Every ninety-eight seconds an American is sexually assaulted. That’s thirty-six people every hour, eight hundred eighty-one in twenty-four hours, and three hundred twenty-one thousand, seven hundred ninety-five in one year. The idea that humans are born with the instinct and possibility to rape other humans has been a controversial debate with those who believe that these characteristics are developed as humans grow-up. Parents of an abuser, believe that this is a characteristic that is learned in our society. While other family members believe that people are born with these characteristics but they are not genetic. Those who are more involved in studying these characteristics — scientists, anthropologist, and philosophers — presume that humans can have a “rape gene” and it can be passed down through generations. The majority of the Christian religious public believe that all humans are capable of committing rape on another human, it all comes down to how that human is raised by the family and society. All of the groups of people that voice their concerns about rape can conclude that very little approaches have been made to decrease the number of rapes in this country. Although many public health awareness has been brought to the issue, little progress has been achieved, as more cases are reported each year.
According to many parents that have had children follow along this path, believe that their child was not born with this mindset nor was it genetically passed down to them through previous generations. Julia Campbell, a parent of an abuser, believes that all human beings are born neither good nor bad. She says, “Humans are not born evil, all humans are identically born the same, despite them being born and raised in harsh surroundings” (personal communication, March 2, 2018). Many of these parents believe that the outcome of their child’s behaviors are based strongly on the way society raises them in the community. Parents believe that their friends and those who have significant influence on their child, including themselves as parents, are who shapes and influence the choices that their child makes or could make.
Other family members of the abuser, such as uncles, aunts, cousins, etc., believe that these characteristics are characteristics that a person is born with but it is not something that is passed down through generations. Many of these family members say that the abuser in their family has always been different, compared to the rest of the family. They frequently mention that the abuser usually has violent behavior since childhood. They also often mention that these children were raised adequately. They usually tend to say it’s not genetic due to no previous family history of family members being abusers (A. Miramontes, A., personal communication, February 23, 2018).
Scientist, anthropologist, philosophers, and others who do further studies on this topic tend to believe that these characteristics are characteristics that a person is born with. In fact they believe that there is a certain “rape gene” that can be passed down through generations of the family. This group claims that the human brain is programed to act upon the action of raping another individual. Buller (2010), a scientist from the University of New Mexico, presents that there has been some changes to human DNA, from a human today and a human fifty-thousand years ago (para. 7). Other studies done by psychologist, Samantha Smithstein (2014), show that the amygdala — part of the brain, that is involved in interpreting and experiencing emotions — in rapist are smaller when compared to those of a healthy human (para. 3).
The Christian community believes that every human has the capacity and capability to rape another human being. They believe that every human being was abilities at birth, such as the ability to love, reason, express and feel emotion and most importantly the power to choice. They believe that oneself has the capability of choosing between good or evil. The Holy Bible states that when a human is born they are born with the instinct of being self-preservation, and this can cause a human to become selfish which the community believes that this is what leads to the bad influences that are made from a human. The Christian religious community believes that every human is capable of becoming evil and doing things such as rape. They do believe that this could be controlled as long ones selfishness is also controlled (“The Holy Bible,” 79) .
Although there are a variety of mix view point on the issue of rape being generic, or being a characteristic that a person is born with, it is something that affects our community in a variety of ways and is affected by many. Getting more awareness to the general public by educating, and funding more research on this topic can benefit the community of this country. As a result of doing this positive changes could occur, such as ropes in crime rapes related to rape.