The Relationship Between Rape Myth Acceptance and Sexual Behaviors

Abstract

An extensive amount of research has been devoted to understanding rape myths, especially in the context of sexual attitudes. Few studies have examined sexual actions as a correlate of rape myth acceptance (RMA). As such, this study utilizes the Updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (IRMA) and its four distinct subscales to examine adherence to rape myths and an individual’s view of sex and sexuality in a sample of 1,310 college students. The IRMA was included in its entirety and separated into its four subscales: “She asked for it,” “He didn’t mean to,” “It wasn’t really rape,” and “She lied.” Results indicated that the most impactful variables for all four subscales were adversarial heterosexual beliefs, stereotypical gender beliefs, and being male. The main implications of this study pertain to implementation of programming. Intervention programming should focus on younger males due to their increased adherence to certain rape myths. Furthermore, programs that address not only rape myths but also other traditional and negative belief systems should be employed. Results of this study lend support to the supposition that it is not necessarily individual characteristics that have a large effect on RMA but is instead a strong adherence to traditional belief systems.

Bystander Intervention Behavior as Function of Victimization History, Opportunity, and Situational Context

“…Indeed, leading researchers have postulated that overt sexism and rape myth acceptance has become increasingly frowned upon in our culture (McMahon & Farmer, 2011). However, it is clear that men are still more likely to report adherence to rape supportive beliefs (Fansher & Zedaker, 2022), suggesting that it is perhaps more likely that this finding reflects men’s tendency to report witnessing more events that would warrant intervention to ensure the safety of their acquaintances. This finding may be more representative of the social desirability of reporting that individuals are witnessing potential events as a bystander, and less a change in the behavioral patterns of male participants.…”

Measuring Rape Myth Acceptance in Sweden: Psychometric Properties of a Swedish Translation of The Acceptance of Modern Myths About Sexual Aggression Scale

“…Both the original IRMA and its updated version have been, and still are, widely used in research today (e.g. Canan et al, 2018;Carroll et al, 2016;Fansher & Zedaker, 2020;Hayes et al, 2013;Navarro & Tewksbury, 2017;Newins et al, 2018). However, despite their widespread use, measuring contemporary prejudiced attitudes using measures which were created decades ago can be problematic.…”

Healthy masculinity construction: The influence of race, faith and athletics

“…Organized sport has been historically described as a masculinity‐validating experience (Dubbbert, 1979), based on the bonding of male athletes, physicality of the activity and sanctioning of violence (Messner, 1990). While sport is commonly associated with hegemonic, toxic masculinity (Fansher & Zedaker, 2022; McCray & Taylor, 2021), which emphasizes men in a position of power and privilege, participants associated their engagement in sport with characteristics of healthy masculinity such as respect, confidence, persistence and leadership. These findings support literature which has pointed to athletics as a setting and platform that can create Black leaders and give them voice, particularly within the Black muscular Christianity tradition (Harrison et al, 2020; Putz, 2022).…”

“…In fact, Boeringer (1999) found that male athletes are more likely to agree with rape‐supportive statements than fraternity members, yet both groups are significantly more likely to do so than individuals outside these social settings. More recently, being a college athlete—as well as being younger—was found to be associated with high scores of rape myth acceptance (Fansher & Zedaker, 2022). However, adherence to hegemonic values and toxic traits is destructive for all people.…”