Rape causal attitudes among adolescents

Abstract

Five possible causes of rape—male dominance, female precipitation, society, male sexuality, and male pathology—were compared among high school students from California. Participants (N = 453) completed a group‐administered questionnaire as part of a rape‐education high school outreach provided by two rape crisis centers. Gender, ethnicity, age, and communication sources about rape, including pornography, were related to attitudes about the causes of rape. Within gender, girls rated male pathology the highest of the five causes of rape, and boys rated female precipitation highest. Between genders, girls rated male pathology and male dominance higher and female precipitation lower than did boys. In particular, both female precipitation and male sexuality scores were related to gender, communicating about rape with parents, exposure to pornography, the number of socializing agents with whom girls have discussed rape, girls’ beliefs that they have learned about sex from pornography, and the number of pornographic videos/films seen by girls. Male sexuality scores were also related to ethnicity. The significant correlations between girls’ attitudes toward the causes of rape and other variables were more extensive than were boys’. The gender differences in beliefs about the causes of rape suggest a need for gender‐specific rape‐education programs targeting the specific rape myths that each gender group most strongly believes. The findings also suggest that communication with parents about rape may be important in relation to beliefs held about the causes of rape.

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