Hi everyone!
We had a really interesting set of presentations this week by our classmates that covered: the social media spread of evil, cyberbullying and rape and sexual sadism. This was followed by a very involved discussion that talked about everyone’s perceptions of evil thus far in the course. In the class discussion, we spent time on intent (as this was one of our central aspects of the definition of evil). Further, we spoke about the importance of having information when deciding if something is evil. Sometimes knowing more information about the perpetrator (i.e. if they have a mental illness or are under duress), can make us think they’re less or more evil.
All three of the presentations really resonated with a documentary that I watched last year called Roll, Red, Roll. It had an aspect of rape, of online harassment, and of social media. We also talked about the concept of groupthink in class, where rapists are more likely to commit rape when others are present. This is true in the documentary, as every instance of rape occurred in the context of a party (Devaney, Lake, & Schwartzman, 2018).
Roll, Red, Roll is a documentary about a set of three girls who were raped in unrelated events in the small college town of Steubenville, Ohio. These three high school aged girls (who remain anonymous in the film) were raped by a few of their male classmates on three separate instances (Devaney, Lake, & Schwartzman, 2018). During the assaults, photos were taken and then circulated through the high school and the community. Obviously, the girls did not consent to the photos as they were very degrading. As it is a small town, news travels fast around social media and the girls were blamed for their assaults. The rapists are small town football stars and so everyone is reluctant to blame them, in a “boys will be boys” mentality (Horton, 2019).
The responses to the rape include…
- “I have no sympathy for whores”
- “We’re hitting it for real”
- “Sloppy” (Horton, 2019)
This documentary and the presentation we saw in class today taught me that rapists can rape for a number of different reasons, the motivation is not always to cause direct harm to victims. This intent, critical to the definition of evil, is very important to understand. The boys in Roll, Red, Roll were raping to show off to their friends. In the class presentation, we saw that men often rape because of their lack of self-esteem or for revenge purposes.
Looking at further research, it seems like there are different classifications of rapists, all who rape with a different intent in mind. We have disadvantaged men, who rape because they do not receive sex otherwise. Specialized rapists are aroused by violent sexual stimuli (this may relate to the BDSM we were discussing during Hayley’s presentation) (McKibbin, Shackelford, Goetz, & Starratt, 2008). Partner rapists rape their partner because they are scared of being cheated on or being abandoned, while opportunistic rapists seek out susceptible women. High-mating-effort rapists are those who seek dominancy, have a high self-esteem, and are most likely to be psychopaths (McKibbin et al., 2008).
In summary, I hope that the readers of this blog pay special attention to the intent that precedes an evil act. It’s important to understand why someone is doing something, and what the context is. I also think special attention should be paid to how certain forms of evil, such as the ones discussed in our class presentations, can interact with each other. Roll, Red, Roll is a great example of how social media can spread evil, and how cyberbullying and rape can harm people.
References
Devaney, J. (Producer), Lake, S. (Producer), & Schwartzman, N. (Director). (2018). Roll, Red, Roll [Motion Picture]. USA: Sunset Park Pictures.
Horton, A. (2019, April). Roll Red Roll: behind the chilling documentary on high school rape. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/apr/09/roll-red-roll-behind-the-chilling-documentary-on-high-school
McKibbin, W., Shackelford, T., Goetz, A., & Starratt, V. (2008). Why do men rape? An evolutionary psychological perspective. Review of General Psychology, 12(1), 86-97.
Jessica's Evil Psychology 
Hi Jessica,
The documentary you describe has excellent connections to evil: Roll, Red, Roll is a poignant example of how evil (in this case, rape) can be propagated in an everyday setting by seemingly ordinary people. I also find it interesting that you mention that every instance of rape discussed in the documentary occurred in the context of a party. By virtue of their loud, often dimly-lit nature, house parties can promote a sense of anonymity and encourage deindividuation. Facilitated by the crowd, setting, and inevitable ingestion of alcohol, people do things at parties that they may not think to do otherwise, such as engage in evil behaviour. The types of evil behaviour people may engage in at parties could range from degrading games or hazing rituals to rape (including date rape); it is clear that the nature of the setting primes people to become disinhibited and forget their moral beliefs. This isn’t to say parties are necessarily bad or cause evil to occur on their own, but they may encourage people with pre-existing beliefs (e.g. a belief that men are superior to women) to escalate their behaviour and engage in actions they may not otherwise.
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I completely agree that understanding why people commit evil is important, but I also believe it does not excuse the act that was done. Whether, lets say, a rape was committed because the man wanted revenge or because the man didn’t understand that the girl was saying no, a rape still occurred. I believe that an evil act is always an evil act, however the person doing the evil act does not have to be evil, and that’s where understanding the reason matters.
I found the angle you took from this weeks class very interesting, and I enjoyed how you managed to try and include all the presentations!
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I like how well the idea of intent was articulated with the concept of rape. Obviously with rape, the intent is for the perpetrator to obtain some sort of pleasure or gain out of the situation, while the victim is left humiliated and completely violated. I agree in that intent is such an important aspect when considering what’s evil and what’s not. I also think specifically, the idea of intent might be more tied to an evil person, who is intending to harm someone for their own gain, rather than an act being evil. As mentioned at the start of the semester, not all people mean to commit evil acts, they may not know it’s evil when doing it. The example from class was the Caucasian family adopting an African American child, and the African American social services thought they were trying to tear Black families and their values apart. They had good intent, but the perception was off. That’s why I’m arguing that intent may be more directed toward an evil person, not necessarily their actions.
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