NCJ Number
130046
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 5 Issue: 4 Dated: (Winter 1990) Pages: 275-286
Date Published
1990
Length
12 pages
Annotation
One hundred and forty-six male university student volunteers completed the Hypermasculinity Inventory (HMI) and then imagined guided scenarios of rape or consenting sex with either a wife or a stranger in order to examine the callous sexual attitudes and behaviors of macho men and to determine whether macho men were more accepting of the rape of a wife than of a stranger. Machismo was defined as the conception of violence as manly, of danger as exciting, and of sex as an entitlement.
Abstract
Subjects were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: married/consent, stranger/consent, married/rape, stranger/rape. The guided imagery sequences were preceded by relaxation instructions; the scenarios were taperecorded, nonspecific, and indirectly suggestive. The debriefing session included a discussion of rape myths and sexual stereotypes. Macho men displayed a stronger belief in their entitlement to sex and reported more enjoyment in response to those scenarios depicting rape. While macho men were not more accepting of the rape of a wife than the rape of a stranger, they were relatively accepting of rape in general. 3 tables and 20 references