Abstract
Abstract
Much of the previous research on rape scripts suggests that the “typical” rape script involves a female victim and a male perpetrator. The idea of a male victim, therefore, is missing from this “typical” rape script, despite the fact that sexual assault can be perpetrated by or against members of both sexes. This study compared the scripts individuals hold for rape involving male and female victims by specifically asking participants (72 men and 66 women) to write two scripts based on the sex of the victim. Results indicated that in both types of scripts, a “typical” rape consisted of an event that involved one male assailant, who had some degree of previous interaction with the victim; a victim who had been drinking; the use of physical force by the assailant; and lead to negative psychological consequences for the victim. Some key differences were a greater focus on the role of alcohol and the victim's behavior in the rape scripts involving female victims and an emphasis on the victim not reporting and inclusion of the use of sexual coercion tactics by female perpetrators in the rape scripts involving male victims. Implications are discussed with respect to understanding societal and cultural influences on rape scripts and suggestions for prevention education.
Introduction
A comparison of rape scripts involving a male or female victim
Over the past several years, sexual violence has received increased societal attention. Movements, such as #MeToo, have highlighted the number of individuals that are impacted by sexual violence. Although some men have come forward, their experiences as victims are not common in our narrative. Despite the recognition that sexual assault can be perpetrated by and against members of both sexes, the sexual victimization of men has been largely overlooked, until more recently (Stemple and Meyer 2014; Turchik and Edwards 2012). Prevalence estimates of sexual assault among men range from 1% to 14%, and even go as high as 27%, if the definition includes verbal coercion (Elliott et al. 2004; Peterson et al. 2011; Tjaden and Thoennes 2000).
To continue to expand our understanding of sexual violence, a further understanding of individuals' underlying conceptualization of male sexual assault is warranted. The beliefs and stereotypes associated with incidences of rape influence how people think about sexual violence, including whether they identify an incident as sexual assault (Peterson and Muehlenhard 2004) and attribution of blame (Davies and McCartney 2003), which in turn influence a survivor's decision to report (Pino and Meier 1999), juries' willingness to convict (Burt and Albin 1981), and the likelihood that bystanders will intervene (McMahon 2010). To more effectively address how individuals and society respond to the needs of all victims, a shift away from the gendered framework of male perpetrator–female victim is needed (Walfield 2018).
How individuals understand and label sexual experiences, including unwanted sexual experiences, are influenced by the sexual scripts that they hold (Littleton and Axsom 2003). Scripts serve as cognitive structures that guide behavior in social situations (Schank and Abelson 1977); they convey what individuals expect to “normally” occur during an event. More specifically, a rape script includes information about the nature and parameters of events that are expected within a rape including the characteristics and conduct of the perpetrator and victim (Crome and McCabe 2001). Rape scripts often incorporate rape myths, which are “prejudicial, stereotyped or false beliefs about rape, rape victims, and rapist” (Burt 1980, p. 217). Previous research has noted that one's rape script can influence a number of processes and behaviors such as perceptions of sexual intent (Lenton and Bryan 2005), the types of precautionary and resistance behaviors employed (Hickman and Muehlenhard 1997; Norris et al. 1996), victim blame (Frese et al. 2004), and the labeling of experiences of unwanted sex (Bondurant 2001; Kahn et al. 1994).
Research on rape scripts has predominantly focused on male-on-female rape (Littleton 2011; Ryan 2011). The results of these studies often indicate a mismatch between what is defined as a “typical” rape and the reality of the majority of women who experience rape. One of the earliest rape script studies by Ryan (1988) noted that when participants were asked to generate a “typical” rape script, the scripts generated resembled a blitz rape, that is, a rape involving a stranger who was a crazed male, attacking a woman outdoors, at night, in a sudden and physically violent attack. Subsequent work noted that other key features of the typical rape script include the assailant's use of physical force and the victim's use of active resistance, as well as the victim suffering from negative psychological consequences as a result of the rape. These elements are often referred to as the “real rape” script (Davies et al. 2013; Krahé et al. 2007; Littleton and Dodd 2016).
More recent scripting studies have noted that among college-aged samples there is evidence of two other scripts for what constitutes the typical rape, in addition to the continued presence of the “real rape” script (Carroll and Clark 2006; Clark and Carroll 2008; Littleton and Dodd 2016; Littleton et al. 2009). The first of these is the “party rape” script—this script often involves acquaintances or individuals who met that night, occurs at a party or bar, with heavy alcohol use present. The other rape script is the “date rape” or “mismatched intention” script—this script generally involves a man and woman on a traditional date, each having differing sexual expectations, with the man expecting sex to be part of the date. In addition, some level of consensual sexual activity is often found within this script type.
