Attitudes About Date Rape: Context and Consent

by Hannah Mae Strom

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology Mathematics Philosophy Hartwick College Oneonta, New York May 2016

Master of Science in Psychology Florida Institute of Technology Melbourne, Florida December 2018

A doctoral research project submitted to the School of Psychology of Florida Institute of Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree

Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology

Melbourne, Florida February 2020

We the undersigned committee hereby approve the attached doctoral research project, “Attitudes About Date Rape: Context and Consent,” by Hannah Mae Strom.

______Victoria Follette, Ph.D. Professor Committee Chair School of Psychology

______Patrick Aragon, Psy.D. Assistant Professor School of Psychology

______Catherine Nicholson, Ph.D., BCBA-D Assistant Professor School of Behavior Analysis

______Lisa Steelman, Ph.D. Professor and Dean College of Psychology and Liberal Arts

Abstract

Title: Attitudes About Date Rape: Context and Consent

Author: Hannah Mae Strom, M.S.

Advisor: Victoria Follette, Ph.D.

Sexual assault, and date rape specifically, is a prevalent problem among college students. Many factors influence students’ attitudes about these situations such as the closeness of the relationship and alcohol consumed at the time of the incident. These same factors similarly influence attitudes about reporting an assault. The development of mobile proximity-based dating applications (dating apps) has added a new, and largely under-researched, factor of influence to attitudes about perceptions of sexual consent. The current study used vignettes to examine college students’ perceptions of sexual consent and attitudes about reporting in a date rape scenario. The vignettes varied to explore the influence of alcohol use and meeting with a dating app on these outcome variables. Other information was gathered, such as demographics, sexual assault history, and rape myth acceptance. These individual differences will also be investigated in statistical analysis. It was found that 28.9% of women were sexually assaulted at some point in their life, 53.8% of which were revictimized. When age brackets were separated, 22.2% of women reported they were sexually assaulted since turning 18. Men were found to be more accepting of rape myths than women; men were also more likely to perceive consent in response to the date rape vignette than women. Acceptance of rape myths was found to be positively related to perceptions of

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consent in response to the date rape vignette. Alcohol consumption in the vignette was found to significantly influence perceptions of rape in response to the vignette; rape was perceived more when Penny was drunk than when she was sober. While these results are important to consider, the numerical differences were too small to be considered clinically significant. More research is needed to fully understand the role of dating apps in the modern world, and future research is suggested to investigate video vignettes to better address the nuances of interpersonal interactions.

Keywords: Sexual assault, rape, consent, alcohol, dating apps, college, vignette

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Table of Contents

Abstract ...... iii

Table of Contents ...... v

Literature Review...... 1

Sexual Assault ...... 1

Problematic conceptualizations of sexual assault ...... 1

Prevalence on college campuses ...... 2

Sequelae of acquaintance rape ...... 3

Date rape ...... 4

Attitudes about date rape ...... 5

Alcohol and sexual assault ...... 6

College attitudes about alcohol consumption precipitating

sexual assault ...... 8

Sexual Consent...... 8

Methods of communicating sexual consent ...... 12

Affirmative consent ...... 13

Invalid consent ...... 14

Rape Myth Acceptance ...... 15

Gender ...... 16

Evolution of rape myth acceptance ...... 17

Dating Apps ...... 17

Characteristics of dating app users ...... 19

Why do people use dating apps? ...... 20

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Dating apps and sexual encounters ...... 20

Dating apps and sexual assault ...... 22

Vignette Studies ...... 23

Expression of consent and non-consent ...... 23

Attitudes about date rape ...... 24

Rationale for Current Study ...... 27

Hypotheses ...... 28

Methods...... 29

Participants ...... 29

Design ...... 29

Materials ...... 29

Vignettes ...... 29

Sexual Experience Survey – Adult ...... 30

Sexual Experience Survey – Under age 18 ...... 30

Updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale ...... 31

Procedure ...... 31

Statistical Analysis ...... 32

Results ...... 32

Participants ...... 32

Descriptive Statistics ...... 33

SES responses ...... 33

IRMA responses...... 34

Correlations ...... 34

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Rape myth acceptance and perceptions of consent ...... 34

Group Differences ...... 35

Gender difference in rape myth acceptance ...... 35

Effect of trauma history on perceptions of consent ...... 36

Effect of relationship context, alcohol consumption, and gender on

perceptions of consent...... 37

Effect of relationship context, alcohol consumption, and gender on

perceptions of rape ...... 38

Discussion ...... 39

Sexual Assault Prevalence ...... 40

Rape Myth Acceptance ...... 40

Perceptions of Consent and Rape ...... 41

Rape myth acceptance...... 41

Gender ...... 42

History of sexual trauma ...... 42

Influence of alcohol consumption ...... 43

Influence of relationship context ...... 43

Limitations ...... 43

Conclusion ...... 45

References ...... 48

Appendix A ...... 62

Vignettes Presented to Participants ...... 62

Standardized Vignette Questions ...... 64

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Sexual Experiences Survey ...... 67

Updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance scale ...... 68

Appendix B ...... 69

Table 1 ...... 69

Table 2 ...... 70

Table 3 ...... 71

Table 4 ...... 72

Table 5 ...... 73

Table 6 ...... 74

viii ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 1

Literature Review

Sexual Assault

The U.S. Department of Education (2018) defines “sexual violence” as “physical sexual acts perpetrated against a person’s will or where a person is incapable of giving consent.” While “rape” usually refers specifically to nonconsensual vaginal, oral, or anal penetration, “sexual assault” is typically a broader term, including any nonconsensual sexual contact (Abbey, Zawacki, Buck, Clinton, & McAuslan, 2004; Muehlenhard,

Peterson, Humphreys, & Jozkowski, 2017; Muehlenhard, Powch, Phelps, & Giusti 1992).

Muehlenhard and colleagues (1992) investigated definitions of rape in a review of literature. They found that all definitions of rape involved the concept of non-consensual sexual behavior. However, definitions varied across several domains: the specific sexual behaviors involved, the criteria for non-consent, the individuals involved, and who decides whether an assault occurred.

Problematic conceptualizations of sexual assault. A dimensional view of rape has been proposed and discussed in existing literature (Koss & Oros, 1982; Koss &

Gidycz, 1985). From this perspective, rape is viewed as an extreme behavior on a continuum with “normal” behavior at the opposing end. This framework also suggests variation within the definition of sexual aggression, ranging from verbally coerced sexual intercourse to threatened use of force to intercourse achieved through physical force without consent. This conceptualization of sexual assault, however, suggests comparison of various forms of sexual assault and implies that some forms are worse than others.

While this may seem logical to some researchers and laymen alike, it does not depict the

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 2 reality of the impact of sexual assault. The impact of sexual assault is an individualized reaction, only to be determined by the victim. For some victims, a form of sexual assault depicted as “less intense” by the dimensional perspective will evoke a similarly distressing reaction as other “more intense” forms of sexual assault. Therefore, this dimensional view of rape is neither helpful nor accurate.

One study described nonconsensual sex as one factor within their overarching variable of risky sexual behaviors (Shapiro et al., 2017). While they gave no rationale for describing nonconsensual sex as a risky behavior, this implies that a victim of nonconsensual sex could have made safer sexual choices. However, by definition, a victim of nonconsensual sex did not choose to engage in said sexual activity. This conceptualization quickly falls down the slippery slope of victim blaming.

Prevalence on college campuses. Research has demonstrated that college women are approximately three times more likely to experience sexual assault than women in the general population (RAINN, 2019). Specifically, freshman and sophomore college women are at a higher risk for nonconsensual sexual experiences than upperclassmen

(Cantor et al., 2015; Kimble, Neacsiu, Flack, & Horner, 2008; Krebs, Lindquist, Warner,

Fisher, & Martin, 2009). The White House (2014) reported that approximately one in five college women are sexually assaulted during their time at college. This one in five statistic has come to be widely known, and Muehlenhard and colleagues’ (2017) review of literature supported this statistic. However, reported prevalence rates of sexual assault vary greatly by the type of sexual contact investigated, definitions of terms, method of

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 3 data collection, language used in the survey, and the time period evaluated (Abbey et al.,

2004; Cantor et al., 2015; Muehlenhard et al., 2017).

