Rape Proclivity Research Articles

Sexist Humor and Rape Proclivity: The Moderating Role of Joke Teller Gender and Severity of Sexual Assault.

Three experiments examined the effect of sexist humor on men's self-reported rape proclivity (RP). Pilot study demonstrated that people differentiate the five rape scenarios of Bohner et al.'s. RP Scale based on the degree of physical violence perpetrated against the victim. Experiment 1 demonstrated that men higher in hostile sexism report greater RP upon exposure to sexist jokes when a woman (vs. a man) delivers them, and that this effect is limited to rape scenarios depicting a moderate versus a high level of physical violence. Experiment 2 further demonstrated that the relationship between hostile sexism and rape proclivity in response to a moderately violent rape scenario after exposure to sexist humor generalizes beyond women in the immediate humor context to women as a whole.

Male Peer Support to Hostile Sexist Attitudes Influences Rape Proclivity.

Sexual assault affects a large proportion of women in the world. Although most rapes are committed by one man, the act itself may be influenced by many (e.g., the peer group). Hostile sexism (HS) has repeatedly been associated with men's rape proclivity, but the influence exerted by the HS of the peer group on rape proclivity has not been investigated. In this study, we explored the impact of perceived male peer support to HS on participants' rape proclivity. A sample of Spanish undergraduate students from a university in the south of Spain ( N = 134) completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory. Immediately afterwards, they received feedback on the supposed sexist responses of a peer group (high vs. low in HS); we kept the benevolent sexism (BS) of the peer group at medium levels. Next, we assessed participants' rape proclivity using acquaintance rape scenarios. Results showed an interaction between participants' own levels of HS and information about the HS of the peer group. Men high in HS reported higher rape proclivity in the high-HS peer-group condition than in the low-HS peer-group condition. By contrast, information on the peer group did not affect self-reported rape proclivity of men low in HS. Results also corroborated the relationship between participants' levels of HS and rape proclivity, and expanded the literature by revealing an unexpected influence of participants' BS on rape proclivity.

Sexist humor and social identity: the role of sexist humor in men’s in-group cohesion, sexual harassment, rape proclivity, and victim blame

AbstractJokes have been recognized as ways in which negative attitudes and prejudice can be communicated and enacted in hidden ways (e.g.,

Face the consequences: learning about victim's suffering reduces sexual harassment myth acceptance and men's likelihood to sexually harass.

Prior research has shown that (1) better knowledge about the consequences of rape goes along with less rape-supportive attitudes and lower rape proclivity, and (2) empathy with the victims correlates negatively with sexual aggression. In two experiments, the authors combined these approaches in order to reduce sexual harassment myth acceptance (SHMA) and the likelihood to sexually harass (LSH). In Study 1, 101 male and female university students read a report describing sexual harassment as either serious or harmless, and completed scales assessing dispositional empathy and SHMA. Results showed that higher empathy was associated with lower SHMA; furthermore, learning about the seriousness (vs. harmlessness) of sexual harassment led to lower SHMA, particularly in participants low in empathy. Gender differences in SHMA were fully explained by gender differences in empathy. In Study 2, perspective taking, a crucial aspect of empathy, was manipulated. One hundred nineteen male and female participants read either a neutral text or a description of a sexual harassment case, which was written either from the female target's or from the male perpetrator's perspective; then they completed scales measuring SHMA and (only male participants) LSH. The target's perspective led to lower SHMA and to lower LSH than did the neutral text, whereas no such effect was found for the perpetrator's perspective. Implications for intervention programs are discussed.

Men in the Mirror: The Role of Men's Body Shame in Sexual Aggression.

Because research on body shame has predominantly focused on women, the consequences of male body shame for gender relations have been under-investigated. Following up on preliminary findings suggesting that men high on body shame were hostile toward women, in two experiments, we uniquely observed that body shame predisposes men to sexual aggression when they react negatively to masculinity threats. In Experiment 1, men rejected by a female confederate for being unattractive showed rape proclivity to the extent they were high on both body shame and post-rejection negative affect. In Experiment 2, the same pattern emerged on the part of men rejected by a female (but not a male) confederate for ostensibly being gay. In concert, the findings suggest that men's body shame is an overlooked factor in sexual aggression, which has implications for extant rape theories and precarious manhood theory.

Why did the woman cross the road? The effect of sexist humor on men's rape proclivity.

