Prostitution won't won't stop rapes, physicians told

Neither

CINCINNATI (P) prostitution nor the elimination of pornography will eliminate rape, the Ohio State Medical Association was told yesterday.

"Sometimes you hear that if we would legalize prostitution, it would reduce the number of rapes because it would give the men an outlet," said Dr.. A. Nicholas Groth, chief psychologist for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health.

But there is prostitution now, he said. Also, most rapists are married or have girlfriends and finding a sexual outlet is not a problem for them.

Dr. Groth and Dr. Ann Wolbert Burgess, associate professor in community health nursing at Boston College, agreed that neither victim nor attacker feels any sexual gratification from the act.

Dr. Groth, who has worked with convicted rapists in the Massachusets Center of the Diagnosis and Treatment of Sexually Dangerous Persons, said sex offenders report

feeling either disgust or revulsion after a rape.

"So, does he abandon the assault? No, he figures it was the wrong victim and goes out and finds another," said Dr. Groth.

For the victim, rape is a major crisis that disrupts life physically, socially, emotionally and sexually, Dr. Burgess said.

Both agreed that planned treatment is needed for both. Dr. Burgess said women will carry the problem emotionally for years or life without it. The same is true for male and child victims of homosexual attacks.

"They need help," she said.

Dr. Groth said 60% of the attackers jailed will be repeat offenders. He said the Massachusetts treatment program has an 8% recidivisim rate.

"Rape is a desperate act in which he tries to undo all the turmoils he's caught up in," said Dr. Groth outlining four basic types of rapists.

One kind is purely aggressive, using sex as a weapon with which he can hurt, humiliate and degrate, he said. "Far more violence is used than if he was just trying to overpower."

He said about half the rapists fantasize that the victims will enjoy it and even ask them back. Their goal is mastery and control, he said.

The offender is insecure and places a premium on masculinity. In a rape situation, he feels "she can't refuse me, she can't reject me," Dr. Groth said.

The third type commits the act in the course of another crime, such as burglary or armed robbery, he said.

The fourth is the sadistic rapist who fuses sexuality with aggression. "He can only feel gratified if he's aggressive," Dr. Groth said.

Eventually, this type becomes a murderer, he said, however, this is the rarest type, about 2 to 4% of the total.