Emily Hynes

Annotated Bibliography
(2009). Violence against women. United Nations Secretary-Generals
campaign to end violence against women. Retrieved from
http://www.un.org
This fact sheet gives information and statistics on not only intimate
domestic abuse and sexual violence, but also on transmittable diseases,
genital mutation, trafficking, and honor killing. It also outlines the cost
for countries with high domestic abuse and rape problems in the United
States and the United Kingdom to demonstrate what a large problem
rape is and what large financial costs it has. This is from a very reliable
source because the United Nations has access to this kind of research
from all over the world. It gives the information in an unbiased way,
stating only facts and giving statistics.
I will be able to use this fact sheet to better understand the numbers,
the effects, and the variations of sexual abuse globally. The United
Nations mentions many different countries in its statistical reporting and
as such should be very useful for information about more than just the
United States. This fact sheet will prove very helpful when I am in need
of statistics and general information on the subject of sexual abuse.
(2015). End violence against women. United Nations Women. Retrieved from
http://www.un.org
This webpage goes first into detail on the issue of sexual violence
towards women across the globe and calls people into action with the
International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the 16
Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, the Orange YOUR
Neighborhood campaign, and the UN Secretary-Generals UNiTE
campaign. The United Nations also gives statistics on violence against
women and then goes on to say how the elimination of gender-fueled
violence is one of the United Nations Womens top priorities. It also
discusses the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted in
1995, a platform I would be interested in further researching to
understand its implications and see if it takes any consideration of
culture. This page comes from the United Nations who have access to
the best research which gives it reliability and also does not display an
overwhelming and inhibiting bias.
This page may not necessarily be useful itself for my topic because of its
lack of discussion of sexual violence as it relates to culture but it does
show a cross-cultural promise to eliminate sexual violence against
women which shows that many countries have come together and
decided that cultural or not rape is a big problem worldwide which may
be useful for me to know. It also gave me more ideas of things to
research such as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Emily Hynes
Kalra, G. & Bhugra, D. (2013). Sexual violence against women:
Understanding cross-cultural intersections. Indian Journal of Psychiatry,
55(3), 244-249. doi: 10.4103/0019-5545.117139
This article discusses the cross-cultural implications of rape and how
differently centered (socio-centric and ego-centric) cultures play
different roles in how rape is perceived and the effects of rape on the
victims. It also goes into detail on the relationship between men and
women in different cultures and how those differing relationships
contribute to rape and sexual violence. It describes different theories of
sexual violence in relation to gender roles and culture and whether or
not gender equality will increase or decrease sexual violence. This article
seems to be very reliable as it comes from a journal of medicine and lists
over fifty references. It also does not display too strong of a bias in
either direction (whether or not culture has the strongest hand in
determining sexual violence globally) and provides many counterarguments that will be very interesting to look into for further research.
I will absolutely be able to use this article because it is essentially
everything I was hoping to research. It describes the cultural relations of
sexual violence, gender roles and relationships, power dynamics, and
also discusses two of the countries I was hoping to research (South
Africa and India) in relation to the culture of sexual violence. It also
brings up many other points of research I could look into such as
different tribes and different articles and studies.
Khan, E. (2012). Top ten countries with highest rape crime. Retrieved from
http://www.wonderslist.com
This list ranks the top ten countries with reported rape cases in 2012.
The United States tops the list, although in recent years the American
number has gone down and dropped from the top ten to make way for
South Africa and other countries. This article may not be the most
reliable because it comes from a blog and the statistics are a few years
old (even though they are only three years old, this still poses a problem
as more recent research I have found puts the United States at a lower
position than number one and I have not found very much research to
corroborate this ranking of the United States as the number one country
for reported rape cases).
However, even if these are not the exact ranks, the countries give me
some idea of a direction to go in for research because many of the
countries on this list do face a large problem with rape.
Kohn, S. Is India the rape capital of the world? More. Retrieved from
http://www.more.com
This magazine article depicts American culture and similar to Indian
culture when it comes to sexual violence. Kohn cites statistics indicating
that America is actually worse of in this department than India, and that
many Americans will ignore this fact in favor of thinking that America is