In many of the previous scripting studies, the sex of the victim is never specified as part of the scripting instructions. As such, without specific prompting, participants default to the “typical” rape script as involving sexual violence by a man against a woman. Thus, to examine rape scripts with a male victim, specific instructions prompting for the sex of the victim, to include male victims, must be provided to participants. Although the study of scripts identifying both male and female victims is tremendously important, those identifying male victims are scarce, with only two studies to date explicitly examining rape scripts involving a male victim (Anderson 2007; Davies et al. 2013). Consistent with previous scripting literature, these studies found that rape scripts involving a male victim also contained elements of the “real rape” script—that is the rape involved an attack by a stranger, there was physical force, and the male victim actively resisted. In addition, they found that these rape scripts incorporated various male rape myths. In particular, myths related to sexual orientation (e.g., rapist and/or victim are homosexual) and traditional views of masculinity (e.g., victim must be smaller/weaker than assailant) were most frequently noted in these two previous studies.
Although these studies provided an initial exploration of the nature of rape scripts involving a male victim, they were limited in scope. For example, Anderson (2007) used composite scores to compare the incorporation of a real rape stereotype to an acquaintance rape stereotype in the rape scripts associated with female and male victims, limiting an exploration of the types of elements contained in these scripts. Davies et al. (2013) specified the sex of the perpetrator (i.e., male), as opposed to leaving that open to the participants to fill in as part of their script, thereby ignoring the reality of female perpetrators.
As such, this study sought to extend these initial explorations to further develop the understanding of the underlying conceptualization of male rape. Specifically, participants were asked to write both male and female rape scripts (i.e., descriptions of what happens in a typical rape involving a male and female victim). Given the greater focus on female rape in societal discussions of sexual assault, it was predicted that the scripts involving a female victim would be more developed than those involving a male victim. In addition, it was expected that although both types of rape scripts would contain stereotypical elements (e.g., male perpetrator, stranger, physical force used, and active resistance), rape scripts involving a male victim would be more likely to focus on these stereotypic elements than the female victim scripts, which were expected to include elements of the party and date rape scripts. Furthermore, both types of rape scripts were expected to incorporate rape myths unique to male and female rape. For example, it was expected that female victim scripts would incorporate victim blaming elements related to the female victim's style of dress or degree of active resistance, whereas male victim scripts would include elements related to sexual orientation and traditional views of masculinity (e.g., a focus on the victim being weaker).
In addition to comparing the scripts based on victim sex (i.e., male or female victim), a secondary goal of this study was to explore gender differences in perceptions of what constitutes a typical male and female rape. On the one hand, previous scripting research has found significant overlap in the sexual scripts written by women and men (Bartoli and Clark 2006; Clark and Carroll 2008; Davies et al. 2013; Lenton and Bryan 2005). This is likely because of the shared societal experiences that women and men are exposed to within the collective life of a culture (Crome and McCabe 2001; Simon and Gagnon 1987).
However, reflective of the differing socialization experiences of women and men, previous research also points to notable differences in the underlying beliefs regarding rape held by women and men. For example, men endorse more rape myths than women (Carroll et al. 2016; Chapleau et al. 2007; Davies et al. 2012) and are more likely to blame the victim (Davies et al. 2012; White and Kurpius 2002) while attributing less blame to the assailant (Kahn et al. 2011). Clark and Carroll (2008) found in their examination of acquaintance rape scripts that women were more likely to include themes focusing on the female victim's emotional experiences and men included more themes related to blaming the victim and themes related to a false allegation of rape. In her study of male and female rape scripts, Anderson (2007) found that whereas men were more likely to include features of the classic rape stereotype in scripts involving a male victim, women were more likely to include these stereotypic features in scripts involving a female victim. Davies et al. (2013), which may have primed participants to produce more stereotypical rape scripts by identifying the assailant as male, found that men were more likely identify the assailant as a stranger, to note that the motivation for the assailant was power and control, and to believe serious injury to the victim was more likely to be associated with a female victim.
Based on these findings, it was predicted that participant gender would influence the elements included in the rape scripts involving a male and female victim. For example, it was expected that men would be more likely to identify a stranger assailant and to include victim-blaming themes, whereas female participants would be more likely to include themes focusing on the victim's emotional experiences.
Method
Participants
The participants included a total of 138 students (72 men and 66 women) enrolled in 2 core psychology courses at the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point. The participants were first- and third-year college students (age range, 17–24 years, mean = 19.78, standard deviation [SD] = 1.43); all participants received extra credit for their participation. Reflective of the demographics of the institution, the majority of the participants were White (59.4%); other ethnicities represented included Asian (14.5%), African American (10.9%), Hispanic (6.5%), Native American (4.3%), and other (4.3%).
Materials and procedure
Participants were recruited through an on-line subject pool management system to take part in a study about how individuals conceptualize sexual assault. Participants participated in small groups of up to 12 participants. Participants were informed that their responses would be anonymous and confidential. All participants signed an informed consent form that was kept separate from their other materials. Each participant used their personal laptop to access a link to the study that was administered using an on-line survey program (i.e., Qualtics).
