What is a typical rape? Effects of victim and participant gender in female and male rape perception

The study had three research aims: (1) to examine the current perception of female rape. Given recent changes in public awareness of female rape, it was predicted that respondents would conceptualize a typical female rape as an acquaintance rape rather than as the stranger rape stereotype; (2) to examine whether these perceptions differ according to respondents' gender; (3) to examine the ‘cultural lag’ theory of male rape, where it was hypothesized that if the public perception of male rape lags behind female rape, then a typical male rape will be conceptualized as the classic stranger rape stereotype. Findings showed that contrary to predictions, a typical female rape was conceptualized according to the stranger rape stereotype. It was also found that instead of lagging behind female rape along the stranger ‐ acquaintance rape dimension, male rape was viewed predominantly in terms of ‘other’ factors (factors not found on the stranger ‐ acquaintance dimension, e.g. victim/rapist sexual orientation, rapist calls victim names), which were erroneous, sexualizing and homophobic.