Emily Hynes
the greatest country, above all others and humane above anything.
Kohn argues that American rape culture is just as bad as Indian rape
culture if not worse because India realizes there is a problem where
Americans are ignorant to the fact or deny it. This article seems to be
reliable although I have not checked the sources from which Kohn cites
her statistics. While she does show her bias that America struggles
heavily and secretively with rape and sexual violence, it is not in such a
way that undermines the facts she gives.
This article will be a useful comparison between the culture of Indian
and American rape and sexual violence, and even the comments on this
article might be good to look through to see real Americans differing
opinions on what Kohn has to say and see if they corroborate her
argument by denying the fact that there is a sexual violence problem in
America, despite the fact that it is on the decline (which Kohn notes,
adding that sexual violence in India is actually on the rise).
Rape in South Africa. Rape crisis. Retrieved from http://rapecrisis.org.za
This article details the reasons behind rape in South Africa, the
consequences, and why so few victims speak out about it. It describes
the discrepancy between the number of reported rape cases and the
hypothesized number of actual rape cases throughout the country and
gives insight as to the reason behind that discrepancy. It describes the
prevalence, the causes, the culture, the consequences for victims,
different things in connection with rape, and responses to rape in South
Africa. This site has created a place for data and research about rape in
South Africa, one of the countries I have chosen to research for my
capstone, and appears to be very reliable with no bias and only
objective facts.
This website will prove very useful for my capstone because I will be
able to use it for a large amount of my research on rape and the culture
of rape in South Africa. Because I have chosen to study the culture
behind rape and domestic abuse in South Africa, having this much
information about it in one place will be very helpful, especially the
section about the culture of violence in South Africa and the legislation
protecting the victims, something I also hope to look into in conjunction
with countries with smaller reported numbers of rape to compare the
legislation and the cultures for discrepancies that could potentially solve
the problems in other cultures or locales.
The rapist isnt a masked stranger. Rape, Abuse, and Incest National
Network. Retrieved from http://www.rainn.org
RAINN provides statistics on the typical profile of a rapist in the United
States of America, with facts such as how many attacks are perpetuated
by strangers versus non-strangers and how many are perpetuated by
relatives. It also describes rape as an act that about half of the time
happens inside the home, contrary to what many people think. It goes

Emily Hynes
on to list statistics about the rapists relation to their victim, the timing,
the location, and the typical profile, such as average age, average race,
marital status, etc. This website appears reliable because of their
references for their research which come from the United States
Department of Justice and their unbiased objective reporting of facts and
statistics.
This information will be very useful for my research because I will be
able to use these statistics when looking into the culture behind rape in
America, especially the details on how many rapes are date rape and
the average profile for a rapist in America to hopefully compare it to the
average profile of a rapist in the other countries I choose to research
deeper.
Sanday, P. R. (2010). The socio-cultural context of rape: A cross-cultural
study [Abstract]. Journal of Social Issues, 37(4), 5-27. doi:
10.1111/j.1540-4560.1981.tb01068.x
This abstract describes Sandays study into the cross-cultural differences
in the incidence of rape. She explains how, although sexual needs as
biological, the incidence of rape and sexual violence cannot be
explained purely by biological needs. She studied the cultural forces
behind rape in over one hundred different tribes of people and looked
into the differences between those cultures with low incidences of rape
and those with high incidences. She looks into causes such interpersonal
violence, male dominance, and sexual separation. This research looks to
be highly reliable as it involves a large sample of tribes and while of
course Sanday had a driving hypothesis and her own theory about what
motivates rape, her research does not seem to have any overwhelming
bias.
This study will be very useful for my research because in it Sanday
outlines the exact cultural implications and forces behind rape and
sexual violence. It will be extremely useful in understanding what kind of
differences between cultures cause rape to present itself easily or to be
regarded in different lights and how that plays into the differences
between rape and sexual violence cases worldwide.
Tjaden, P. & Thoennes, N. (2000). Extent, nature, and consequences of
intimae partner violence: Findings from the National Violence Against
Women survey [Abstract]. National Criminal Justice Reference Service.
This abstract discusses a survey that was done by a representative
portion of American men and women from 1995 to 1996 to ascertain
information about the prevalence of domestic violence in the American
society. It gives statistics as to those numbers: 25% of women and 7.6%
of men during those years claim to have been victims of intimate
partner violence. The abstract also gives that number translated into the
number of Americans it would therefore affect: 1.5 million women and
over 830,000 men. This survey, while it seems to be reliable and

Emily Hynes
representative of the population at the time, is a little outdated and
more recent numbers I have seen have been higher. So while this
abstract may have been correct and a reliable source of information for
its time, it might not be as accurate in 2015.
I can use this abstract for the statistics it gives, although they might not
necessarily be the best ones I will be able to find. It does detail the
problem that the United States faces with intimate partner violence, or
IPV, and does bring up many questions such as victims use of medical
services and the justice system that may be interesting aspects to look
into.
Wilhelm, H. (2015). The 'rape culture' lie. Commentary. Retrieved from
http://www.commentarymagazine.com
This article describes the authors belief that while rape still happens
and is a problem, it is not as big of a problem as people often make it
out to be. Wilhelm claims that rape culture, particularly in America, is
a lie concocted by younger generations as a direct result of their
tendency towards casual sex and lack of relationship abilities. Wilhelm
claims that there is no culture behind rape and as such should not be
treated as a problem; instead, she argues that Americans should fight
rape victims more ardently on the details of their story, making sure that
it is true beyond a doubt before even considering the possibility of their
rape. Wilhelms argument is very biased to her personal beliefs but she
does have some statistics to back up her argument and a few anecdotal
(if not isolated) stories of rape cases gone wrong. The website itself
seems to be reliable as it comes from a magazine that has a printed
source as well.
Wilhelms argument would be perfect for a refutation to my argument,
which seems to be shaping into something about how even in different
localities, many of the main factors of rape still remain the same,
implying a deeper rape culture embedded in humans, particularly those
born male. She argues the exact opposite of what Ive come to
understand from previous research and knowledge and this will help me
to understand what the other side of this argument believes.