Employing the standard methodology utilized in scripting research, participants were asked to write two narratives: (1) a description of a “typical” rape when the victim is a woman and (2) a description of a “typical” rape when the victim is a man (Davies et al. 2013; Littleton and Axsom 2003; Ryan 1988). Specifically, for each narrative, they were asked to write a description of what happens before, during, and after a typical rape. They were asked to describe as many characteristics of both the victim and the perpetrator as possible, including their thoughts and feelings. To counterbalance the order of presentation, half the participants were asked to describe a rape involving a female victim first and the other half to describe a scenario involving a male victim first. They were instructed that they had up to 20 min to complete each task.
Results
Content analysis and analytic plan
A total of 276 rape narratives were generated by the participants (138 female victim narratives, 138 male victim narratives). A narrative was excluded from content analysis if the participant failed to specify one clear script (i.e., they wrote multiple scripts), resulting in 17 narratives being excluded (7 female victim narratives and 10 male victim narratives). As such, there were a total of 259 narratives coded (131 female victim narratives and 128 male victim narratives).
Consistent with previous research (e.g., Littleton and Dodd 2016; Littleton et al. 2009), a multistep process was used for coding each rape narrative. First, each narrative was coded for the presence of common elements. The elements were derived from those used by Davies et al. (2013), along with additional elements identified in previous scripting research (e.g., Carroll and Clark 2006; Clark and Carroll 2008; Littleton and Axsom 2003). This resulted in each narrative being coded for 27 elements that were grouped into three categories: pre-event elements (i.e., characteristics related to the victim and perpetrator, setting), during the event elements, and postevent elements. Next, the first author reviewed each narrative to identify a list of potential script types, through the examination of the identified elements, and derived from previous scripting research (e.g., Carroll and Clark 2006; Littleton and Dodd 2016). Each narrative was then coded for the presence of each identified script type. After this initial coding, the second author blindly coded 20 female victim narratives and 20 male victim narratives to obtain an estimate of interrater reliability; interrater agreement on the coded narratives was 95%.
We utilized two basic methods of analysis to determine the effect of victim sex and participant sex on the length and content of the rape narratives. First, 2 (victim sex) × 2 (participants' sex) analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted to examine the effect of victim sex and participant sex on script length and level of detail. Script length and level of detail were assessed by calculating the number of words within each narrative, along with the number of elements present, respectively. Second, a series of 2 (victim sex) × 2 (participants' sex) logit loglinear analyses were conducted to explore whether the frequency of the identified elements present in each rape narrative differ due to victim sex or participant sex (Table 1). Finally, the frequency of each script type, along with the identified elements within each script type, were compared based on the sex of the victim (i.e., male victim narrative vs. female victim narrative).
Frequency of Elements Included in Rape Narratives as a Function of Script Type and Participant Sex
p < 0.05.
p < 0.01.
p < 0.001.
Script length and level of detail
The analysis of whether the length of each script was influenced by victim sex and participant sex showed a main effect for victim sex, F(1, 136) = 17.59, p < 0.001,
Similarly, the ANOVA examining the level of detail in scripts (measured as number of elements present in the narrative) as a function of victim sex and participant sex showed a main effect for victim sex, F(1, 136) = 29.94, p < 0.001,
These quantitative differences in script length and detail were also reflected in the qualitative comments included by participants. Specifically, in writing their narratives for a rape involving a male victim, participants were more likely to include statements pertaining to a lack of knowledge about male rape or the belief that male rape rarely occurs. This was displayed in comments such as:
Typically when you hear about a rape victim, it's usually not a male therefore this is far more difficult to put a story to a typical rape incident.—Male, 18 years The rape of a man by a woman seems to be odd, usually seeing it happens the other way around.—Male, 18 years Okay, now that the victim is a woman, I have an easier time imagining what a rape situation looks like.—Female, 21 years
Comparison of elements included in narratives
Table 1 summarizes the frequency of each element within each type of narrative by participant gender. All comparisons with significance levels <0.05 are noted. This section will focus on summarizing the main differences observed, along with excerpts from the narratives to provide qualitative depth to the analysis.
There were both commonalities and differences between the elements included in the rape narratives involving male victims and female victims. Across both types of narratives, the assailant was most often identified as a man, there was one assailant with some degree of previous relationship with the victim, the event occurred at night, and the victim was noted to be smaller or weaker than the assailant. However, in addition to these commonalities, there were interesting qualitative differences.
Assailant and victim characteristics
Within the female victim rape scripts, the narratives were written with the assumption that the assailant was a man. The possibility of a female perpetrator was only mentioned once in the female victim narratives, with a note that this would only occur within a prison context. However, the male victim narratives frequently began with a discussion of the assailant's sex with participants providing their rationale for why they assumed the assailant had to be a man. For example,
When I think of a man getting raped, I believe it is a rape that involves another man, who out of his own perversion, forced himself upon another man to get his pleasure. I doubt women purposely go out of their way to rape men. To me, that is highly unlikely.