Previous research has shown that exposure to sexist (vs. non-sexist) humor results in more tolerance of sexist discrimination (Ford & Fergusson, 2004). In the current research, three studies investigated the effects of exposure to sexist humor on men’s rape proclivity. In Study 1, male students were exposed to either sexist or non-sexist jokes. Males exposed to sexist jokes reported higher levels of rape proclivity in comparison to males exposed to non-sexist jokes. Study 2 was an online study in which we replicated Study 1, but also measured male participants’ levels of hostile and benevolent sexism. Study 3 was a replication of Study 2, in which we controlled for the sexual content of the jokes. Overall, the results of Study 2 and Study 3 indicated that men who scored high (vs. low) on hostile sexism reported higher levels of rape proclivity after exposure to sexist versus non-sexist jokes. No such effects were obtained for benevolent sexism.

Metacognitive Aspects of Rape Myths

The authors present a metacognitive approach to influences of rape myth acceptance (RMA) on the processing of rape-related information and rape proclivity. In Study 1, participants (N = 264) completed an RMA scale and subsequently reported the subjective strength (e.g., importance, certainty) of their RMA. Then they read about a rape case, viewed a photograph of the alleged crime scene, and rated the defendant's guilt on several items. Depending on condition, the photograph contained either RMA-applicable stimuli (e.g., alcoholic beverages) or neutral stimuli. Higher RMA predicted lower ratings of defendant guilt especially when applicable stimuli were present and RMA was strong. Study 2 (N = 85) showed that RMA-related attitude strength also moderated the effect of RMA on self-reported rape proclivity. Results of both studies indicate that the subjective strength of rape-related beliefs may be reliably assessed and serves as an important moderator of effects of RMA. The implications of these findings for prevention programs as well as future directions for research are discussed.

Bystander Education Training for Campus Sexual Assault Prevention: An Initial Meta-Analysis

The present meta-analysis evaluated the effectiveness of bystander education programs for preventing sexual assault in college communities. Undergraduates trained in bystander education for sexual assault were expected to report more favorable attitudes, behavioral proclivities, and actual behaviors relative to untrained controls. Data from 12 studies of college students (N = 2,926) were used to calculate 32 effect sizes. Results suggested moderate effects of bystander education on both bystander efficacy and intentions to help others at risk. Smaller but significant effects were observed regarding self-reported bystander helping behaviors, (lower) rape-supportive attitudes, and (lower) rape proclivity, but not perpetration. These results provide initial support for the effectiveness of in-person bystander education training. Nonetheless, future longitudinal research evaluating behavioral outcomes and sexual assault incidence is needed.

Investigating the implicit theories of rape‐prone men using an interpretative bias task

Purpose. Ward (2000) has hypothesized that sexual offenders hold offence supportive implicit theories (ITs) or schemata that function to facilitate or maintain offending behaviour. The present research aimed to determine whether rape‐prone men hold the same offence supportive ITs as those that have been identified in rapists.Method. This study adopted both an explicit measure of ITs and also an implicit measure of ITs (an interpretative bias task). In the implicit task, participants viewed ambiguous stimuli (one‐sentence statements) that may be interpreted in either a rape‐supportive manner, or a non‐rape‐supportive manner. Participant's interpretation of the stimuli was assessed via a memory recognition task. We predicted that men higher on proclivity to rape – who presumably hold strong mental representations of rape‐supportive themes – would be more likely to interpret stimuli in a rape‐supportive manner relative to non‐rape‐supportive stimuli compared to men lower on rape proclivity.Results. Using multiple regression to determine the relative contributions of both explicit and implicit measures for predicting rape proclivity, we found that only the explicit, self‐report questionnaire and one of the ITs, ‘women are sex objects’ (as measured by the interpretative bias task), was significantly related to a person's rape proclivity score.Conclusions. This result indicates that rape‐prone men may not share the same beliefs as convicted rapists, which could be a key difference between men at risk of offending, and those who have been convicted of a sexual offence.

Of Animals and Objects

Although dehumanizing women and male sexual aggression are theoretically aligned, the present research provides the first direct support for this assumption, using the Implicit Association Test to assess two forms of female dehumanization: animalization and objectification. In Study 1, men who automatically associated women more than men with primitive constructs (e.g., animals, instinct, nature) were more willing to rape and sexually harass women, and to report negative attitudes toward female rape victims. In Study 2, men who automatically associated women with animals (e.g., animals, paw, snout) more than with humans scored higher on a rape-behavioral analogue, as well as rape proclivity. Automatically objectifying women by associating them with objects, tools, and things was also positively correlated with men's rape proclivity. In concert, the research demonstrates that men who implicitly dehumanize women (as either animals or objects) are also likely to sexually victimize them.

