Explaining College Men’s Rape Myth Acceptance: The Role of Sports Media, Masculine Norms & Fraternity Membership

Abstract

Sexual assault is a serious public health issue that is particularly pervasive on U.S. college campuses, and it is well established that men’s acceptance of rape myths is associated with negative, and even harmful, attitudes and behaviors toward women. Given the association of rape myths with sexual assault, there is a critical need to identify factors associated with men’s acceptance of such myths. To this end, we surveyed 318 fraternity men and 183 non-fraternity college men in the United States to test whether sports media use and conformity to masculine norms, specifically beliefs in controlling women and sexual permissiveness, are associated with rape myth acceptance. Results showed that, after controlling for demographic characteristics including fraternity membership, regular sports media exposure, conformity to masculine norms that support control over women and permissive sexual activity (e.g. playboy norms), were positively associated with rape myth acceptance. This study contributes to a better understanding of multidimensional relationships between sports media consumption, conformity to masculine norms, and rape-supportive culture among young men.