Perceptions about the severity of rape encompass considerations about the liability of the victim and perpetrator, assessments of motives, and numerous psychological consequences (Ben-David & Schneider, 2005). In a rape-supportive culture, minimizations of harshness of rape can be asserted by refusal to label the situation as rape or by characterizing the situation as not being psychologically damaging which is a violation of the rights of the victim (Glass, 2002).
Traditional sex scripts of men and women create a rape-supportive culture in the United States (Check & Malamuth, 1983). Rape is a coherent extension of our cultures sex role socialization process that legitimizes coercive sexuality. Through these scripts, men are taught …show more content…
In the United States, patterns of socialization exist that encourage men to feel they are expected to gain sexual access from reluctant women (Littleton, 2011). They are more likely to labeled as the decision maker and initiator in heterosexual relationships (Glass, 2002). Sex-role stereotypes encompass expected behaviors of both genders and through sexual scripts, by guiding expectations of how men and women should interact with each other as strangers (Check & Malamuth, 1983) . Even though stranger-rape seems to be the least condemned type of rape scenario, men are still often excused for being sexually aggressive while women are blamed for certain actions they took (BenDavid & Schneider, …show more content…
Perceptions of the woman’s willingness will be rated on a 1 (completely unwilling) to 10 (completely willing) scale. Perceptions of the woman’s pleasure and pain will each be rated from 1 (no pleasure/ pain) to 9 (extremely high pleasure/pain). To guard against the risk that certain versions of the story will appear less realistic and possibly inhibit sexual arousal, three additional 5-point scales will be included. They will evaluate the quality of writing, realism and the sexual explicitness of story. After giving their perceptions of the woman in the story, male subjects will be asked how likely they would be to behave like the man in the story if it could be assured no one would ever find out. They will respond using a scale from 1 (not at all likely) to 5 (very