5.4.2: Attitudes About Marital Rape
- Page ID
- 63498
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)Previously we considered a study that used a survey of undergraduate students and alumni of a small liberal arts college. The goal of the survey was to learn what these groups thought about marital rape (Ferro et al. 2008). Recall that the survey consisted of short stories that described a rape scene that varied only the victim–offender relationship where some randomly selected participants had a vignette that described the offender as a neighbor, while the remaining participants had a story that described the offender as their spouse. The short narratives were rated by the participants using the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale which is designed to assess the participants’ acceptance of rape myths.
The concept of the rape myth is a complex set of cultural beliefs that support and perpetuate male sexual violence against women and deliberately obscure the true nature of rape (Payne et al. 1999). These myths include the idea that rape is impossible without the consent of the victim, that women “ask for rape,” and that rape is a result of uncontrollable male passions brought on by actions of the victim (Schwendinger and Schwendinger 1974; Brownmiller 1993).
The Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale is a measure that assesses how much an individual accepts rape myths. The assessment has three subcategories which assesses what conditions must be met for participants to refer to the situation as rape, the level of blame that can be attributed to the offender, and beliefs about the deviant nature of rape and rapists. The measurements are taken using a questionnaire where each question uses scale ranging from 1 (not at all agree) to 7 (very much agree) with hypothetical situations. When the questionnaire is finished, the final score can be computed by taking the sum or the average of the responses, either across all of the questions, or of the questions corresponding to each of the subcategories.
Because these scores are based on a Likert-type scale, the collected data and the associated sums or averages have an ordinal measurement scale. As we saw earlier in the chapter, one should be wary of studies that do these types of calculations without further justification. In this case the data is based on a well-established methodology that has been specifically designed to measure how much an individual accepts rape myths. That is, the validity of using this survey was specifically studied by the researchers who developed the method (Payne et al. 1999). We will study the issues that are relevant to this type of research later, but for the moment we will trust that this methodology has been thoroughly vetted and is acceptable as standard practice by the research community.