Rape Myth Acceptance, Efficacy, and Heterosexual Scripts in Men’s Magazines: Factors Associated With Intentions to Sexually Coerce or Intervene

Abstract

Sexual coercion has gained researchers' attention as an underreported form of sexual abuse or harm. The percentage of male and female college students who reported engaging in sexual coercion was as high as 82% for verbally coercive behaviors over the course of a year. Guided by heterosexual scripting theory and the integrated model of behavioral prediction, we examine potential factors associated with college students' intentions to sexually coerce or to intervene when friends plan to sexually coerce (bystander intention). Factors included young college students' beliefs about rape myth acceptance, perceived norms, efficacy to reduce sexual-assault risk, and exposure to men's and women's magazines. As predicted, results indicate rape myth acceptance was positively associated with intentions to sexually coerce, and negatively associated with bystander intentions to intervene. Students' efficacy to reduce sexual-assault risk was negatively associated with intentions to sexually coerce, and positively associated with bystander intentions. Exposure to the heterosexual scripts in men's magazines, which connect sexual prowess to masculinity, was associated with intentions to sexually coerce. Exposure to magazines was not associated with bystander intentions to intervene. Overall, an understanding of the independent contribution of these factors toward sexual coercion and intervention has implications for dating violence prevention programming.

A systematic review of the association between rape myth acceptance and male-on-female sexual violence

“…The literature on male-on-female sexual violence typically focuses on cognitive distortions that manifest as "rape supportive attitudes"; attitudes that facilitate the justification of sexual violence, often serving either to blame the victim, to exonerate the perpetrator, to minimise claims of rape, or to allude that only certain types of women are raped (Hust, Rodgers, Ebreo, & Stefani, 2017;Bohner, Eyssel, Pina, Siebler, & Viki, 2009;Burt, 1980;Lonsway & Fitzgerald, 1994. Within this literature is a concept referred to as "rape myths".…”

Rape Myth Acceptance Reflects Perceptions of Media Portrayals as Similar to Others, but Not the Self

“…Yet, at the same time, efforts to combat campus sexual assault have also turned to bystander intervention approaches (e.g., Banyard et al, 2004; McMahon & Banyard, 2012). Rape myths matter for their success; endorsement of rape myths is related to lower reported intentions to intervene when encountering sexual aggression (Hust et al, 2016; McMahon, 2010). Our study focused on perceptions of media—which most often provide images that promote rather than argue against rape myths—rather than perceptions of prevention messaging.…”

Men, masculinities, and gender‐based violence: The broadening scope of recent research

“…Scholars negotiated this concern by broadening their focus from individual-level analyses of known perpetrators to the group-level analyses emphasizing the impact of culture, social context, and rape-supportive attitudes (Herman, 1984;Martin & Hummer, 1989;Messner, 1992). This has led to a large body of work examining rape myth acceptance in individuals (e.g., Hayes, Abbott, & Cook, 2016;Süssenbach, Eyssel, Rees, & Bohner, 2017) as well as linking rape myth acceptance and hostile sexism to media consumption (Fox & Potocki, 2016;Hust, Rodgers, Ebreo, & Stefani, 2019).…”