Rape within relationships: How men convicted of intimate partner rape use the complexities of sexual consent to deny offending

• In Event: Gender, Crime and Justice Working Group Panel 5: Sexual violence

Abstract

Men convicted of sexual offences experience intense stigmatisation because of their offending. Previous research has explored denial as a method used by men convicted of sexual offences to resist the negative label associated with their offence. This paper explores the ways in which men imprisoned for intimate partner rape deny their offending. The data is based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with men convicted and imprisoned for rape, who deny the offence. The research was conducted in two prisons based in England and Wales.

The findings illustrate that men convicted of intimate partner rape deny their offending to manage the stigma associated with a sexual offence. In accordance with the Sexual Offences Act 2003, the absence of consent was the reason for a rape conviction and, as such, understandings of sexual consent were an important part of the men’s narratives and their denial. The men utilise denial strategies premised on the complexities of sexual consent, where they draw upon rape myths based on the intricacies of sex in established relationships. The findings demonstrate that the men, specifically, allege a precedence of consent and cite the continued relationship, after the offence occurred, to deny committing rape.

Author

• Faye Vanstone, Bath Spa University