Bodyguard Hypothesis, Rape, and Coercion

Hahnel-Peeters, Rebecka K.

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_295-1

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“…Five broad contexts provide support for our hypothesis that men's likelihood to rape increases when the perceived likelihood of discovery is low: (1) wartime rape ( Brownmiller, 1975 ; Gottschall, 2004 ; Henry et al, 2004 ), (2) when men hold positions of power ( Abbott, 2015 ; Eastham, 1979 ; Isely, 1997 ; Moniuszko & Kelly, 2017 ; Poggioli, 2019 ; Shupe et al, 2000 ), (3) sexual slavery such as sex-trafficking ( Ahram, 2015 ; Gleason & Harris, 1976 ; Jennings, 1990 ; Walker-Rodriguez & Hill, 2011 ), (4) intoxication ( Abbey & McDuffie, 1996 ; Lawyer et al, 2010 ; Mouilso et al, 2012 ), and (5) solo international travel ( Kennedy & Flaherty, 2015 ). For deeper review of these contexts, see Hahnel-Peeters (forthcoming) .…”

Section: Men's Sexual Exploitation Of Womenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Environmental Cues to Discovery Influence the Likelihood to Rape?

Hahnel-Peeters

Goetz

2022

Evol Psychol

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Research on men's sexual exploitation of women has documented that men's psychology tracks cues associated with the ease of women's exploitability. In the current studies, we examined a different class of cues hypothesized to aid men's use of sexually exploitative strategies: environmental cues to the likelihood of discovery. We defined likelihood of discovery as the perceived probability of identification when engaging in exploitative behavior (e.g., presence of others). We test the hypothesis that men's likelihood to rape increases when their perception of the likelihood of discovery is low in three studies. In Study 1, we conducted a content analysis of individuals’ responses ( N = 1,881) when asked what one would do if they could stop time or be invisible. Besides the “other” category whereby there were no specific category for nominated behaviors, the most nominated category included sexually exploitative behavior—representing 15.3% of reported behaviors. Both Studies 2 ( N = 672) and 3 ( N = 614) were preregistered manipulations of likelihood of discovery surreptitiously testing men's rape likelihood to rape across varying levels of discovery. We found men, compared to women, reported a statistically higher likelihood to rape in both Studies 2 and 3: 48% compared to 39.7% and 19% compared to 6.8%, respectively. Across Studies 2 and 3, we found no statistical effect of the likelihood of discovery on participants’ likelihood to rape. We discuss how the presence of one's peers may provide social protection against the costs of using an exploitative sexual strategy if a perpetrator is caught.

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