When a man is a victim of sexual assault, he is usually homosexual and raped by another homosexual man.—Male, 20 years When the rape of a man comes to mind, I can only see another male as the main perpetrator. A female, most often than not (unless in the case of pedophilia) cannot overpower a man.—Female, 20 years In a scenario in which a man is raped, I believe there has to exist some hyper-masculine environment (the military, a fraternity, etc., prison). The rape will almost always be man-on-man (as a man would not be likely to turn down sex with a female, and if he did would have the physical power to stop her).—Male, 20 years
Although the idea that men cannot be raped by a woman, either because of the belief that men would never turn down sex or would be unable to be physically overpowered by a woman, contributed to the identification of a man as the assailant in male victim scripts, approximately a third of the male victim narratives identified the assailant to be a woman. Consistent with the belief that a woman is incapable of physically overpowering a man, the use of coercive methods, such as using her position of authority, threatening to reveal personally damaging information about the victim, or questioning his manhood, were prominent in the male rape scripts involving a female assailant. For example,
When I think of a rape case involving a male, I typically think of the rapist as being a female that has some type of power over the male, either by job position or financially… The female realizes that because she has the power over the male, the male may be more inclined to go along with the rape in an attempt to possibly seek some type of benefit, such as a promotion or an increase in pay.—Male, 19 years She would verbally persuade him to do it by insulting him or saying “if you don't have sex with me then...” and follow with a minor threat or something that takes a stab at his ego.—Female, 19 years
Additional elements related to the description of the victim or the assailant that were more commonly found in male victim narratives included the victim being less than the age of 18 (only found in the male victim narratives), the assailant being more than the age of 25, the presence of more than one assailant, and the rape occurring in prison or as part of a hazing incident. Male victim narratives were more likely to make note of an age discrepancy between the victim and the assailant. This was connected to the idea of the male victim being smaller or weaker than the assailant:
The typical rape of a male is usually an older male with a younger male who either does not understand what is happening or is too weak to defend himself.—Male, 20 years Statistically, I know that the amount of woman on man rape cases are very rare. From watching shows like Law and Order SVU, the only typical case that comes to mind is and older woman and a younger man.—Female, 20 years
Reporting
Male victim narratives also differed from female victim narratives in whether the victim elected to report or tell anyone about the rape. When the victim was a woman, the percentage of narratives that noted that she would report the rape was similar to the percentage of narratives that explicitly noted that she would not report the rape (25.19% and 28.24%, respectively). However, when the victim was a man, we found that 51.56% of participants explicitly stated that the victim would not report the incident compared with only 7.81% who stated the male victim would report the incident. Prominent in the reasons given for a male victim not reporting included concerns about being perceived as weak, of not being believed, and of having one's sexuality and/or masculinity questioned:
Josh knew he couldn't tell anyone about this. It would make him seem weak and he knew his friends would question his sexuality, so he kept quiet. He knew that if he told someone and people find out they would perceive him as weak and submissive and his manhood would forever be in question.—Female, 20 years The idea of a man getting raped is laughable to most people because the man is having sex so he should be happy. This is why a lot of men don't come forward or tell anyone they've been raped because of the fear of shame from their peers. It is hard for someone to believe that a man could even physically be raped so men often don't have their voice heard in the public.—Male, 18 years
Impact of assault
Although the narratives involving a male and female victim differed in the likelihood of the victim reporting, they did not differ in the idea that the unwanted sexual experience was distressing to the victim. Roughly the same percentage of narratives involving a male victim and female victim (66.41% and 67.94%, respectively) noted that the experience was distressing to the victim, who continued to suffer from the emotional effects of the incident in the future:
She does not want to open up to anyone because that vulnerability brings back memories of when she was vulnerable and someone took advantage of her. She falls into depression because she feels like no one can relate to her and feels that no one will accept her when they know the truth.—Male, 20 years How could a man let a woman rape him? This thought bothered John a lot. He was raped, but he couldn't believe it. He felt like a lesser person. He's never told anyone about it, and it has been eating him from inside ever since.—Male, 22 years
Victim behavior
Compared with the narratives involving a male victim, the narratives involving a female victim were more likely to include descriptions of the victim's attire as being revealing or dressed to impress and to place the incident as beginning at a party or a bar. Relatedly, it was more common for the female victim narratives to describe the victim as drinking or being drunk compared with the male victim narratives. Furthermore, it was frequently noted that the female victim was unconscious or incapable of fighting back because of the degree of incapacitation as a result of alcohol or drugs:
As far as the women in college, many students go to parties and get absurdly intoxicated and that is when women can become targets for rape. Whether she has been drinking too much or she got slipped a drug she is going to wake up unaware of anything that happened.—Male, 20 years She has a few drinks, loses track of her friends, and becomes incomprehensible. Perhaps she passed out in a back room or bath room or even awake but unable to communicate properly due to intoxication. During this time, she may either witness her attacker, see only glimpses (in and out of consciously) or simple wake up in an unfamiliar place with some or no clothes and the disgusting feeling of being used.—Female, 19 years
Resistance
The narratives for female and male victims also differed in the inclusion of elements related to the use of verbal or physical resistance by the victim. Both forms of resistance were more prevalent in narratives describing a woman victim compared with narratives where a man was the victim.
