SOCIOCULTURAL FACTORS AS DRIVERS OF MEN TO RAPE: A STUDY OF MALE RAPISTS INCARCERATED AT KAMITI MAXIMUM PRISON IN NAIROBI, KENYA
Abstract
Background: Rape is a global problem with many women and children falling victims on a daily basis. Studies indicate that multiple of factors drive men to commit this heinous crime. This is the case in Nairobi, Kenya with KEWOPA report stating that only 30.0% of the cases are reported. Thus, this study sought to assess how biological factors drive men to rape among convicted male rapists in Kamiti Maximum Prison in Nairobi, Kenya. The study was based on the dynamic theory of factors.
Methodology: The study applied a mixed methodology and thus adopted a concurrent triangulation research design. Qualitative data were analyzed thematically along the objectives and presented thematically in narrative forms. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively using frequencies and percentages with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 23) and presented using tables.
Findings: The study established that sex offenders were influenced by several socio-cultural factors to commit the crime. The study established that sex offenders were socialized to believe in the superiority of men over women, that men are the ones who decide when to have sex with women, and were also socialized to believe that men should be marked with physical toughness, emotional stoicism, and a fixation with having control over women. On the other hand, women are socialized to be submissive to men, not to admit their desire for sex, while men are taught that women’s rejection of sexual advance is not genuine and should be overlooked and any resistance should be defeated.
Recommendations: The study recommends that different stakeholders such families, religious organizations, educational institutions and other government agencies should partner to provide holistic support, to nurture men who partner with women in the fight against gender based violence. Their also a need to mentor the boy child in to a man who is not threatened by his counterpart, the woman.
Keywords: Sociocultural factors, male rapists, sexual socialization
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