang rape perpetrators claimed entertainment as their motive, 30% claimed they participated in gang rape out of anger and to inflict punishment on the victim, while 11% indicated the crime followed alcohol consumption.
Brazil
In the state of Rio de Janeiro alone, over 6,000 rapes are reported every year (or about 37 per 100,000 people). Nationwide, the rape rate varied between 26 and 32 per 100,000 women in 2009.Joseph Murray, Crime and violence in Brazil: Systematic review of time trends, prevalence rates and risk factors, Aggressive Violent Behavior, Sep 2013; 18(5): 471–483 The arrest rates on rape complaints, was 4% in Rio.Rape in Brazil still an invisible crime, Fabiola Ortiz, Inter Press Service (June 24 2013) ; Quote "The civil police reported that in the first four months of 2013 there were 1,822 rapes committed in the state, while only 70 persons were arrested for these crimes." About 19.6% of 2011 rapes were gang rapes.Pablo Lira, Índice de violência criminalizada (IVC), II Congresso Consad de Gestão Pública, Gestão em segurança pública, Government of Brasil (2013); pp. 17–23 In 2016, more than 30 men drugged and gang raped a 16-year-old girl and later posted photos and a video to boast about it online.
Canada Peer pressure and sexual aggression are among the cited reasons for the crime.De Keseredy & Kelly (1995), Sexual abuse in Canadian university and college dating relationships: The contribution of male peer support, Journal of Family Violence, 10(1), 41–53Horvath & Kelly (2009), Multiple perpetrator rape: Naming an offence and initial research findings, Journal of Sexual Aggression, 15(1), 83-96 Since 1983, Canada does not track rape or gang rape statistics separately, but tracks and reports Sexual Assault Tier 3 which includes both rape and gang rape. The average Sexual Assault Tier 3 victim rate in Canada was 15 per 100,000 women, according to a 2013 Statistics Canada article about violence against women.Maire Sinha, Measuring violence against women: Statistical trends Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada, Govt of Canada (February 2013)
China