Krebs and colleagues (2009) found that 19% of undergraduate women have experience an attempted or completed sexual assault since entering college. In their study, sexual assault included any unwanted sexual contact such as sexual touching, oral sex, and penile-vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and sexual penetration with a finger or object. They also found that 4.7% of college women were forcibly sexually assaulted, and

3.4% were forcibly raped since entering college. The American College Health

Association (2018) conducted a nationally representative survey and found that, in the last year, 10.4% of college students were touched sexually without consent, 3.7% experienced attempted rape, and 2.5% experienced a completed rape. Cantor and colleagues (2015) found 33% of college senior women reported they had experienced some form of nonconsensual sexual contact since entering college. This statistic includes any form of penetration or sexual touching. Specifically, in regard to sexual penetration,

Cantor and colleagues (2015) found that approximately 7% of undergraduate women were victimized in the last year. Most instances of college rape are committed by someone known to the victim rather than a stranger (Fisher, Cullen, & Turner, 2000;

Karjane, Fisher, & Cullen, 2005).

Sequelae of acquaintance rape. Although acquaintance rape is less often perceived as rape than the more stereotypical stranger rape, it still produces a number of negative outcomes. Acquaintance rape produces some specific negative outcomes that impact the victim’s self-perceptions. Frazier and Seales (1997) administered various

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 4 surveys and assessments to college women to investigate the differences between acquaintance rape and stranger rape. They found that there was no difference in overall distress between stranger rape and acquaintance rape victims. However, those who suffered an acquaintance rape showed more negative beliefs about oneself, others, and the world, and had significantly more self-blame about the event, compared to those who were raped by a stranger.

Date rape. The term ‘date rape’ is at times used interchangeably with

‘acquaintance rape.’ Based on other scholarly literature (e.g., Sampson, 2013), this paper has conceptualized date rape as a sub-type of acquaintance rape. Acquaintances include friends, classmates, neighbors, and other known individuals with varying types of interpersonal relationships whereas a ‘date’ specifically refers to individuals on a date or in a romantic relationship. Approximately 80-90% of attempted or completed rapes are committed by someone known to the victim, such as a boyfriend or ex-boyfriend, friend, classmate, co-worker, or another acquaintance (Fisher et al., 2000; Frazier & Seales,

1997; Karjane et al., 2005). Fisher and colleagues (2000) found that 12.8% of completed rapes, 35% of attempted rapes, and 22.9% of threatened rapes occurred on a date. Women often do not define rape situations as rape if the perpetrator was a date or boyfriend

(Cleere & Lynn, 2013).

Research has shown mixed findings regarding the impact of relationship closeness on perceptions of consent. Rebeiz & Harb’s (2010) study found that college students are less likely to perceive a scenario as rape if the individuals have a closer relationship, such as being married or dating, compared to a more distant relationship, such as neighbors or

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 5 strangers. On contrary, Davis, Stoner, Norris, George, and Masters (2009) found that college women were equally aware of sexual assault risk cues in different levels of relationship closeness portrayed in a vignette. However, with increased relationship closeness, college women reported less discomfort with the sexual risk cues they perceived. In other words, women were able to perceive risk in different relationship contexts, but were more comfortable with sexual risk in a serious romantic relationship than in a casual dating relationship.

Attitudes about date rape. College students have difficulty defining date rape

(Burnett, Mattern, Herakova, Kahl, Tobola, & Bornsen, 2009). Lee, Busch, Kim, and

Lim (2007) found that college students were generally unsure whether a behavior in a date rape vignette was acceptable or unacceptable. Date rape may be difficult to identify due to college students’ perceptions of consent in the context of a relationship. Research has shown that students tend to perceive the communication of consent as less necessary, or unnecessary, in the context of an on-going relationship (Beres, 2014; Humphreys &

Herold, 2007). While Beres (2014) found that members of couples were in agreement regarding this perception, there may still be circumstances in which one member wants sexual intercourse and another member does not; in these situations, the communication of consent is essential to preventing date rape.

Burnett and colleagues (2009) stated the larger social culture suggests that stranger rape is wrong, but date rape is avoidable, placing responsibility on the victim for preventing it from happening. Xenos and Smith (2001) found that a large portion of university students have negative beliefs towards victims of date rape, including

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 6 perceiving a victimized woman as responsible and to blame for the assault. They found that college men were significantly more likely than college women to hold these beliefs, as well as seeing the victim as deserving of the suffering that results from the assault.

Alcohol and sexual assault. College students have a tendency to socialize while consuming alcohol (Armstrong, Hamilton, & Sweeney 2006). The American College

Health Association (2018) found that approximately 76.4% of college students endorsed using alcohol within the last 30 days, and approximately 45% of students indicated they had at least 3 drinks the last time they “partied” or socialized. Alcohol and drug use is an important risk factor for sexual assault, particularly for college students (Krebs et al.,

2009). Cleere and Lynn (2013) found that alcohol or drugs were involved in approximately 90% of sexual assaults. Fisher and colleagues (2003) investigated sexual assaults against college women specifically, and found that 70% involve alcohol and/or drug use by at least one party; victims were intoxicated during 43% of incidents. Abbey and colleagues’ (2004) review of literature found that usually both parties are intoxicated during an alcohol-related sexual assault. The alcohol consumption that precedes sexual assault among college women is most often voluntary (Krebs et al., 2009; Lawyer,

Resnick, Bakanic, Burkett, & Kilpatrick, 2010).

Davis and colleagues (2009) suggested alcohol use is a risk factor for sexual assault because intoxication lowers an individual’s ability to recognize indications of sexual risk. They used date rape situations conveyed in a vignette to investigate this phenomenon. Their study found that intoxicated college women were less aware of, and more comfortable with, sexual assault risk cues compared to sober counterparts. Even

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 7 low levels of intoxication (approximately 2-3 drinks) were shown to decrease ability to recognize risk and discomfort compared to sobriety. Jozkowski and Wiersma (2015) found that even in supposedly consensual sexual encounters, alcohol used has been shown to be related to less feelings of safety, comfort, and readiness.

These effects of alcohol on women may then lead them to be perceived by men as easy targets for sexual advancement. Graham and colleagues (2014) used naturalistic observation to investigate sexual aggression in bars and clubs. They found that more physically invasive sexual advances by men are positively related to the target woman’s level of intoxication, not the initiator’s intoxication. The authors interpreted these results to suggest that individuals under the influence are intentionally selected as targets.

Alcohol use may also be a risk factor for sexual assault due to its effects on potential perpetrators. College students are more likely to perceive women as sexually interested or aroused than sober students (Abbey, Buck, Zawacki, & Saenz, 2003; Farris,

Treat, & Viken, 2010). Farris and colleagues (2010) compared the effects of intoxication in a sample of primarily college men on their perceptions of images of women. They found that, compared to their own performance while sober, intoxicated men were less able to distinguish friendliness from sexual interest, therefore leading them to be more likely to misidentify a purely friendly woman as indicating sexual interest. Evaluations of appropriate behavior may depend on how sexually interested or aroused a woman is perceived to be. Abbey et al.’s (2003) study found that when women are perceived as more sexually aroused, both college men and women are more likely to find sexually coercive behaviors to be appropriate, despite a woman’s refusals and resistance.

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 8

Some findings regarding the effects of alcohol hold importance for both potential victims and perpetrators. Abbey and colleagues (2003) investigated the influence of alcohol use on college students’ attitudes about a potential date rape scenario portrayed in a vignette. Their vignette depicted a situation that began with consensual kissing, and led to the man attempting to disrobe the woman with continued verbal pressure, despite the woman’s verbal refusals. College men and women who consumed alcohol during the study perceived the male character in the vignette to have acted more appropriately than their sober counterparts. These results have implications for both potential victims and perpetrators because this suggests both parties are likely to perceive this behavior as acceptable when under the influence of alcohol.

College attitudes about alcohol consumption precipitating sexual assault.

Students believe that the use of alcohol during a potential sexual assault creates a gray area regarding how the interaction should be perceived (Burnett et al., 2009). Hess (2015) recounts reports from university students which indicate vast differences as to what level of intoxication is perceived to prevent valid sexual consent. Some students view any level of intoxication as problematic. Some students consider consent to be valid unless one party is intoxicated to the point of memory impairment. Another student indicated sexual activity is appropriate if both parties are equally intoxicated. Others believe sexual consent is valid unless one individual is unconscious.