Participant sex differences
As indicated in Table 1, there were few differences in the elements included by male and female participants in the narratives and no significant interactions between participant sex and type of narrative (i.e., male victim or female victim narrative). Although both male and female participants were more likely to identify the assailant as someone known to the victim, male participants produced more stranger scripts and were more likely to describe the assailant as mentally ill or deviant in some way. In addition, male participants were more likely to include that the assailant received sexual satisfaction from the rape. The narratives of female participants were more likely to include a progression of events as they were more likely to include elements related to consensual activity (e.g., petting or kissing) transpiring before the rape, the use of verbal coercion by the assailant, and the victim verbally resisting or screaming. In addition, female participants were more likely than male participants to note that the victim had been drinking or was drunk.
Types of rape scripts
The two most frequently produced rape scripts were the “real rape” script and the “party rape” script. The sex of the victim influenced the frequency of the type of script described, χ2 (3, N = 256) = 42.84, p < 0.001. The “real rape” script was the most frequently occurring script involving a male victim, although there was no difference in the frequency of this script in the narratives involving male and female victims (34.4% and 35.1%, respectively). However, the most frequently occurring script for female victims was the “party rape” script, accounting for 45.8% of female victim narratives compared with 15.6% of male victim narratives. A sexual coercion script was the third most commonly described script in the male victim narratives (16.4%); but was only included in three of the female victim narratives. Consistent with the relatively few differences observed in analyses of the narrative elements, participant's sex did not influence the type of rape script depicted: χ2 (2, N = 194) = 5.33, p = 0.07.
To examine the specific elements associated with each script type, all elements present in at least 20% of the male or female narratives were identified (Tables 2–4). Overall, as seen in Table 2, the “real rape” script involved a lone male assailant, who attacks the victim at night, using physical force to overpower the victim who is described to be smaller and weaker than the assailant. The victim physically resists, often sustaining additional physical injuries, and then experiences long-term psychological effects (e.g., depression, lack of trust, and impaired social relationships). The motivation of the attack is perceived to be power and control. These narratives included either the assailant being unknown to the victim or having some degree of previous relationship, as illustrated in the following excerpts:
Elements Present in the “Real Rape” Script for Female Victim and Male Victim Narratives
Elements Present in the “Party Rape” Script for Female Victim and Male Victim Narratives
Elements Present in the “Sexual Coercion” Script for Male Victim Narratives
In a rape where the woman is the victim I picture it happening outside in a secluded area like a park or walkway at night time. Before the rape I imagine that the rapist is lying in wait somewhere and I imagine that the victim is alone. … When the rape begins to happen I imagine that the rapist would jump out from wherever he was hiding, grab the victim, and then drag her off of the trail or walkway they were on into a less visible spot. I imagine that the victim tries to fight back but that the rapist is physically stronger than the victim and that the rapist also has a weapon that they threaten to kill the victim with if they don't stop fighting. I imagine that the rapist is feeling a thrill while dragging the victim off and also has a feeling of excitement because he is about to get a release. I imagine that the victim is just absolutely terrified at what is happening and scared for their life.—Male, 18 years
Before the attack, the assailant and the victim have had conflict before. The assailant wants to have complete dominance over the victim. The assailant will ensure that victim is by himself before acting. At first, the victim will fight in order to escape or defeat the opponent. The victim will realize that he cannot escape or defeat the opponent and once overpowered, will feel helpless. The victim will attempt to resist for short bursts only to be overpowered again. Once the rape has occurred, the assailant will make threats of harm against the victim or his family in order to prevent word of the crime from getting out.—Male, 20 years
The key elements of the “party rape” script are given in Table 3. These narratives often began at a party or bar. Although physical force appeared in some of the narratives, the primary strategy used by the assailant to target the victim was using alcohol or drugs to incapacitate the victim before the rape. In female victim narratives, the assailant was always identified as a man, whereas in male victim narratives, the assailant was most frequently a woman. It was noted that because a woman would not be able to physically overpower a man, alcohol or drugs would have to be used to place the male victim in a vulnerable position. This is reflected in the following excerpts:
Female rapists who want to take advantage of men can't just physically overpower them, so they would probably have to go out, and the female would get the man drunk. that way, when she makes her move, the guy would be too drunk to stop it.—Male, 22 years
The woman is typically bigger than the man, in either height or weight department, or possibly both. The mindset of the women is that she is interested in the man and will try to use alcohol to be the bridge between them, and to try to get the man intoxicated to the point where his judgement lapses or that he even may pass out, and at that point she will use that inebriated state to take advantage of the man to get what she wants.—Male, 21 years
As noted previously, the “sexual coercion” script was essentially only found in the male victim narratives (Table 4). In these scripts, the assailant, predominantly a woman, uses nonphysical tactics to coerce the male victim into sex. The tactics included using a position of authority, threats of disclosing information about the man, taunts about the man's “manhood,” or threats to the relationship status. The man is noted to “give in” to these tactics, although he is distressed about the encounter. This script is exemplified in the following excerpts:
