Factors That Make Acquaintance Rape Or Date Rape Likely
How can "nice" men with "good intentions" coerce someone to have sex? It is because men and women in the process of becoming social beings learn communication patterns that make acquaintance rape or date rape likely.
In our culture, men are taught to view women as either virtuous or sexually loose, which contributes to uncertainty about female desires. Men are taught to not take women seriously, that women do not really mean what they say. Young women are taught that males know more about sex than females, so the female should comply with the male’s demand. Both males and females feel certain behavior allows a man to force sex, such as the woman "leading the man on."
Eight percent of college men have either attempted or successfully raped. Thirty percent say they would rape if they could get away with it. When the wording was changed to “force a woman to have sex,” the number jumped to 58%. Worse still, 83.5% argue that “some women look like they are just asking to be raped.”
—Margo Maine, Ph.D. (Body Wars)