Sexual Consent

The concept of sexual consent is an essential component in defining sexual assault. Generally, there is a consensus among researchers in defining sexual consent as

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 9 an agreement to engage in sexual activity (Beres, 2007; Beres, 2014). However, there is no consensus regarding an appropriate method of coming to this agreement (Beres,

2014). Moreover, college students lack clarity regarding what behaviors imply sexual consent (Burnett et al., 2009). Beres (2014) identified that consent involves two main components: who has the capacity to give consent, and what methods of communication

“count” as consent. Among legal adults, the former refers to factors that lead one incapable of providing valid consent, such as lack of consciousness or intoxication by drugs or alcohol. The latter refers to the nature of the communication of consent. This component demonstrates significant divergence among legislation, scholarly works, and popular media.

Muehlenhard, Humphreys, Jozkowski, and Peterson (2016) offer three approaches to the nature of sexual consent. First, consent can be understood as an internal state of willingness. Willingness is to be differentiated from wanting, for an individual may want to engage in sexual intercourse with someone but may not be willing to do so for a variety of reasons (e.g., lack of contraception or commitment to another intimate relationship; Beres, 2014; Muehlenhard et al., 2016). However, conceptions of sexual consent only as an internal state of willingness is limited; one’s internal state cannot be known by another party without explicit verbal communication. Moreover, one may express willingness by providing consent without experiencing the wanting for sexual activity, which is also problematic (Beres, 2014). Sprecher, Hatfield, Cortese, Potapova, and Levistskaya’s (1994) survey found that 47% of college women in the United States consented to sexual intercourse that was unwanted, and 55% of these participants

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 10 indicated this occurred more than once. While Sprecher and colleagues’ (1994) study did not investigate the reason why these students consented to unwanted sex, they noted several possible reasons one may do so, such as verbal pressure, perceived social pressure, or to prevent relationship problems. These situations could also be the result of other methods of coercion or force.

Muehlenhard and colleagues’ (2016) second approach is that sexual consent may be inferred through behaviors that are interpreted as willingness. This understanding of consent seems to be most consistent with the normative methods that college students express and infer sexual consent (e.g., Beres, 2007; Burrow, Hannon, & Hall, 1998; Hall,

1998; Hickman & Muehlenhard, 1999; Jozkowski & Wiersma, 2015). A significant limitation of this second approach is in differing interpretations of what specific behaviors indicate willingness for sexual activity. There is substantial divergence among college students regarding what behaviors are perceived as indicative of sexual consent

(e.g., Burnett et al., 2009; Hickman & Muehlenhard, 1999) Hickman and Muehlenhard

(1999) investigated college students’ perspectives on how women signal sexual consent.

Men rated all of women’s behaviors, other than direct refusals, as more indicative of sexual consent than women did. As a result of these differences, miscommunications are likely to occur. Abbey (1987) found that 72% of college women reported that, at least once in their lifetime, a man had misinterpreted friendly behavior to indicate sexual interest. Men may then continue to sexually advance upon women who are not interested in a sexual interaction, potentially leading to a sexual assault. However, not all research literature agrees regarding the role of miscommunication in the sexual consent

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 11 negotiation. Beres (2010) interpreted the results of her study to indicate miscommunications are actually somewhat uncommon. She suggested that some instances of sexual coercion or assault may actually result from a lack of willingness to respect a partner’s refusal, rather than misperception.

Third, Muehlenhard and colleagues (2016) described that consent can be understood as an explicit agreement: verbal permission that is given directly. This third approach is the most clear and direct method of providing and receiving sexual consent.

However, relying on this form may also be problematic, as it is not consistent with the reality of how college students communicate consent (Beres, 2007; Burrow et al., 1998;

Hall, 1998; Hickman & Muehlenhard, 1999; Muehlenhard et al., 1992).

One complicating factor involves substance use. One cannot provide consent to sexual activity when incapacitated by alcohol or other substances (Antioch College,

2018; Beloit College, 2018; California Senate Bill SB-967, 2014). However, the level of intoxication which yields one incapacitated is not agreed upon within the literature

(Muehlenhard et al., 2016; Hess, 2015). Beloit College (2018) simplifies the influence of alcohol use in provision of sexual consent by indicating that both individuals must be

“non-intoxicated” for a sexual interaction to be considered consensual. Another complication is when consent is acquired under duress, such as when threatened with physical harm or the loss of necessary resources (e.g., a job; Muehlenhard et al., 1992).

Muehlenhard et al. (1992) identified that consent obtained under duress is meaningless.

In the context of coercion, force, threats of force, or intoxication, one has not provided a valid, freely given, or meaningful consent.

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 12

Methods of communicating sexual consent. Existing literature has investigated how sexual consent is typically communicated among college students, with mixed results. Individuals interpret explicit verbal consent as highly indicative of valid sexual consent (Hickman & Muehlenhard, 1999). However, this form of communicating consent does not appear to be the norm. Rather, the majority of research indicates nonverbal behaviors are the most common method of communicating consent (e.g., Beres, 2007;

Burrow et al., 1998; Hall, 1998; Hickman & Muehlenhard, 1999; Jozkowski & Wiersma,

2015). Students reported an array of nonverbal behaviors to indicate consent, including kissing, moving closer, touching intimately, smiling, hugging or caressing, or lack of resistance (Hall, 1998; Hickman and Muehlenhard, 1999). Some research has found lack of resistance, by making no response, to be the most common method of expressing sexual consent (e.g., Hickman & Muehlenhard, 1999). The ways that young adults tend to express and infer consent is problematic, as nonverbal communication is open to misinterpretation.

Not only are direct, verbal expressions of sexual consent uncommon, they are perceived by many college students and young adults as unnecessary. Young adults often believe they “just know” when another person is sexually interested by using contextual cues such as certain behaviors, being at a bar, willingness to move to a more private location (Beres, 2010). However, these individuals believe they are correctly interpreting the context to indicate sexual consent, while they do not know this in fact. Rather than seeking explicit sexual consent, these individuals are using contextual cues to provide

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 13 that consent, and relying on their partner to provide a direct refusal to give them information otherwise (Beres, 2010).

Affirmative consent. Though many universities provide sexual assault education programs that stress the importance of sexual consent, they often fail to define what counts as sexual consent (Muehlenhard et al., 2016). This contributes to the underutilization of direct, verbal methods of communicating sexual consent. However, the concept of “affirmative consent” has been initiated on college campuses and in state legislation in an effort to improve the clarity of communication of sexual consent.

“Affirmative consent” has been enacted into state legislation (e.g., California Senate Bill

SB-967, 2014) as well as enforced in university campus policy, (e.g., Antioch College,

2018; Beloit College, 2018). This approach to consent details:

“Affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity…

Lack of protest or resistance does not mean consent, nor does silence…

Affirmative consent must be ongoing throughout a sexual activity and can be

revoked at any time. The existence of a dating relationship between persons

involved, or the fact of past sexual relations between them, should never by itself

be assumed to be an indicator of consent.” (California Senate Bill SB-967, 2014)

Affirmative consent acknowledges that although nonverbal behaviors such as reciprocation and lack of refusal are necessary for sexual consent, they are not sufficient behaviors to obtain valid consent (Muehlenhard et al., 2016). Beloit College’s (2018) sexual consent policy specifically indicates that individuals must be “non-intoxicated” and provide a verbal, “mutually understood ‘yes’” for consent to be considered valid, and

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 14 that nonverbal behavior should not be considered indicative of consent. Furthermore,

Antioch College (2018) indicates that “each new level of sexual activity requires affirmative consent.” Sexual consent as an ongoing, continuous process that can change as sexual encounters unfold, rather than a discrete event that occurs once as a permanent decision (Beres, 2014). This last stipulation of Antioch College’s policy recognizes that fact.

Controversy relating to affirmative consent exists both in policy makers and students. Some affirmative consent policies (e.g., California universities) do not require consent to be given verbally, which creates confusion regarding how affirmative consent is to be communicated (Muehlenhard et al., 2016). Humphreys and Herold’s (2003) focus group of university students indicated they would not want an affirmative consent policy on their campus due impracticality of enforcing the policy, perceived infringements on personal freedom, and interference with the natural progression of sexual encounters.

