Sexual Precedence Reduces the Perceived Legitimacy of Sexual Refusal: An Examination of Attributions Concerning Date Rape and Consensual Sex

A hypothesis derived from marital rape laws suggests that women are perceived as obligated to have sex by precedence. Subjects who read a rape scenario were more likely to perceive that the resisting woman should have sex and less likely to label the act as rape if the couple had had coitus 10 times before (high precedence) than once or never An alternative hypothesis derived from the common law on `easements by prescription" suggests that sexual precedence should affect men and women equally. In a second study, either the man or the woman refused sex after foreplay. Men as well as women were perceived to be obligated by sexual precedence. Survey results are cited that show that male and female actors' compliant sexual behaviors are related to precedence. The results are explained as reflecting norms that function to preserve mutually satisfactory relationships.