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In many cultural settings it is held that men are unable to control their sexual urges and that women are responsible for provoking sexual desire in men. How families and communities react to acts of rape in such settings is governed by prevailing ideas about sexuality and the status of women.

In some societies, the cultural ‘‘solution’’ to rape is that the woman should marry the rapist, thereby preserving the integrity of the woman and her family by legitimizing the union. Such a ‘‘solution’’ is reflected in the laws of some countries, which allow a man who commits rape to be excused his crime if he marries the victim.

Families may put pressure on the woman not to report or pursue a case or else to concentrate on obtaining financial ‘‘damages’’ from the rapist’s family. Men may reject their wives if they have been raped and in some countries restoring lost honour calls for the woman to be cast out – or in extreme cases, murdered.

Excerpted from World Report on Violence and Health, WHO (2002)

• Sexual Assault Disclosure in Relation to Adolescent Mental Health: Results from the National Survey of Adolescents.  Broman-Fulks JJ, Ruggiero KJ, Hanson RF, Smith DW, Resnick HS, Kilpatrick DG, Saunders BE. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol; 36(2): 260-6, 2007

• Adverse Health and Social Outcomes of Sexual Coercion
  Population Council, 2004