The Social Construction of Rape in the Talk of a

The study used a discursive approach to explore the rape narratives of a convicted rapist. These narratives were recounted during the group therapy sessions of a prison-based Sex Offender Treatment Programme (SOTP). The analysis suggested that the offender drew on two main practical ideologies (Wetherell et al., 1987) in recounting his version(s) of the rape. These practical ideologies, which often embodied popular rape myths, served to construct the incident as ambiguous. In particular, this ambiguity called into question whether the incident constituted rape or consensual sexual intercourse. These findings lend support to feminist writers ’ assertions that there is no clear distinction between rape and sex. The implications of the research for sex offender treatment programmes are dis-cussed. Key Words: discourse analysis, discursive psychology, sexual violence A world without rapists would be a world in which women moved freely without fear of men, according to Brownmiller’s (1975: 209) seminal work on rape. However, 25 years on, rape statistics are not encouraging. Figures on sexual violence suggest that one in four women are the victims of rape, or attempted rape, during their lifetime (Lizak, 1991). For example, Koss and her colleagues (Koss et al., 1987) in their US national survey of 6200 college and university students found that 53 percent had experienced some degree of sexual coercion, and 15 percent reported being raped and 12 percent reported attempted rape. In England and Wales, despite a range of initiatives to improve the criminal justice system’s response to rape cases, the conviction rate for rape continues to fall. In 1985 this rate stood at 24 percent nationally, whereas in 1997 it stood at a mer