When I think of a rape case involving a male, I typically think of the rapist as being a female that has some type of power over the male, either by job position or financially. In a typical male rape case, I would imagine that before the rape, the female has an idea of what she wants the male to do, but the male is not following what she wants. The female realizes that because she has the power over the male, the male may be more inclined to go along with the rape in an attempt to possibly seek some type of benefit, such as a promotion or an increase in pay.—Male, 20 years She is constantly watching and stalking him in pursue for the right time to strike. The boy however has heard rumors that she likes him but is not interested so he does not pursue back. After some time the girl finds some kind of dirt of substance that he would not want released to the public. The girl approaches the boy with news that she knows something private/personal. The boy is interested in what it is and follows the girl. The girl says what she knows and says she won't tell anyone on one condition, if she has sex with him. The boy does so out of shame and public scrutiny.—Male, 21 years
Discussion
The results of this study not only show consistency with findings from previous literature, but also diverge in interesting ways. As predicted, overall, rape scripts involving a female victim were more developed than those involving a male victim. Specifically, female victim scripts were longer in length (i.e., more words) and more detailed (i.e., incorporated more elements) than male victim scripts. Relatedly, male victim scripts were more likely to include statements regarding participants' lack of knowledge about male rape or the belief that male rape rarely occurs. These findings are consistent with the invisibility and marginalization of male rape in societal discussions (Cohen 2014; Turchik and Edwards 2012). The empirical study of sexual violence against men has lagged behind the work conducted on sexual violence against women, although it is beginning to garner increased attention beyond prevalence studies (Lowe and Rogers 2017). In addition, media reports of male rape are infrequent and when it is reported or depicted, “it is often done so in a way that promotes stereotyped views of male rape with rape occurring only in certain settings and involving certain types of people” (Turchik and Edwards 2012, p. 215). For example, fictional depictions of male rape are commonly shown in prison settings or with homosexual or deviant perpetrators. Within our study, we saw the presence of these stereotyped views, as the elements of occurring within a prison and homosexuality were only found in male victim scripts.
Given the lack of knowledge about male rape, it is suggested that individuals use their female victim scripts as a template for constructing the components of male victim scripts. As such, when examining the most frequently occurring elements in both types of scripts, we see common elements across these scripts. Specifically, when participants conceptualized the “typical” rape, regardless of the sex of the victim, it was an event that involved one male assailant, who had some degree of previous interaction with the victim, a victim who had been drinking, the use of physical force by the assailant, and resulted in negative psychological consequences for the victim.
The commonality observed in the rape narratives, regardless of the sex of the victim, is consistent with the idea that rape scripts are influenced by cultural, social, and individual experiences. Cultural scripts reflect beliefs that are part of the collective life of a culture, such as media effects and cultural norms and expectations (Gagnon 1990). Crome and McCabe (2001) argued, in the absence of direct experience with sexual violation, most people will rely on cultural scripts. This reliance on cultural rape scripts may also influence the relatively few sex differences we found in the rape scripts generated by the women and men in this study.
Consistent with our predictions, rape narratives involving a male and female victim both included elements of what has been defined as the “real rape” script—that is, the assailant's use of physical force and the victim actively resisting (both verbally and physically), resulting in negative psychological consequences for the victim (Davies et al. 2013; Krahé et al. 2007; Littleton and Dodd 2016). However, contrary to previous findings, there was a greater emphasis on some degree of previous interaction between the victim and the assailant. Only 15.3% of the female victim scripts and 10.9% of the male victim scripts noted the assailant to be a stranger. These percentages are more in line with the reality of the majority of sexual assaults where the assailant is known to the victim. For example, data from the National Crime Victimization Survey reported that for college-aged women, the assailant was known to the victim in ∼80% of rape and sexual assaults (Sinozich and Langton 2014).
Alcohol was also featured prominently, especially within the rape scripts involving a female victim. This finding is in line with recent scripting literature that has found that, among college-aged samples, the “party rape” script, which places the event as occurring within the context of a party or at a bar and a victim who has been drinking, is the most frequently described (Littleton and Dodd 2016; Littleton et al. 2009). However, an aspect that differed from the previous literature was the inclusion of the element of the victim being unconscious or incapable of responding or physically resisting because of the effect of alcohol or a drug that was slipped to the victim. For example, Littleton and Dodd (2016) noted in their study of the rape scripts of European and African American college women that very few participants explicitly discussed the possibility of the victim being assaulted while unconscious or incapacitated. However, in our study, 42% of the female victim scripts and 23.4% of the male victim scripts included this element, with this being more common than any other form of resistance offered by the victim.
