Citation

Osman SL. J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 2003; 33(4): 683-692.

Affiliation

Psychology Department, Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD 21801. E-mail: slosman@salisbury.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1559-1816.2003.tb01919.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study tested men's perceptions of rape based on the belief that women use token resistance to sex-that they say "no" to sex when they really mean "yes." Participants were 131 male undergraduates who completed the Token Resistance to Sex scale and responded to evaluative statements regarding 1 of 3 scenarios: rape, consent, or ambiguous. Results supported the hypothesis that men with a weaker belief in token resistance would have stronger perceptions of rape when a woman said "no" to sex than when a woman said "yes," and that men with a stronger belief in token resistance would have weak perceptions of rape in both situations. These findings implicate miscommunication as a potential contributing factor in date rape.