These perspectives were supported by their subsequent campus survey. While students did not support affirmative consent as an enforceable policy, they acknowledged its value in encouraging healthy sexual communication and thought it would be better received as an educational awareness tool.

Invalid consent. Additional controversy relating to affirmative consent identifies that there are situations in which an explicit “yes” should not be interpreted as consensual, such as in sexual coercion or when individuals are intoxicated (Muehlenhard et al., 2016). Consent must be given willingly and/or voluntarily to be considered valid, as indicated in legislative language (e.g., California SB-967, 2014), university policy

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 15

(e.g., Antioch College, 2018; Beloit College, 2018), and within the research literature discussing sexual consent (e.g., Hickman & Muehlenhard, 1999; Muehlenhard,

1995/1996). Therefore, when verbal pressure or coercive behavior is used to elicit

“consent,” the statement should not be considered valid consent. Research literature identifies examples of coercion including threats to end the relationship if consent isn’t given and “wearing you down” with repeated requests for sex (e.g., Smith et al., 2018).

Moreover, affirmative consent policies and sexual assault legislation indicate that consent cannot be considered valid if one is incapacitated by alcohol or drugs (California

Senate Bill SB-967, 2014). Brett Sokolow, who consults on campus rape cases, was quoted to state that someone

“could be stark naked, demanding sex, but if they are incapacitated at the time,

and that is known or knowable to the accused, any sexual activity that takes place

is misconduct, and any factual consent that may have been expressed is

IRRELEVANT.” (Hess, 2015)

Rape Myth Acceptance

Rape myths are false, yet widely held, attitudes and beliefs which serve to deny and justify male sexual violence against women, and to deny women’s sexual vulnerability (Iconis, 2008; Lonsway & Fitzgerald, 1994). Lonsway and Fitzgerald

(1994) found that the most common rape myths are that women lie about rape regularly and that only certain types of women are raped, particularly minorities and those with a

“bad” reputation. McMahon (2010) found that the rape myths that are most accepted by first-year college students are “he didn’t mean to” and “she lied.”

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 16

Gender. Some gender differences have been demonstrated in rape myth acceptance. Generally, men are more accepting of rape myths than women (Kress et al.,

2006; Lanier & Green, 2006; McMahon, 2010; McMahon & Farmer, 2011; Milone,

Burg, Duerson, Hagen, & Pauly, 2009; O’Conner, Cusano, McMahon, & Draper, 2018;

Rebeiz & Harb, 2010). In regard to specific rape myths, men are more likely than women to excuse the perpetrators behavior due to committing rape unintentionally, alcohol use, or poor understanding of consent; to blame the victim due to her clothing, behavior, or alcohol intoxication; or to believe women sometimes lie about rape due to regret of consensual sexual behavior (O’Conner et al., 2018). Among college men, Sawyer,

Thompson, and Chicorelli (2002) found that freshman and sophomores were more likely to show rape myth acceptance than upperclassmen. This may be related to an increased risk for sexual assault among freshman and sophomore college women, particularly because rape myth acceptance is associated with sexual assault perpetration in college men (Mouilso & Calhoun, 2013).

In survey research, it was found that rape myth acceptance in college men was significantly higher in those endorsing past perpetration of sexual assault compared to non-perpetrators (Mouilso & Calhoun, 2013). Moreover, they found rape perpetrators scored significantly higher than sexual assault perpetrators on the specific rape myth subscales of “she wanted it,” “rape is trivial,” “rape is deviant,” and “it wasn’t really rape.” Mouilso and Calhoun’s (2013) results link rape myth acceptance to both past perpetration and potential future perpetration. Hust et al. (2014) found that, among college students, rape myth acceptance was predictive of lower intentions to seek sexual

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 17 consent or to comply with sexual consent decisions. In college women, rape supportive attitudes are predictive of a reduced likelihood to refuse unwanted sexual activity (Hust et al., 2014), which increases their risk for sexual assault.

Evolution of rape myth acceptance. While rape prevention programs have seemingly been successful in the reduction of rape myth acceptance (e.g., Lee, Kim, &

Lim, 2010; Palm Reed, Hines, Armstrong, & Cameron, 2015), rape myths persist in more subtle and modernized expressions (McMahon & Farmer, 2011). For example, while college students are not likely to directly blame a victim for her assault, they tend to excuse the perpetrator (e.g., he didn’t mean to do it) or blame the victim for contextual factors (e.g., alcohol consumption or type of clothing) that they perceive precipitate the assault (O’Conner et al., 2018). McMahon and Farmer (2011) found that previous experience with a sexual assault prevention program did not reduce subtle rape myth acceptance, as measured by their Updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance scale.

Dating Apps

Mobile dating applications (dating apps) first emerged between 2003 and 2007

(Quiroz, 2013). The increasing presence and popularity of dating apps has created a new avenue for forming new relationships and meeting new potential sexual partners.

Moreover, this category of social media platforms has become most popular among those aged 18-24 (Smith, 2016), which overlaps with the traditional age range of a college student. As a result, dating apps have become an area that research should investigate in terms of its role in leading to potential sexual assaults, particularly with a college or young adult population.

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 18

Dating apps use geolocation technology to present users with potential matches within a specified distance (Timmermans & Caluwe, 2017a). A dating app profile is typically comprised of several photographs, one’s age, distance from a potential match, a brief personal description, and other data retrieved from their Facebook profile, such as occupation, education, and common interests and Facebook friends. Users are usually presented with one potential match at a time and prompted to determine interest based on these factors; swiping right on their profile expresses interest. If both individuals swipe right on each other’s profiles, they are matched and given the ability to begin an online communication. After a match is made, Zhang and Yasseri’s (2016) analysis of dating app conversations found that among adults in the general population, men initiate 79% of conversations. Moreover, they found that male-initiated conversations are more likely to receive a response than female initiations.

Since their inception, the use of mobile dating apps has significantly increased.

Smith’s (2016) survey found that dating app use among 18-24-year-olds has increased from 10% to 27% between 2013 and 2016. Sawyer, Smith, and Benotsch (2018) found that approximately 40% of undergraduate students use dating apps. Choi, Wong, and

Fong (2018) found even higher prevalence rates among college students, in which approximately 53% were using dating apps.

A variety of dating apps now exist in the public domain, including Tinder, Blendr,

Bumble, Hinge, and Grindr. Greenfield (2013) notes that while Grindr is a dating app utilized in gay communities, Tinder has become the most popularized dating apps for heterosexual individuals. In some groups, these dating apps are described as “hook-up”

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 19 apps (Sales, 2015), meaning that they are used to seek casual sexual encounters (Flack et al., 2007). However, each dating app is slightly different in terms of their targeted audience and their users’ intentions (Quiroz, 2013). As a result of these differences, Gillet

(2018) suggested specifically identifying the dating app of reference, rather than generalizing research findings to all dating apps. Some researchers have chosen to address dating apps or internet dating in general (e.g., Bryant & Sheldon, 2017; Sawyer et al., 2018; Smith, 2016; Zhang & Yasseri, 2016). Most research investigating heterosexual interactions on dating apps appears to specifically identify Tinder (e.g., Carpenter &

McEwan, 2016; Sevi, Aral, & Eskenazi, 2018; Shapiro et al., 2017; Timmermans &

Caluwe, 2017a, 2017b).

Characteristics of dating app users. Timmermans and Caluwe (2017b) investigated the relationship between personality factors and Tinder use. They found that

Tinder users were significantly more extraverted and open to experience than non-users.

They also found that Tinder users were significantly less conscientious than those who do not use Tinder. Carpenter and McEwan (2016) found that undergraduate dating app users are more sociable and more impulsive (as measured by the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale –

11) than non-users.

Sawyer and colleagues (2018) explored associations between dating app use and risky sexual behavior among undergraduate students. Their survey found that those who used dating apps reported significantly more sexual partners over the last three months and in their lifetime, greater likelihood of engaging in sex while intoxicated, and greater likelihood of having unprotected sex.

