The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

432 Chapter 11

the offender used alcohol; in 42% of the

cases, the women reported using alcohol.

Use of alcohol was not only common during

sexual assault but was also associated with

the severity of the assault. The more severe

cases of assault (i.e., rape, attempted rape)

were associated with alcohol usage by both

offender and victim. Forty percent of the sex-

ual assaults occurred during a date. Despite

the media highlighting the potential for men

to administer “date rape” drugs to women,

alcohol is by far the most widely used drug

during rape (Lovett & Horvath, 2009).

We typically think of women as the vic-

tims of rape and sexual assault; in fact, crimi-

nal statistics define rape as something that

happens only to women. Although rape may

be rare among men, sexual coercion may

not. Men may find it difficult to refuse sex

because the expectation of the male gender

role is that men are always ready and willing

to have sex. However, sexual coercion seems

to mean something different to men and

women. Men feel less able to refuse sex, so

they don’t—but they also typically do not suf-

fer serious consequences; women feel more

able to refuse, so when victimization occurs,

they suffer more serious consequences.

Rape Myths

One reason that women do not report rape is

that there are widely shared myths about rape

that reflect unfavorably on the victim. There

are myths about how rape occurs, about the

behavior of the perpetrator and the victim,

as well as about the consequences of rape.

As early as 1975, Brownmiller identified four

basic rape myths: (1) All women want to be

raped; (2) a woman cannot be raped against

her will; (3) a woman who is raped is ask-

ing for it; and (4) if a woman is going to be

raped, she might as well enjoy it. Numerous

scales have emerged to measure acceptance of

(Russell, 1990, p. 17). It was not until 1993

that all 50 states had deleted the marital rape

exemption clause. However, some other

countries still employ some form of marital

rape exemption.

Incidence

In 2008, 203,830 cases of rape/sexual assault

were reported (Bureau of Justice Statistics,

2009). Of these, 81% of victims were female.

Estimates from a variety of studies show

that between 15% and 30% of women have

experienced attempted or completed sexual

assault (Russell & Bolen, 2000). Estimating

the prevalence of rape is difficult because it is

underreported. Many victims do not report

rape because they feel guilty, feel a sense of

shame, do not want to share their personal

sexual history with strangers, and/or doubt

that people will believe them (Ullman, 2010).

Thus, very few victims report rape to the po-

lice. Among the cases reported to the police,

the conviction rate is only 6% (Horvath &

Brown, 2009).

Even surveys of rape may underesti-

mate its incidence. A majority of surveys ask

individuals a single question about whether

they have been raped and use only the term

rape.However, some individuals do not

apply the label of rape to experiences that

would qualify as rape; people often do not

include oral sex or anal penetration when

thinking of rape. In addition, people may not

include rape attempts as rape.

Studies of college students report

higher incidences of sexual assault, but defi-

nitions are often more liberal. In a national

survey of female college students, 54% of the

3,187 women reported some form of sexual

victimization: 16% rape, 12% attempted

rape, 11% sexual coercion, and 15% sexual

contact (Ullman, Karabatsos, & Koss, 1999).

In over half of the cases (53%), women said

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