A possible explanation for the greater emphasis of the impact of alcohol within the female victim scripts in this study is a growing awareness of the role of alcohol in sexual assaults. The frequency of this script in this study is in line with the reality of the experiences of college-aged women. For example, Littleton et al. (2009) found that 62% of victims reported some degree of impairment by alcohol during their assault, with 21% reporting they were incapacitated at the time. Media portrayals of this reality have also increased as seen in the popular series “13 Reasons Why” and high-profile court cases such as the Stanford University case (People of the State of California v. Brock Allen Turner). Furthermore, the role of alcohol in sexual assaults has been incorporated in many sexual assault prevention programs (Vladutiu et al. 2011). For example, it is a central theme in the sexual assault and prevention education that the military academy participants of this study receive (Rosenstein et al. 2018). As a result of Department of Defense (DoD) requirements, all military service academies are directed to have a sexual assault and harassment education program. At USMA, these programs begin during cadet basic training, which takes place in the summer before their first year and continues throughout their time at USMA.
Based on the previous literature that prominent male rape myths include the ideas that male rape is associated with homosexuality and that a man cannot be raped by a woman (Davies and McCartney 2003; Turchik and Edwards 2012), it was expected that the rape scripts involving a male victim would incorporate these themes. Consistent with this prediction, the most common male victim rape script was the “real rape” script that only identified a male perpetrator, with many narratives noting that the perpetrator “had” to be a man since a woman would be unable to overpower a man. In addition, the element of homosexuality was only included in the rape narratives involving male victims.
However, although male victim scripts were more likely to identify a man as the perpetrator, the finding that 30.7% of the male rape scripts identified the assailant as a woman was unexpected. Anderson (2007), the one other study of male rape scripts that left it open to the participant to identify the sex of the assailant, found that only 8% of the male victim scripts identified a female assailant and almost exclusively within a stranger rape script. One possible explanation for the participants identifying a female assailant within male victim scripts is these scripts incorporate a heteronormative definition of rape that defines rape as an event that involves penis-vaginal penetration (Stemple and Meyer 2014). As such, based on this definition, if the prompt identified the victim as a man, the other participant involved would have to be a woman.
However, although nearly a third of the male victim narratives identified a woman as the assailant, a female assailant was only present in either the “party rape” or “sexual coercion” scripts. Within these scripts, because a woman is believed to be incapable of physically overpowering a man, she must use some other tactic, such as the use of alcohol or verbal coercion, to gain an advantage over the male victim. In this study, the use of verbal coercion by the assailant was more likely in the male victim narratives, with the female assailant using her position of authority or threatening to reveal personally damaging information about the victim to obtain sex from the male victim.
The underreporting of sexual assault incidents is a widely recognized barrier to survivors receiving care and to prosecuting assaults (Sable et al. 2006; Zinzow and Thompson 2011). The findings from this study point to the concerning observation that not reporting is a prominent aspect of the rape scripts involving male victims. In this study, only 7.8% of the male victim narratives noted that the male victim reported the incident to anyone. This figure is consistent with the findings of Davies et al. (2013) that 8% of the male rape scripts indicated the male victim reported.
However, potentially more concerning is that more than half of the rape scripts for male victims explicitly noted that the victim did not report what happened to him. The common reasons given for the man not coming forward were related to concerns about being perceived as weak, worries that others would question his sexuality or see him as less of a “man,” and the belief that he would not be believed or taken seriously. This finding is consistent with data that men are less likely than women to report experiences of sexual assault (Pino and Meier 1999; Weiss 2010). For example, within the military, whereas it was estimated that 43% of female victims reported their assault, it was estimated that only 17% of male victims reported (Department of Defense 2016).
Our finding that male victims are not expected to report a sexual assault may serve as a barrier to reporting, even among men who identify their experience as sexual assault. Even if men recognize what happened to them as sexual assault, if the expectation is that men do not report, rape survivors may be less likely to come forward. This expectation may be connected to the socialization experiences of men which communicate the message that men do not/should not talk about or express negative emotion (other than anger) (Brody and Hall 2008) or express signs of weakness (Vogel et al. 2011). It is noteworthy that there was no difference between the scripts involving male and female victims in identifying that the victim experienced negative psychological effects following the event. As such, participants recognized that sexual assault is distressing to both men and women. However, for the men described in these scripts, the focus was on them dealing with it on their own.
Consistent with previous scripting research (Bartoli and Clark 2006; Clark and Carroll 2008; Davies et al. 2013; Lenton and Bryan 2005), there was considerable overlap in the elements generated by male and female respondents. The similarity in the elements included is likely reflective of the influence of the collective life of a culture (e.g., media exposure and educational practices) that shape the cultural scripts that people apply to their conceptualization of male and female rape (Crome and McCabe 2001).
