After Rape: Mexican Women’s Help-Seeking and Access to Emergency Health Care in Public Prosecutor’s Offices

• Author: Sonia M. Frías,Alejandra Ríos-Cázares
• Published date: 01 January 2019
• Date: 01 January 2019
• DOI: 10.1177/1557085116688778
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085116688778

Feminist Criminology

2019, Vol. 14(1) 65 –88

© The Author(s) 2017

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DOI: 10.1177/1557085116688778

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Article

After Rape: Mexican

Women’s Help-Seeking and

Access to Emergency Health

Care in Public Prosecutor’s

Offices

Sonia M. Frías1 and Alejandra Ríos-Cázares2

Abstract

Using a mixed-methods design, this study examines the prevalence of women’s rape

by someone other than an intimate partner in Mexico, women’s formal help-seeking

strategies and their access to emergency healthcare in state attorney agencies. 18

out of every 10,000 Mexican women were raped during 2011. Only 8.37% of them

sought help in law-enforcement agencies and less than 1% in public health services.

Specialized agencies in sexual crimes tend to lack attention protocols (70%), and

medical examiners (26.7%). Emergency medical care for victims is not guaranteed nor

are referrals to public healthcare services for emergency contraception, treatment

for STDs and pregnancy interruption.

Keywords

rape, victim services, health care after rape, help-seeking, México, public prosecutor’s

offices, violence against women

Rape is part of the continuum of sexual violence committed against women (Kavanaugh,

2012; Kelly, 1987; MacKinnon, 1979). It is an extreme form of violence, and its conse-

quences for women’s health and development are particularly severe. The aftermath of

a rape can include unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV,

1Regional Center for Multidisciplinary Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico,

Cuernavaca, Morelos, México

2Center for Research and Teaching in Economics, Mexico City, México

Corresponding Author:

Sonia M. Frías, Regional Center for Multidisciplinary Research, National Autonomous University of

Mexico, Av. Universidad s/n, Circuito 2, Col. Chamilpa, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, México.

Email: sfrias@correo.crim.unam.mx

688778FCXXXX10.1177/1557085116688778Feminist CriminologyFrías and Ríos-Cázares

research-article2017

66 Feminist Criminology 14(1)

and emotional repercussions that affect not only the victim but also her friends, rela-

tives, and social networks (Crowell & Burgess, 1996). Many of the consequences of

rape can be prevented or controlled if victims are provided with early professional

interventions.

This study aims to improve our understanding of one of the severest forms of vio-

lence against women (VAW) in Mexico: rape by someone other than an intimate part-

ner. Both intimate and nonintimate partner rapes are felonies; a conviction can result

in imprisonment from 8 and 20 years. Rape is defined as “unwanted oral, anal or vagi-

nal penetration against consent through force, threat of force, or when incapacitated”

(Koss, 2006, p. 208). Although men and boys are also victims of rape, there is ample

evidence that women are at a higher risk (Dartnall & Jewkes, 2013; Spitzberg, 1999;

Tjaden & Thoennes, 2006).

The Mexican State has taken formal measures to prevent and eradicate VAW and

provide care for victims. These measures include approving official standards for stan-

dardizing medical care processes, creating public prosecutor’s offices that specialize

in assisting victims of sexual crimes, and creating investigation protocols and victim

care centers (Ríos-Cázares, 2013). However, the percentage of rape victims who seek

formal help in public institutions, what happens when they do, and how these institu-

tions ensure victims’ access to medical care require further study.

This article aims to provide a systematic account of what happens when a woman

victim of sexual violence seeks assistance in public prosecutors’ offices. In other

words, this article offers a descriptive inference because it examines victims’ help-

seeking and how governmental institutions—specifically public prosecutors’ agen-

cies—assist victims of rape. This is the first step to understand next the reasons why

victims seek help and whether they receive the required assistance. As King, Keohane,

and Verba (1994) clearly pointed out “we cannot construct meaningful causal explana-

tions without good description” of the phenomenon to be explained (p. 34), which is

the ultimate goal of a broader research agenda this article pursues.

This article has five sections. The section “Victims’ Help-Seeking and Factors

Influencing Their Access to Services” succinctly reviews previous literature on help-

seeking and factors influencing women’s access to services. Next, we summarize

existing data about rape in Mexico and discuss the difficulty of assessing the extent of

nonpartner sexual violence. The section “The Right of Rape Victims to Have Access

to Health Services” provides a brief description of Mexico’s legal framework for pro-

tecting rape victims. This section is followed by an examination of the repercussions

of rape on victims’ health as well as the medical care these victims receive. Next, the

methodology and analytical strategy are described. The “Results” section presents

prevalence data on rape and help-seeking based on an examination of the 2011 National

Survey on Household Relationships Dynamics (Encuesta Nacional sobre la Dinámica

de las Relaciones en los Hogares—ENDIREH). The 2011 ENDIREH, used a subjec-

tive operational definition of rape—rather than a behavioral (i.e., vaginal, anal, mouth,

tongue, object)—by asking respondents “Not including your spouse or intimate part-

ner, have you ever been forced to have sexual intercourse?” Then, we studied how

public prosecutor’s offices specializing in sex crimes (specialized agencies) assist rape