Effect of Sexual Coercion Proclivity and Cognitive Priming on Sexual Aggression in the Laboratory

This research follows from the “rape proclivity” literature to evaluate whether proclivity actually predicts sexual coercion. One hundred forty-two heterosexual males attending a Canadian university participated. Participants completed the sexual coercion proclivity questionnaire packet to determine high or low sexual coercion proclivity, and were randomly assigned to complete either an innocuous or a sexually aggressive cognitive priming task. Sexual coercion was operationalized by having men read increasingly graphic sexual material to an increasingly uncomfortable confederate. Regardless of condition, high sexual coercion proclivity males were more likely to engage in sexual coercion than low sexual coercion proclivity males. When the effects of discomfort were controlled, a significant interaction emerged between sexual coercion proclivity and the priming condition on sexual coercion. Although engaging in significantly less sexual coercion than the high sexual coercion proclivity males when assigned to the innocuous cognitive priming task, the low sexual coercion proclivity males assigned to the sexually aggressive cognitive priming task were indistinguishable from the high sexual coercion proclivity group. The nature of this relationship differed for Caucasian and Chinese men. These findings suggest that even those not previously inclined toward sexual coercion can do so under opportunistic circumstances, following an increase in discomfort associated with exposure to and involvement with sexually aggressive material. The prevention implications associated with this are discussed.

Using social norms to reduce men's rape proclivity: Perceived rape myth acceptance of out-groups may be more influential than that of in-groups

Feedback about a reference group's rape myth acceptance (RMA) has been shown to affect men's rape proclivity (Bohner, Siebler, & Schmelcher, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 286–297, 2006). In two experiments with male university students (total N=294), this research was extended by varying the in-group vs out-group status of the reference group. Results showed that feedback about other men's RMA influenced self-reported RMA (Experiment 1) and rape proclivity (Experiments 1 and 2). Overall, participants' rape proclivity was affected by feedback about both in-groups' RMA and out-groups' RMA. The strongest reduction of rape proclivity was produced by low-RMA feedback about an out-group that participants expected to be high in RMA (Experiment 2). Implications for theory and intervention are discussed.

Power, Sex, and Rape Myth Acceptance: Testing Two Models of Rape Proclivity

Power and sex are thought to be important factors associated with sexual aggression. The goal of this study was to offer a dual-process model to determine how both an implicit power–sex association and explicit power–sex beliefs contribute to rape myth acceptance and rape proclivity. In Study 1, an explicit measure of power–sex beliefs was developed using a participant sample of 131 college students (54% female; age: M = 20.2 years, SD = 3.5 years). In Study 2, 108 male college students (age: M = 19.1 years, SD = 1.3 years) completed a power–sex implicit association test and three explicit measures assessing power–sex beliefs, rape myth acceptance, and rape proclivity. Two models of rape proclivity were compared. The best-fitting model showed that rape myth acceptance mediated the relationships between rape proclivity and an implicit power–sex association, as well as explicit power–sex beliefs.

Exposure to Sexist Humor and Rape Proclivity: The Moderator Effect of Aversiveness Ratings

The aim of this study is to explore the effect of exposure to sexist humor about women on men's self-reported rape proclivity. Earlier studies have shown that exposure to this type of humor increases rape proclivity and that funniness responses to jokes are a key element to consider. However, the role of aversiveness responses has not been studied. In a between-group design, 109 male university students are randomly exposed to sexist or nonsexist jokes. Participants are asked to rate the jokes according to their degree of funniness and aversiveness. Participants' levels of hostile and benevolent sexism were also measured. Results about the relationship between sexist attitudes and sexist humor and the relationship between sexist attitudes and rape proclivity are consistent with those of earlier studies. However, exposure to sexist humor affects rape proclivity only when aversiveness shown to this type of humor is low. The results are discussed in the light of the prejudiced norm theory.

