Study finds one-third of college men would rape a woman if no one found out

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      A new study has found that one in three college-aged men admit they would rape a woman—as long as you don't call it rape and no one finds out.

      That's the finding from a team of researchers from the University of North Dakota, who surveyed 86 male college students about callous sexual attitudes, hypermasculinity, hostility towards women, and how those factors impact how they describe their own sexual behaviours.

      According to the paper, "Denying Rape but Endorsing Forceful Intercourse: Exploring Differences Among Responders", 31.7 percent of men surveyed admitted "they might use force to obtain intercourse" as long as "nobody would ever know and there wouldn't be any consequences". However, when specifically asked if they would rape a woman, 13.6 percent answered in the affirmative. 

      The paper found there are three general groups of men: those who are not sexual coercive, those who will use force to obtain sex but deny their actions constitute rape, and those who freely admit intentions to rape. Those who admitted they would use force showed high levels of callous sexual attitudes ("attitudes that objectify women and expect men to exhibit sexual dominance") but lower levels of hostility towards women than those men who admit having clear intentions to rape. This suggests that many college-aged men see sexual coersion as a normal or perhaps expected part of intercourse. As the researchers states, "The primary motivation in this case could be sexual gratification, accomplishment, and/or perceived compliance with sterotypical masculine gender norms."

      The most recent National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey found that nearly one in five U.S. women will be raped in her lifetime.

      Comments

      9 Comments

      Paul

      Jan 13, 2015 at 10:29pm

      That headline is sensational, and I call bullshit. For the record, you can count me in the 2/3rd's of this study. Like many I'm sure, I was initially horrified at such a number, but upon further reading I find this "study" was of a mere 86 "college men" at the U of North Dakota, of all places. North Dakota? Seriously? This could hardly be indicative of males across North America. The headline should read exactly what it is: 1/3 of every college men from North Dakota would rape a women if no one found out. The key to this study, and it's undoing might be the term "college men". We're talking about immature, sex crazed, hormonal, horny, dumb ass college (and American we should note)- men. Huh. Good study group. So, in the end this study suffers deeply from a serious lack of credibility, and seemingly trying to paint men (Canadians included, I assume since it's here on a Canadian news site) with the same brush, which is so very lame. Frankly, I'm surprised this got past the editor.

      Strange

      Jan 14, 2015 at 1:40am

      How many comments have you deleted from this article?
      This goes to the heart of what is wrong with our society today; there is no open debate.

      This is, essentially, nothing more than hatred of the method by which every other vertebrate species breeds. Obviously in society we do not act merely like animals, but to avoid the discussion, especially in light of the ecological movement, etc. is ridiculous. "We're polluted the planet with artificial compounds and artificial light! But I am sure that has nothing to do with our artificial constraints on reproduction!" Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. But we'll never know, because these sorts of things cannot really be discussed in the public domain. At best we will get talk from Paul refuting the study, without characterizing the philosophical basis on which the study stands.

      Martin Dunphy

      Jan 14, 2015 at 2:16am

      Strange:

      Thanks for the post. One comment was deleted because of racist content and link. This post and link had been previously deleted from elsewhere on this site.
      One response to the post was also deleted because it had no context after the original was gone.
      This has nothing to do with "open debate", unless you consider that it is necessary to engage with racists to have such debates.
      The <em>Straight</em>'s policy is not to allow racist comments on this site.

      @Martin Dunphy

      Jan 14, 2015 at 3:28am

      IIRC there was an earlier one that said something about "Society" and "Rape" and "Curriculum." I don't obsessively take screenshots or anything, but I am pretty sure it was approved, then removed.

      Miranda Nelson

      Jan 14, 2015 at 12:02pm

      Racism is a system of societal organization in which one or more races is held to be superior to others, thereby enjoying greater privilege in society.

      Racists are people who hold and spread those beliefs.

      Yes, it is racist to say that.

      Have a nice day.

      @Miranda Nelson

      Jan 14, 2015 at 1:33pm

      So for you it's just a matter of which "rape culture" to selectively criticize then. Just goes to show that you and your ilk don't give a damn about any of the victims if it doesn't fit your narrative.

      p.s. By your above definition, Al Sharpton is one of the biggest racists of all!

      Monkey Prince

      Jan 14, 2015 at 1:48pm

      Third-wave feminists would rather ignore the fact that .5% of the population of Rotherham, UK, was sexually abused, with local police and government attempting to cover it up for years for political reason. The abuse wasn't committed by white men so it should be filtered out by the media in favor of statistically invalid studies like this "one in three" paper (or outright fraud like the UVA).

      not surprised

      Jan 14, 2015 at 2:55pm

      What was the results when they asked the women?

      Senior woman

      Jan 17, 2015 at 9:35am

      I totally believe the statistics in the ND study of 1 in 3. Why? Because I totally believe the statistic that 1 in 5 women will be raped. In fact, it is probably low. Why do I believe this? Because as a senior woman, I have never met another woman who was NOT sexually harassed at some point in their life (including my mother and daughter). Yes, I understand that sexual harassment is not rape. But it is only through constant vigilance and awareness that women avoid rape throughout their lives. Constant. Ergo, that one in five is probably low.