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 20

Why do people use dating apps? Timmermans and Caluwe (2017a) interviewed undergraduate students to determine their motives for using Tinder in their development of the Tinder Motives Scale (TMS). The found eight themes among the students’ responses. The majority of students indicated they used Tinder due to social pressure, to bolster their confidence, to serve as entertainment, or to pass time. A minority of participants responded with themes involving interest in seeking a relationship, seeking information about who among their peers are single, or to engage in sexual encounters.

When they administered their TMS to student and non-student adults, they found that the most common motives for using Tinder were to pass time, entertainment, and curiosity.

These motives were found to be significantly more likely than all other factors, including interest in a relationship or sexual experiences. This indicates that some studies have found Tinder is not primarily used for sexual reasons (e.g., Bryant & Sheldon, 2017;

Carpenter & McEwan, 2016; Sawyer et al., 2018; Timmermans & Caluwe, 2017a). These findings seem to counter the popularized perception of modern dating apps, and therefore leave questions as to whether these results accurately describe the intents and behaviors of dating app users.

Dating apps and sexual encounters. While seeking a relationship or sexual encounters has not been reported to be the primary motive found in research among dating app users, some users do admit to having this intention (Bryant & Sheldon, 2017;

Carpenter & McEwan, 2016; Sawyer et al., 2018; Sevi et al., 2018; Timmermans &

Caluwe, 2017b). Carpenter and McEwan (2016) found that undergraduate dating app users are more interested in sex than non-users. Similarly, Shapiro and colleagues (2017)

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 21 found that undergraduate Tinder users are more likely to report a greater need for frequent sex and are more likely to report having at least five previous sexual partners.

Specifically, young adult men are more likely to use dating apps to seek sexual experiences than women (Bryant & Sheldon, 2017; Carpenter & McEwan, 2016; Sevi et al., 2018; Timmermans & Caluwe, 2017b). Timmermans and Caluwe (2017a) found that those who used Tinder for sexual encounters were more likely than others using the app to meet a match offline and to engage in sexual interactions or form a sexual relationship.

Those who use Tinder for relationship seeking purposes were more likely to form an intimate relationship with a match from the app, and less likely to engage in a casual sexual relationship. Timmermans and Caluwe (2017b) found there to be no specific personality factor positively associated with using Tinder to seek a relationship or sex.

However, Bryant and Sheldon’s (2017) study showed that poorer self-esteem was related to an increased desire to have casual sexual encounters through use of dating apps.

Casual sex has become a cultural norm among college students, as 60-80% have participated in a casual sexual encounter, according to Garcia, Reiber, Massey, and

Merriwether’s (2012) review of literature. Reiber and Garcia’s (2011) study found that

81% of college students reported they had participated in a casual sexual encounter, and one third of students indicated that they had engaged in casual, uncommitted intercourse.

Moreover, Garcia and colleagues’ (2012) review found that over 60% of casual sexual encounters among college students are precipitated by alcohol use. These reports may even underestimate the actual prevalence of casual sexual experiences, due to a possible influence of social desirability bias.

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 22

Following suit, dating apps have created increased accessibility to interested casual sexual partners in close proximity. Sawyer and colleagues (2018) found that over one quarter of college dating app users reported having sex with someone they met through a dating app. As a result of lack of familiarity with one’s partner, Beres (2010) suggested casual sex is particularly risky and susceptible to miscommunications. As formerly stated, while some individuals use dating apps to seek sexual encounters, not all people have this intention. Choi and colleagues (2018) suggested that this discrepancy in the expectations of a meeting resulting from a dating app may create an environment for sexual assault to occur. Discrepancies among the literature regarding use of dating apps for sexual purposes points to a need for more research in this area.

Dating apps and sexual assault. Casual sex appears to be a high-risk behavior for sexual assault. Flack and colleagues’ (2007) study found that more than three quarters of incidents of unwanted intercourse in college occur in the context of a casual sexual encounter. This was significantly more than those reported to have occurred on a date or in an established intimate relationship. As dating apps are used with the intention to acquire casual sex by some, meetings resulting from dating apps create an environment for potential sexual assault. Smith’s (2016) survey found that 53% of women using online dating agree that this is more dangerous than other methods of meeting people.

Choi and colleagues (2018) surveyed college students, and found that using dating apps was a risk factor for sexual abuse in the past year as well as lifetime history of sexual abuse. The United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (2016) found a significant increase in sexual assaults in which the relationship was initiated through some form of

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 23 online dating. The age group at highest risk is 20-24-year-olds, which account for 23% of online dating initiated sexual assaults. They reported that in 41% of these sexual assaults, the date began at one of the individuals’ residences, and that 72% of these assaults occurred in one’s residence.

Vignette Studies

Vignettes are particularly useful in the study of sexual activity, and specifically sexual assault scenarios. This methodology enables researchers to manipulate the location, the relationship context, verbal and nonverbal behaviors, and alcohol use among the fictional characters in sexual situations. The following section reviews research using vignettes to explore various factors in sexual encounters and sexual assault.

Expression of consent and non-consent. Burrow and colleagues (1998) presented college students with a dating vignette to examine how they communicate consent and non-consent. Their vignette depicts a heterosexual couple that go on a date, to watch a movie at the woman’s home, after meeting in one of their university classes.

During the date the characters began kissing, touching, were sexually aroused, and the man wanted to engage in intercourse; the vignettes then varied regarding the woman wanting to engage in intercourse with consent behavior, and her not wanting to engage in intercourse with non-consent behavior. Burrow et al. (1998) found that students were more likely to respond verbally in the non-consent than consent condition, and more likely to respond nonverbally in the consent than non-consent condition. Women were more likely to respond nonverbally and men were more likely to respond verbally.

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 24

Hickman and Muehlenhard (1999) investigated methods of initiating sexual intercourse and expressing consent in university students with vignette scenarios. Their vignettes described a couple that had been on several dates, but have not yet had sexual intercourse. Their scenarios varied across two factors: the identified initiator and verbal versus nonverbal initiations. Hickman and Muehlenhard (1999) found that students were more likely to be able to imagine initiating sexual intercourse nonverbally, by progressing from kissing to undressing and intercourse, than verbally asking for consent.

In the condition in which their partner was the initiator, participants most often indicated they would show consent by making no response. They also found a significant interaction between the type of initiation and method of consent; verbal initiations were more likely to evoke nonverbal expressions of consent and nonverbal initiations were more likely to evoke indirect verbal expressions of consent (e.g., asking for a condom or about birth control). These results suggest that methods of communicating consent are contextually dependent on the methods of initiation.

Attitudes about date rape. Rebeiz and Harb (2010) presented college students with a vignette to assess perceptions of rape. Their vignette described a man asking a woman if she is interested in sex, and when she responded “no,” he “ignored her protest” and forced himself on her, completing intercourse. Their conditions varied the degree of closeness in their relationship by four levels: strangers, neighbors, dating, or married.

They found significant differences in perceptions of rape among the type of relationships described; the married relationship was less likely to be perceived as rape than the other

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 25 three conditions, and the dating scenario was less likely to be perceived as rape than the neighbor and stranger relationships.

Xenos and Smith (2001) administered sexual coercion vignettes to university students. Their vignettes involved two students that had met in class and later went on a date that involved unwanted sexual advances from the man to the woman, which she physically refused. These scenarios varied the degree of closeness in their relationship across three levels: on a first date, had been dating a while but had not had sex, or had been dating a while and have had sex. The results showed a significant portion of students have negative attitudes about the victim, including her responsibility for and blame in the situation. Moreover, Xenos and Smith (2001) found significant gender differences in which men were less likely to believe a woman’s claim of rape, more likely to attribute responsibility and blame to a victim, and more likely to perceive her as deserving of the suffering that results from rape. Men viewed victims as equally responsible for their assault across all levels of relationship closeness.

Muehlenhard (1988) investigated college students’ perceived sex-willingness and justifiability of rape in a date rape vignette. Their vignette depicted a couple who met in a college class and went out on a first date together. They varied who initiated the date, the date activity, and who paid for the expenses of the date. Participants were then asked whether they perceive the woman as willing to have sex, and if not, whether the man would be justified in having intercourse with her against her wishes. While most participants indicated it was never justifiable for the man to have sex with the woman without her consent, a large proportion of students (22.5%) did see rape as justifiable in

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 26 certain circumstances. Students were most likely to perceive sex-willingness and rape- justifiability when the date occurred at the man’s apartment compared to a religious function or a movie, when the woman initiated the date, and when the man paid for the dating expenses. Across all situations, college men perceived the woman as more willing to have sex and rape as more justifiable than college women.

