Citation

Orcutt JD, Faison R. Sociol. Q. 1988; 29(4): 589-604.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1988, Midwest Sociological Society, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between sex-role attitude change and female victims' reports of rape incidents to police in an analysis of time-series data from national attitude surveys of college freshmen and adults, and from annual victimization surveys. Declining support for traditional sex-role attitudes among both college women and men in strongly related to an increase in the proportion of rapes by nonstranger assailants that were reported to police from 1973 to 1985. However, victims' reports of rapes by strangers are more closely related to offenders' use of weapons during sexual assaults. These findings and other evidence against alternative explanations suggest that the cultural bases for "rape myths" have eroded during the 1970s and 1980s, and that broader definitions of rape have contributed to increased reporting of certain forms of sexual assault to police. (Abstract Adapted from Source: The Sociological Quarterly, 1988. Copyright © 1988 by the Midwest Sociological Society; the University of California Press)

1970s
1980s
Violence Against Women
Rape Myth
Rape Perceptions
Rape Reporting
Rape Supportive Attitudes
Rape Victim
Sexual Assault Perceptions
Sexual Assault Reporting
Sexual Assault Victim
College Student Research
Adult Female
Adult Male
Adult Perceptions
Adult Victim
Female Perceptions
Female Victim
Male Perceptions
Gender Role Attitudes
Adult Attitudes
Female Attitudes
Male Attitudes
Attitude Changes
Attitudes Toward Women
Attitudes Toward Violence
Attitudes Toward Victim
06-04