The Implicit Theories of Rape-Prone Men: An Information-Processing Investigation

It has been hypothesised that sexual offenders hold offence-supportive implicit theories (ITs) or schemata. This study aims to determine whether rape-prone men hold the same offence-supportive ITs as those that have been identified in rapists. This study adopts both an explicit and an implicit measure of ITs (a lexical decision task). In the lexical decision task, participants are primed with an incomplete sentence before being presented with a target word. The target word completes the sentence in either a rape-supportive or a non-rape-supportive manner. The authors predict that men higher on proclivity to rape-who presumably hold strong mental representations of rape-supportive themes-would be faster to respond to word completions that are rape supportive relative to men lower on rape proclivity. Using multiple regressions to determine the relative contributions of both explicit and implicit measures for predicting rape proclivity, the authors find that only the explicit self-report questionnaire was significantly related to a person's rape proclivity score.

Oppression Through Acceptance?

Feminist theories of rape motivation are based on research suggesting a relationship between dominance and sexual aggression. However, the relationship between dominance and rape myth acceptance (RMA), a predictor of rape proclivity and sexual aggression and a key component in feminist theory, is understudied. The current study tests the hypotheses that individuals' scores on sex-based oppression and intergroup dominance measures will improve the predictive models for RMA and attitudes toward rape and rape victims. The hypotheses are supported. Individuals' general intergroup dominance and sex-based oppression attitudes provide significant unique prediction beyond previously studied predictors of attitudes about rape and rape victims.

Hostile Sexism and Rape Proclivity Amongst Men

In the current study, we examined the influence of victim type and hostile sexism on men’s judgments about an acquaintance rape victim and their self-reported acquaintance rape proclivity. It was predicted that hostile sexism would predict self-reported rape proclivity, but that this relationship would be moderated by victim type. Specifically, it was predicted that participants would report greater proclivity in relation to a victim who appeared not to adhere to traditional gender stereotypes than to a victim who appeared to adhere to such stereotypes. Further, in line with D. Abrams, G. T. Viki, B. Masser, and G. Bohner (2003), it was predicted that the relationship between hostile sexism and rape proclivity would be mediated by perceptions of “token resistance” by the victim. Results partially supported the hypotheses. Hostile sexism was positively related to rape proclivity, but victim type was not found to moderate the relationship. In addition, perceptions of “token resistance” were found to mediate the hostile sexism and rape proclivity relationship. The results suggest that, at least in terms of rape proclivity, hostile sexists may not differentiate in their targets for sexual aggression.

Hostile Sexism, Type of Rape, and Self-Reported Rape Proclivity Within a Sample of Zimbabwean Males

The role of hostile sexism in accounting for rape proclivity among men was investigated using a sample of Zimbabwean students. Participants were presented with either an acquaintance rape or a stranger rape scenario and asked to respond to five questions about the scenario designed to assess rape proclivity. As expected, a significant relationship between hostile sexism and rape proclivity was obtained in the acquaintance rape but not the stranger rape condition. These results replicate previous research and suggest that hostile sexists are more likely to express their hostility toward women in situations where such behavior might be perceived as acceptable.

Perceived Rape Myth Acceptance of Others Predicts Rape Proclivity: Social Norm or Judgmental Anchoring?

Previous research has shown that information about others’ rape myth acceptance (RMA) affects men’s rape proclivity ( Bohner, Siebler, & Schmelcher, 2006 ). By varying both the level (low vs. high) and format (norm vs. anchor) of such information, different explanations for this effect were investigated. After reporting their own RMA, 117 male participants either read about others’ allegedly low vs. high RMA responses (norm conditions), or estimated if others’ responses were higher or lower than an “arbitrary” low vs. high value (anchor conditions). Later, participants indicated their rape proclivity (RP). Results show that the level of others’ RMA significantly affected participants’ self-reported RP, independent of information format. Furthermore, self-reported RMA and RP were positively correlated. Implications for future research are discussed.

Social Norms and the Likelihood of Raping: Perceived Rape Myth Acceptance of Others Affects Men's Rape Proclivity

Research showing that rape myth acceptance (RMA) causally affects rape proclivity (RP) was extended by examining the impact of RMA-related norms on RP. Male students (total N = 264) received feedback about the alleged responses of other students to RMA items either before (Experiment 1) or after (Experiment 2) they reported their own RMA, and then their RP was assessed using acquaintance-rape scenarios. The level of RMA feedback was varied. Results showed that higher norms led to higher RP. In Experiment 1, this effect was mediated via self-reported RMA. Experiment 2 yielded main effects of both RMA feedback and self-reported RMA and an interaction effect showing that RMA feedback was particularly influential at higher levels of own RMA. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.