Bostwick and DeLucia’s (1992) research compared similar variables as

Muehlenhard (1988), but found different results. Similarly to Muehlenhard (1988),

Bostwick and DeLucia’s (1992) vignettes varied on the factors of who asked for the date and who paid for the date, and respondents were asked about perceived sex-willingness and justifiability of rape. However, their study found that regardless of the respondents’ individual demographic factors and variables within the vignette situations, the participants reported that rape is not justifiable.

In Lee and colleagues’ (2007) study, they gave a vignette depicting forcible date rape to college students, and assessed whether the behavior was perceived as acceptable.

They also explored several circumstances including the woman’s sexual arousal, length of the relationship, and if the woman wanted to have intercourse but changed her mind.

Overall, they found that participants were unsure whether the behavior in the vignette was acceptable or not. Students found forced sex by a man to be most acceptable if the woman wanted to have sex and then changed her mind.

To investigate the influence of alcohol use on sexual assault risk perception,

Davis and colleagues (2009) randomly assigned college women to ingest alcohol, a placebo beverage, or a nonalcoholic beverage, and administered vignettes that varied the

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 27 level of relationship closeness (casual dating or relationship becoming serious). Their vignettes depicted a date in which the man increased his sexual demands over the evening; both vignettes indicated they had not yet had sexual intercourse, and that the woman did not yet want to do so. Davis and colleagues (2009) found that intoxicated women were less aware of ambiguous risk cues (e.g., isolation from others, being dependent on the man for transportation, and the man’s intoxication) than sober women.

There was no significant different among alcohol conditions in response to clear risk cues

(e.g., continued unwanted sexual advances, verbal demands for intercourse, and physical restraint). They found that sober women were more uncomfortable with clear risk cues compared to ambiguous cues, whereas the intoxicated women showed similar levels of comfort with both types of cues. Moreover, across alcohol conditions, women were more comfortable overall in the serious relationship condition than the casual relationship condition. These results suggest that the effect of alcohol and the degree of relationship seriousness on perceptions of sexually risky situations.

Rationale for Current Study

Sexual assault is a common problem, particularly among college women. The relationship between a victim and their perpetrator is a significant factor, as acquaintance and date rape account for the vast majority of these experiences. Despite the prevalence and negative impact on the victim, young adults appear to express varying opinions about interpersonal violence occurring within an intimate relationship. Moreover, college women are much less likely to make a report about a sexual assault if it was perpetrated by someone known to them rather than a stranger. Despite the fact that previous studies

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 28 have investigated perceptions of date rape scenarios, research related to contextual variables is still needed.

Sexual consent is a central topic to the discussion of sexual violence. There is significant variation within scholarly literature regarding what constitutes consent or non- consent, and how college students express and infer consent. Therefore, the current study focused on whether college students perceived sexual consent in various date rape vignettes. The current study also explored several variables that have yet to be sufficiently understood, and their influence on perceptions of consent. These variables included the context of their relationship (i.e., meeting in a classroom environment compared to meeting on a dating app) and the victim’s alcohol use at the time of the encounter. Lastly, the present study examined the influence background variables had on perceptions of consent, such as gender, history of sexual trauma, and rape myth acceptance.

Hypotheses

Hypothesis 1: Men will score higher in rape myth acceptance than women.

Hypothesis 2: Participants who score higher on rape myth acceptance will be more likely to perceive consent across conditions than those who score lower.

Hypothesis 3: Men will be more likely to perceive consent than women.

Hypothesis 4: Women with a history of sexual trauma will be more likely to perceive consent than women without a history of sexual trauma.

Hypothesis 5: Participants will be less likely to perceive consent in sobriety vignette conditions than in tipsy and drunk levels of alcohol consumption.

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 29

Hypothesis 6: Participants will be less likely to perceive consent in the classroom vignette conditions compared to dating app conditions.

Methods

Participants

Participants were recruited from the Florida Institute of Technology undergraduate introductory psychology class through the SONA system. Students volunteered to participate in exchange for class credit compensation. Students not fluent in reading and writing in English, and those under the age of 18, were excluded from the study. Participation was terminated if students did not provide consent.

Design

This study is a 2x3 mixed factorial design. Two independent variables were investigated in the vignettes administered: relationship introduction and alcohol consumption. Relationship introduction had two levels (classroom or through a dating application) and alcohol consumption had three levels (sober, tipsy, or drunk) for a total of six different combinations of factors represented in the vignettes. Other variables that were examined include participant gender, history of sexual trauma, and rape myth acceptance. Dependent variables that were analyzed include perceptions of sexual consent and rape.

Materials

Vignettes. Six vignettes were designed by a group of doctoral graduate students based on scholarly literature. The vignettes described a scenario in which a fictional female character (Penny) is sexually assaulted by a male character (James). In all

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 30 vignettes, the characters began to “make out,” James began to remove Penny’s clothes and Penny said “no,” however James was “persistent” and had sex with Penny. The six vignettes involved each combination of levels from two independent variables: relationship introduction and alcohol consumption. The relationship introduction variable contained two levels: meeting through a proximity-based mobile dating application or in a classroom. The alcohol consumption variable contained three levels in Penny’s intoxication: sober, tipsy, and drunk.

Each vignette was followed by standardized questions. These questions assessed for personal attitudes about: perception of consent and rape, attitudes about reporting, and what would prevent them from reporting the incident.

Sexual Experience Survey – Adult. The Sexual Experience Survey (SES) is a twelve-item questionnaire designed to measure sexual victimization in adults (Koss &

Oros, 1982). This measure focuses on female victims and male aggressors. Koss and

Gidycz (1985) found the SES to have good internal consistency and test-retest reliability.

Sexual Experience Survey – Under age 18. The SES has been modified to address sexual victimization occurring before the age of 18 (SES – Under 18). The instructions were changed to ask participants about sexual experiences they have had

"before the age of 18." This version is otherwise identical to the SES – Adult. Koss,

Gidycz, and Wisniewski (1987) similarly modified to address sexual assault prior to age

18, however, they limited their age range to experiences occurring after age 14. The current modification examined any sexual assault occurring before age 18.

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 31

Updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale. The original Illinois Rape Myth

Acceptance Scale (IRMA) is the most psychometrically sound measure of rape myth acceptance (Payne, Lonsway, & Fitzgerald, 1999). Payne et al. (1999) indicated the nature of rape myths is largely culture-bound and expressed in slang terminology, which changes with time. As a result, the language used in the original IRMA has become outdated. McMahon and Farmer (2011) revised the original IRMA scale to update the language to be more relevant to a modern college population. Their Updated IRMA contains 22-items and elicits responses on a 5-point Likert scale. Higher scores on the

Updated IRMA reflect greater rejection of rape myths. The items load onto four sub- scales: she asked for it, it wasn’t really rape, she lied, he didn’t mean to (excusing the perpetrator), and he didn’t mean to (alcohol consumption). The updated measure has demonstrated good criterion validity and internal consistency (McMahon & Farmer,

2011).

Procedure

This study was conducted in a single phase and took approximately 60 minutes for each participant to complete. Participation was available electronically through the

SONA system. Once individuals elected to participate, they were routed to the informed consent, which was signed electronically.

All participants were presented with all six vignettes during the course of the study. The vignettes were divided into two groups based on the levels of relationship introduction (i.e., dating application versus classroom). The participants were first presented with the vignettes in which the victim and the perpetrator met through a dating

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 32 application; the order of the three levels of alcohol consumption were presented in the order of sober, tipsy, then drunk. The participants were then presented with the vignettes in which the victim and the perpetrator met in class; the order of alcohol consumption levels were presented in the order of sober, tipsy, then drunk. With each vignette, the participants were also administered questions that assessed personal attitudes about the event.

After participants responded to questions relating to each of the six vignettes, they were administered the following questionnaires: SES – Adult, SES – Under 18, and the

Updated IRMA. Finally, the participants completed a demographic questionnaire.

