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Article
Law and the Biology of Rape: Reflections on Transitions
Hastings Women's Law Journal
  • Owen D. Jones
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2000
Keywords
  • rape; biology; evolutionary analysis in law; behavioral biology; sexual aggression
Abstract

This Article serves is a sequel to a previous Article: Sex, Culture, and the Biology of Rape: Toward Explanation and Prevention, 87 Cal. L. Rev. 827 (1999). Part I briefly considers the threshold question: why consider the behavioral biology of sexual aggression at all? Part II proposes that the first step in transitioning to a more accurate and more useful model of rape behavior is to avoid a number of common definitional ambiguities that plague most rape discussions. Because those ambiguities are particularly likely to foster misunderstandings about biobehavioral perspectives, Part II also clarifies the scope of what biobehavioral theories address. Part III proposes that the commonly tangled realm of rape theory be divided into two distinct (though in some contexts overlapping) realms: one of theories about the meanings of rape, and the other of theories about the causes of rape. Part IV proposes that causes of rape, in turn, be sorted into two kinds, the precise and necessary inter-relationship of which can be understood in a way that provides important and continuing utility for the ongoing research in both social science and life science perspectives on sexual aggression. Part V offers thoughts on two complexities arising from the transition to an integrated model of rape behavior.

Citation Information
Owen D. Jones. "Law and the Biology of Rape: Reflections on Transitions" Hastings Women's Law Journal Vol. 11 (2000) p. 151 ISSN: 1061-0901
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/owen-jones/25/