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Convicted male perpetrators’ narratives of their motivations for and experiences of perpetrating non-partner rape-femicide in the Western Cape, South Africa
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2024.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2025
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| _version_ | 1867613805996933120 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Cook, Tricia |
| author2 | Van Schalkwyk, Samantha |
| author_browse | Cook, Tricia Van Schalkwyk, Samantha |
| author_facet | Van Schalkwyk, Samantha Cook, Tricia |
| author_sort | Cook, Tricia |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description |
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2024. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/131626 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:41:59.323Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/131626 Convicted male perpetrators’ narratives of their motivations for and experiences of perpetrating non-partner rape-femicide in the Western Cape, South Africa Cook, Tricia Van Schalkwyk, Samantha Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Psychology. Criminal behavior -- Western Cape (South Africa) Sex offenders -- Western Cape (South Africa) Women -- Crimes against -- Western Cape (South Africa) Social constructionism -- Western Cape (South Africa) UCTD Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2024. ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This South African qualitative narrative study, grounded in social constructionism, explores the motivations for and experiences of perpetrating non-partner rape-femicide (sexual homicide) from the perspectives of eight purposefully sampled convicted offenders incarcerated in one Correctional Centre in the Western Cape, South Africa. The rationale for this study stemmed from my post-honours psychology internship year at the South African Police Services’ Investigative Psychology Unit in Cape Town in 2019/2020, during which I assisted with many of the femicide cases of that time. My rationale for the study was further motivated by the noticeable absence of qualitative narrative research with offenders of rape-femicide in the South African context. Open-ended one-on-one interviews were conducted with each participant to gain rich insights into men’s narratives of their violence perpetrated against a woman or girl, as well as their lived experiences growing up in South Africa. The narrative data set was analysed using the thematic narrative approach. Findings from the study showed that the participants narratively constructed their motivations for initially wanting to harm a woman or girl for different reasons: revenge, punishment, to satisfy a sexual urge, the influence of the supernatural, inebriation, or opportunity. In addition, the participants' narrative constructions of their motivations for perpetrating femicide, in addition to the rape, mostly centred around their fear of being reported and potentially going to prison but also included constructions of an unstoppable rage and a demonstration of masculine power as motivators for femicide. Participants' narrative constructions of their experiences of such violence were expressed as a ‘positive’ experience (e.g. regaining masculine authority or purging deep inner anger) as an ‘out of character’ event, or as an ‘accident’ during the rape. Although these were the stated explanations and experiences of their violence, men’s narratives showed that their motivations for perpetrating rape-femicide were rather shaped by their strong adherence to societal norms of gendered power and sexist and entitled views on women, as well as societal norms of ‘hegemonic’ masculinities that promoted ideals of toughness and aggression over vulnerability, that was the primary driver of their perpetration of extreme violence. This was evident in men’s frequent use of patriarchal women-blaming strategies and other externalising strategies such as dissociation and minimisation to explain their violence and, in this way, shifted blame and responsibility away from them and painted them in a more socially acceptable light. Furthermore, although blame was assigned externally by the participants in their accounts of the underlying factors shaping their violent behaviour, such as lack of parental love, abusive fathering, witnessing domestic abuse and substance abuse, men’s constructions of their traumatic childhoods cannot be ignored as a significant factor shaping some men’s adverse lived experiences in South Africa and a factor contributing to their perpetration of violence. Findings from the study show that motivations for rape-femicide cannot be explained through a singular psychological ‘(deviance’) perspective but instead explained as a phenomenon that is socially constructed, multicausal and intersectional in the South African context. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar. Masters 2025-01-30T09:05:07Z 2025-01-30T09:05:07Z 2024-12 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/131626 en Stellenbosch University viii, 176 pages application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Criminal behavior -- Western Cape (South Africa) Sex offenders -- Western Cape (South Africa) Women -- Crimes against -- Western Cape (South Africa) Social constructionism -- Western Cape (South Africa) UCTD Cook, Tricia Convicted male perpetrators’ narratives of their motivations for and experiences of perpetrating non-partner rape-femicide in the Western Cape, South Africa |
| title | Convicted male perpetrators’ narratives of their motivations for and experiences of perpetrating non-partner rape-femicide in the Western Cape, South Africa |
| title_full | Convicted male perpetrators’ narratives of their motivations for and experiences of perpetrating non-partner rape-femicide in the Western Cape, South Africa |
| title_fullStr | Convicted male perpetrators’ narratives of their motivations for and experiences of perpetrating non-partner rape-femicide in the Western Cape, South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Convicted male perpetrators’ narratives of their motivations for and experiences of perpetrating non-partner rape-femicide in the Western Cape, South Africa |
| title_short | Convicted male perpetrators’ narratives of their motivations for and experiences of perpetrating non-partner rape-femicide in the Western Cape, South Africa |
| title_sort | convicted male perpetrators narratives of their motivations for and experiences of perpetrating non partner rape femicide in the western cape south africa |
| topic | Criminal behavior -- Western Cape (South Africa) Sex offenders -- Western Cape (South Africa) Women -- Crimes against -- Western Cape (South Africa) Social constructionism -- Western Cape (South Africa) UCTD |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/131626 |
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