Statistical Analysis

Simple frequency data was collected regarding all variables. Simple bivariate correlations were conducted to examine the relationship among all variables. Mixed- design Analysis of Variances (ANOVAs) were completed to investigate the effects of relationship introduction, alcohol consumption, and gender on perception of sexual consent and rape. Post-hoc and simple effects analyses were conducted to examine the specific nature of the significant differences. T-tests were conducted to examine the effect of gender and sexual trauma history on perceptions of consent, perceptions of rape, and rape myth acceptance.

Results

Participants

Originally, 134 participants entered into the study. Of these individuals, three did not provide consent and were eliminated from data analysis. Of the participants that

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 33 provided consent, nine did not respond to any of the remainder of the study and 14 did not respond to every vignette conditions. These cases were eliminated, leaving 108 remaining participants for data analysis.

This sample included 45 females (41.7%) and 63 males (58.3%). The majority of participants were ages 18-19 (n = 46, 42.6%) or 20-21 (n = 46, 42.6%), with some participants age 22-23 (n = 10, 9.3%) and 24 or older (n = 6, 5.6%). The number of years in college was collected and 28 participants (25.9%) had been in college for less than one year, 19 (17.6%) for one year, 28 (25.9%) for two years, 24 (22.2%) for three years, 6

(5.6%) for four years, and 2 (1.9%) for five or more years. Participants predominantly identified as Caucasian (n = 66, 61.1%), African American (n = 15, 13.9%), Hispanic (n

= 14, 13.0%), or Middle Eastern (n = 9, 8.3%).

Descriptive Statistics

SES responses. Participants were asked about sexual assault experiences in the

SES. The SES phrases questions such that women are asked about their sexual victimization history and men are asked about their sexual assault perpetration history.

This study aimed to investigate women as victims of sexual assault primarily because women are sexually assaulted much more frequently than men (RAINN, 2019).

Furthermore, this investigation of sexual victimization was limited to women to simplify the study.

A new variable was computed to determine the frequency of women’s sexual abuse (including any kind of sexual assault, attempted rape, or completed rape reported on the SES). It was found that 13 (28.9%) of women reported a history of either child or

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 34 adult sexual abuse. Of those 13 women who have ever experienced sexual abuse, 7

(53.8%) reported being abused both before and after the age of 18, and thus were considered revictimized. Ten women (22.2%) endorsed sexual abuse occurring before age 18, and 10 women (22.2%) endorsed sexual abuse occurring at or after age 18.

IRMA responses. The subscale scores were calculated as the mean of the items that factor into the subscale. The total score was calculated as the mean of all items.

Descriptive statistics were conducted, with genders analyzed together and separately, to investigate responses to the Updated IRMA. Table 1 displays the minimums, maximums, means, and standard deviations for IRMA subscale scores and total score for the current study’s entire sample. Results showed that participants were generally rejecting of rape myths across all subscales and the total score.

Correlations

Rape myth acceptance and perceptions of consent. A bivariate correlation was conducted to investigate the relationship between rape myth acceptance and average perceptions of consent across all vignette conditions. Table 2 presents correlations between perceptions of consent, perceptions of rape, and rape myth acceptance scores. It was found that the average consent response was significantly negatively correlated with all IRMA subscales and the total score, indicating that increased perceptions of consent are associated with greater rape myth acceptance. Thusly, individuals who were more accepting of rape myths were more likely to perceive consent in the date rape vignettes. It was also found that the average rape response was significantly positively correlated with all IRMA subscales and total score, indicating that increased perceptions of rape are

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 35 associated with greater rejection of rape myths. Thusly, individuals who were more rejecting of rape myths were more likely to perceive rape in the date rape vignettes.

Group Differences

Gender differences in rape myth acceptance. Table 3 presents the minimums, maximums, means and standard deviations for IRMA subscale and total scores for men and women. An independent samples t-test was performed to examine gender differences in rape myth acceptance. Results showed that every IRMA subscale and total score showed significant gender differences in which men are more accepting of rape myths than women. In the “She Asked For It” subscale, Levene’s test suggested that variances were not statistically equivalent, F(96) = 5.48, p = .02, so equal variances were not assumed. Results showed that men (M = 3.52, SD = 0.97) were significantly more accepting of the rape myth, “She Asked for It,” than women (M = 4.28, 0.68), t(95.98) = -

4.58, p < .001, with a 95% CI [-1.10, -0.43]. The difference presents a large sized effect,

Cohen’s d = 0.91. In the “He Didn’t Mean To” subscale, Levene’s test suggested that variances were not statistically equivalent, F(102) = 8.36, p = .005, so equal variances were not assumed. Results showed that men (M = 3.16, SD = .73) were significantly more accepting of the rape myth, “He Didn’t Mean To,” than women (M = 3.85, SD = .91), t(75.63) = -4.12, p < .001, with a 95% CI [-1/03, -0.36]. This difference presents a large sized effect, Cohen’s d = 0.84. In the “It Wasn’t Really Rape,” subscale, Levene’s test suggested that variances were not statistically equivalent, F(103) = 8.06, p = .005, so equal variances were not assumed. Results showed that men (M = 4.27, SD = 0.09) were significant more accepting of the rape myth, “It Wasn’t Really Rape,” than women (M =

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 36

4.73, SD = 0.08), t(102.97) = -3.78, p < .001, with a 95% CI [-0.70, -0.22]. This difference presents a medium sized effect, Cohen’s d = 0.73. In the “She Lied” subscale,

Levene’s test suggested that variances were statistically equivalent, F(103) = 0.002, p =

.97, so equal variances were assumed. Results showed that men (M = 3.00, SD = 1.00) were significantly more accepting of the rape myth, “She Lied,” than women (M = 3.97,

SD = 0.93), t(103) = 0.97, p < .001, with a 95% CI [-1.35, -0.59]. This differences presents a large sized effect, Cohen’s d = 1.12. In the total score, Levene’s test suggested that variances were statistically equivalent, F(89) = 1.59, p = .21, so equal variances were assumed. Results showed than men (M = 3.50, SD = 0.70) were significantly more accepting of rape myths than women (M = 4.24, SD = 0.55), t(89) -5.32, p < .001, with a

95% CI [-1.01, -0.46]. This difference presents a large sized effect, Cohen’s d = 1.18.

Thus it is clear that men are more accepting of rape myths in general, and of each specific type of rape myth, than women.

Effect of trauma history on perceptions of consent. Table 4 presents the means and standard deviations for perceptions of sexual consent and rape in women with and without a sexual trauma history. An independent samples t-test was conducted to investigate whether a woman’s history of sexual trauma influences her perceptions of consent or rape. With regard to perceptions of consent, Levene’s test suggested variances were statistically equivalent, F(42) = 1.28, p = .26, so equal variances were assumed.

Results found that there was no significant difference in perceptions of consent between college women with a sexual trauma history (M = 1.28, SD = 0.52) and those without a trauma history (M = 1.49, SD = 0.99), t(42) = 0.73, p = .47, with a 95% CI [-0.37, 0.80].

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 37

In perceptions of rape, Levene’s test suggested variances were statistically equivalent,

F(42) = 0.04, p = .85, so equal variances were assumed. Results found that there was no significant difference in perceptions of rape between college women with a sexual trauma history (M = 6.45, SD = 0.99) and those without a trauma history (M = 6.32, SD = 1.15), t(42) = -0.38, p = .71, with a 95% CI [-0.86, 0.58].

Effect of relationship context, alcohol consumption, and gender on perceptions of consent. Table 5 presents the means and standard deviations for perceptions of consent in each vignette condition. Neither men (M = 1.96, SD = .12) nor women (M = 1.43, SD = .14) generally perceived sexual consent in the vignettes. A mixed-design ANOVA was conducted to investigate the effect of methods of relationship introduction, levels of alcohol consumption, and gender on perceived consent. Mauchly’s test of sphericity indicated the assumption of sphericity had been violated for the main effect of alcohol consumption, 2(2) = 26.32, p < .001, therefore degrees of freedom were corrected using Greenhouse-Geisser estimates of sphericity for this main effect.

