Women's Attitudes Toward Forcible Rape

This study assessed the attitudes of women with diverse backgrounds toward possible responses to an attempted sexual assault and also ascertained their beliefs about how society should handle a convicted rapist. Additionally, the role which the personality dimensions of assertiveness and internal-external expectamcy play in shaping attitudes toward rape was investigated. Seventy-seven women and 25 men were administered the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule, the Rotter I-E Scale, and a Rape Inventory. Women relied on a narrow range of options to deal with a rapist's attack, depending mostly on less active modes. They advocated humane approaches be taken with convicted rapists. Personality played only a minor role.