Program & Abstract Book - EPFL Latsis Symposium 2009

EPFL Latsis Symposium 2009: Understanding Violence
P-32
86
February 11-13 2009
wh y m e n r a p e: so c i o -c u l t u r a l f a c t o r s
p r e D i s p o s i n g m e n t o a c t s o f r a p e in
ke n y a
Muchoki, Samuel 1 ; Wandibba, Simiyu 2
1 Department of Culture and Heritage, National Museums of Kenya;
2 Institute of Anthropology, Gender and African Studies,
University of Nairobi
Rape is one type of gender-based violence that is on increase in Kenya
today. This paper is derived from a study designed to investigate the
individual motivations and the socio-cultural factors that predispose men
to acts of rape in Kenya between the month of January and March 2008.
The study sample was drawn from Naivasha, Kamiti and Nyeri main Prisons
in Kenya. Data was collected using the survey method, case histories
and key informant interviews. The findings suggest that a number of social
cultural factors may predispose a man to rape. The factors identified
include view of rape as sexual act rather than an act of violence, social
attitude that the woman ‘invited’ the rape, early childhood environment,
cultural practices, peer influence and a lack of parental advice on sex. As
an introduction, the paper highlights the theories put forward to explain
the existence of rape in our society. However, looking at rape from the
perspective of the rapists, we argue that rape is a socially acquired behavior
where some rapists accustom themselves with the normative cultural
expectations on women and within this framework they endeavor to create
an image that shifts the blame from themselves to their victims. We
conclude thus that rape emanates from the social environment that an
individual grows in or finds himself in later in life