Despite this considerable overlap, a few notable differences emerged. For example, male respondents were more likely to include the elements that the assailant was a stranger, mentally ill, and received sexual satisfaction from the incident, whereas female respondents were more likely to include details about the interaction between the victim and assailant. Specifically, women were more likely to note that consensual activity occurred before the incident, verbal coercion was used, the victim had been drinking, and the victim verbally resisted/screamed during the incident.
Implications
The findings of this study, and other more recent scripting studies, indicate that rape scripts are changing to some extent, although they still contain elements that fail to match the sexual assault experiences of many women and men. For example, although the “real rape” script remains a prominent conceptualization of the “typical rape,” there is a greater recognition of assailants who are known to the victim and the role of alcohol. The changes may be a reflection of the greater cultural discussion about sexual assault that has led to a reduction in some of the factual inaccuracies that were once prevalent in rape myths. However, as McMahon and Farmer (2011) proposed, more subtle rape myths continue to persist, especially related to victim blaming.
Analysis of these scripts offers insight into how college students conceptualize sexual violence, and rape in particular. The frequently identified elements indicate commonly held views and can provide educators guidance in identifying common misconceptions, points of confusion, and topics needing attention. For instance, the heteronormativity in the female victim scripts (i.e., the absence of female assailants) suggests an area for conversation, as victims of woman-on-woman assault may have a harder time identifying their experience as assault and may be even less inclined than other survivors to report.
The fact that male victim scripts were less detailed than female victim scripts and that participants explicitly indicated they are less familiar with the idea of male victimization suggests that there is a need to educate about male victimization. Broadening the conversation to include men will not only enhance our collective understanding of sexual violence, but it will support all those survivors who have, for so long, been alienated, isolated, and silenced. Moreover, there is some indication that lower levels of support for male rape myths may be associated with increased intent to intervene on behalf of a stranger (Rosenstein and Carroll 2015)—in other words, decreasing male rape myth acceptance may help address sexual violence against everyone.
For both male and female rape scripts, explicitly not reporting the incident was a prominent element. Continued work is needed to reduce the shame/embarrassment/fear that surrounds making a report of sexual assault. This suggests that a key element of education should focus on the prevention of secondary victimization, addressing how service providers and peers treat survivors who come forward and request assistance (Campbell et al. 2001). The military has made the reduction of sexual assault and harassment a priority and there is some evidence that their increased focus on education and strengthening the response programs for victims of sexual assault is having a positive effect. For example, survey-based prevalence estimates of sexual assault decreased from 26,000 service members in 2012, to 20,300 in 2014 to 14,900 in 2016. In addition, at the same time the prevalence numbers are declining, there is some evidence that the percentage reporting is increasing (Department of Defense 2016).
This study offers new insight on differences in the conceptualization of rape when a victim is a female or a male, but there are several limitations to the study. Namely, the sample population is limited in scope, focusing solely on military academy cadets, a relatively homogenous population that tends to be more conservative in their attitudes (Kurpius and Lucart 2000; Rohall et al. 2006). Furthermore, sexual assault prevention education is embedded in the four years of study at the military academy, likely influencing the scripts developed. Although information regarding class year was collected, it was not collected in a manner to allow for the analysis of whether the scripts differed as a function of class year.
With these limitations in mind, we suggest future research examine more directly the effect of sexual assault prevention education on script content. In addition, future research should investigate whether there are institutional differences in the themes generated with male victim and female victim rape scripts. Previous research comparing the acquaintance rape scripts of service academy men to male civilian peers found differences in the thematic content of the scripts (Carroll and Clark 2006). Although no research has compared the scripts of both men and women attending Service Academies with those of civilian peers, Carroll et al. (2016) found differences in level of rape myth acceptance differed as a function of school type, with beliefs among Service Academy men and women aligning more than those of men and women in fraternities and sororities at civilian institutions.
Continued efforts are needed to develop a better understanding of the experiences and needs of men who experience sexual assault. Many of the experiences that men have with sexual assault were not prominent themes in the male victim rape scripts. For example, the 2016 DoD sexual assault and prevention report noted that many men reported that their experiences with sexual assault occurred within a hazing or bullying incident (Department of Defense 2016). Although the theme of hazing did appear in the male victim scripts (this theme was not present in female victim scripts), it only appeared in 6.2% of the narratives. It is suggested that these types of experiences are often not labeled as sexual assault and are instead conceptualized as “initiation passages,” locker room behavior, just guys being guys. Even if it is recognized as something that crosses a line, the expectation is it is not something to be talked about. Continued exploration of how male victimization experiences are conceptualized is warranted.
Footnotes
Acknowledgments
The views of the authors are their own and do not purport to reflect the position of the United States Military Academy, the United States Naval Academy, the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, or the Department of Defense.
Author Disclosure Statement
No competing financial interests exist.