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Predicting Men's Rape Perceptions Based on the Belief That “No” Really Means “Yes”
Author(s) -
Osman Suzanne L.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2003.tb01919.x
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , resistance (ecology) , perception , security token , social perception , developmental psychology , computer security , ecology , neuroscience , computer science , biology
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.