Role of intolerant attitudes, beliefs, and rape proclivity in perpetration of sexual aggression

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study: It was the purpose of this study to examine the relationship between racism, sexism, homophobia, rape myth acceptance, and rape proclivity in prediction of level of sexual aggression perpetrated by college males. A sample of 492 male college students completed the Modified Sexual Experiences Survey (Koss & Gidycz, 1985), Attraction to Sexual Aggression Scale (Malamuth, 1989a), Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (Payne, Lonsway, & Fitzgerald, 1999), Neosexism Scale (Tougas, Brown, Beaton, & Joly, 1995), Modern and Old Fashioned Racism Scales (McConahay, 1986), and Modern Homophobia Scale (Raja & Stokes, 1998).

Findings and Conclusions: Results indicated that the linear combination of rape proclivity and rape myth acceptance significantly discriminated between three levels of perpetration. These findings point to the importance of rape proclivity when studying sexual aggression. Clinical and research implications are discussed.