Mauchly’s test of sphericity was not violated for the interaction effect, 2(2) = 0.09, p =

.96, therefore degrees of freedom were not corrected and sphericity was assumed. Results showed there was no significant main effect for relationship introduction, F(1, 105) =

1.43, p = .23, or for alcohol consumption, F(1.64, 171.63) = 0.66, p = .49. There was no significant interaction effect for relationship and gender, F(1, 105) = 0.54, p = .46, alcohol and gender, F(1.64, 171.63) = 1.39, p = .25, or relationship, alcohol, and gender,

F(2.00, 209.82) = 0.92, p = .40.

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 38

There was a significant main effect of gender, F(1, 105) = 8.12, p = .005. Men (M

= 1.96, SD = .12) were significantly more likely to perceive Penny as having consented to sex in the vignette than women (M = 1.43, SD = .14). There was a significant interaction effect of method of relationship introduction and level of alcohol consumption, F(2.00,

209.82) = 4.97, p = .008. Simple effects suggest that, when students met in a classroom setting, college respondents are more likely to perceive consent when Penny was tipsy (M

= 1.94, SD = .13, p = .01) than when she was drunk (M = 1.65, SD = .11). Simple effects also suggest that when Penny was tipsy, students are more likely to perceive consent when the vignette depicted meeting James in a classroom (M = 1.94, SD = .13, p = .002) compared to on a dating app (M = 1.65, SD = .10).

Effect of relationship context, alcohol consumption, and gender on perceptions of rape. Table 6 presents the means and standard deviations for perceptions of rape in each vignette condition. Both men (M = 5.54, SD = .15) and women (M = 6.36,

SD = .18) generally perceived the situation in the vignettes as rape. A mixed-design

ANOVA was conducted to examine the effects of relationship introduction and alcohol level on perceptions of rape, and whether the effects are different between men and women. Mauchly’s test of sphericity indicated that the assumption of sphericity had been violated for the main effect of alcohol consumption, 2(2) = 15.48, p < .001, therefore degrees of freedom were corrected using Greenhouse-Geisser estimates of sphericity for this main effect. Mauchly’s test of sphericity was not violated for the interaction effect,

2(2) = 0.54, p = .76, therefore degrees of freedom were not corrected and sphericity was assumed. Results showed there was no significant main effect for relationship

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 39 introduction, F(1, 104) = 0.01, p = .91, partial 2 < .001. There were no significant interaction effects for relationship and gender, F(1, 104) = 1.71, p = .16, partial 2 = .02, alcohol and gender, F(1.76, 182.53) = 2.55, p = .08, partial 2 = .02, relationship and alcohol, F(2, 208) = 1.08, p = .34, partial 2 = .01, or for relationship, alcohol, and gender, F(2, 208) = 1.43, p = .24, partial 2 = .01.

There was main effect for alcohol consumption, F(1.76, 182.53) = 8.17, p = .002, partial 2 = .06. Post-hoc tests with Bonferonni correction suggested that students were more likely to perceive the situation as rape when Penny was drunk (M = 6.17, SD = .13) compared to when she was sober (M = 5.82, SD = .14, p = .01). Results showed there was also a significant main effect for gender, F(1, 104) = 12.02, p = .001, partial 2 = .10.

Women (M = 6.36, SD = .18) were more likely to perceive rape than men (M = 5.54, SD

= .15).

Discussion

Sexual assault is an extremely prevalent problem and is of significant concern on college campuses. In the college setting, alcohol consumption must be considered in an exploration of sexual assault as previous literature has supported its role as a risk factor

(e.g., Abbey et al., 2004; Cleere & Lynn, 2013; Fisher et al., 2000; Krebs et al., 2009) and its role in blurring the boundaries of students’ perceptions of consent and sexual assault (e.g., Burnett et al., 2009; Hess (2015). The influence of relationship context, specifically meeting a date on a mobile dating app, was an additional factor brought into the current study due to its prevalence and timeliness in the college population. This

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 40 examination of the relationship between dating app use and perceptions of sexual consent and sexual assault adds a new and unique contribution to academic literature. While some studies have researched other facets of dating app use, its influence on perceptions of consent in a date rape scenario has not yet been explored. The current study investigated the influence of alcohol consumption and relationship context on perceptions of consent and rape. The influence of participant background factors, such as gender, rape myth acceptance, sexual trauma history, and trauma-related symptoms, on these outcome variables were also investigated.

Sexual Assault Prevalence

The current study found that 28.9% of women were sexually assaulted at some point if their life, and 22.2% were sexually assaulted since age 18, which suggests this occurred since entering college. These findings are consistent with prevalence rates reported in previous literature (e.g., Krebs et al., 2009; Muehlenhard et al., 2017).

Rape Myth Acceptance

College men were found to be significantly more accepting of rape myths than women, in every subscale and in their total scores. This relationship is in the expected direction, supports the author’s hypothesis, and replicates results found in previous literature with college students (e.g., Rollero & Tartaglia, 2019). This indicates that men are more susceptible to have beliefs about blaming sexual assault victims and excusing sexual assault perpetrators. This may be due to gendered socialization beginning from a young age.

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 41

It was also found that greater rape myth acceptance was related to increased perceptions of consent. This relationship supports the hypothesis and is in the expected direction. However, the current study found that both college men and women were overall generally rejecting of rape myths. This finding seems to be consistent with scores reported in previous literature with college students (e.g., Rollero & Tartaglia, 2019;

Streng & Kamimura, 2016). However, while this may suggest the participants are generally rejecting of rape myths, it may rather be the case that responses were influenced by social desirability bias, and that these responses do not accurately reflect participants’ true beliefs.

Perceptions of Consent and Rape

Rape myth acceptance. There were several statistically significant findings in regard to perceptions of consent. There was a negative relationship between rape myth rejection and perceptions consent, meaning that students who are more accepting of rape myths were generally more likely to perceive consent in the date rape vignettes. Thusly, increased rape myth acceptance was found to be related to a greater likelihood to perceive consent in the date rape vignettes. Following suit, there was a significant positive relationship between rape myth rejection and perceptions of rape, meaning that students that are more accepting of rape myths were less likely to perceive rape in the date rape vignettes. Thusly, increased rape myth rejection was found to be related to greater likelihood to perceive rape in the date rape vignettes. These relationships are in the expected direction and support the hypothesis that rape myth acceptance will be positively related to perceiving consent in the date rape vignettes. These results suggest

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 42 that one’s attitudes about sexual assault victims and perpetrators are strongly related to their perceptions of real life situations of sexual assault. Relatedly, these results may suggest that sexual assault prevention programs that focus on reducing rape myth acceptance would be effective in improving participants’ perceptions of real life situations.

Gender. Men were significantly more likely to perceive consent than women, and women were significantly more likely to perceive rape than men in the date rape vignettes. While these findings are in the expected direction and support the hypothesis, the differences in the means are not large enough to be clinically meaningful.

History of sexual trauma. Weiss (2009) found that women with a history of sexual victimization are more likely than other women to perceive male aggression as normal. With this finding in consideration, it was hypothesized that women with a history of sexual trauma would be more likely to perceive consent in the date rape scenario than women without such history. There were no significant differences found between women with and without a sexual trauma history on perceptions of sexual consent or rape. The results of the current study are not in support of the hypothesis. These results may be a consequence of the obvious description of assault depicted in the vignettes. It is possible that more ambiguous descriptions of assault would have lent themselves to result in greater variation in perceptions of consent. However, these results may be characteristic of the use of vignettes in research in general. Previous researchers have suggested that vignette research does not capture the phenomena of revictimization in trauma survivors.

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 43

Influence of alcohol consumption. It was hypothesized that consent would be less likely to be perceived in the sober condition compared to tipsy and drunk levels of alcohol consumption. There was no main effect found for alcohol consumption in perceptions of consent. The interaction effect suggested rape was perceived more in the condition when Penny was drunk than when she was sober. This is in partial support of the study’s hypothesis. This finding may be due to respondents’ victim blaming beliefs – specifically, believing that Penny should have had the capability to stop the rape when she was sober, and that she was in less control while intoxicated. Nonetheless, the difference of means in this finding are not large enough to be clinically meaningful.

Influence of relationship context. It was hypothesized that consent would be less perceived in the classroom conditions compared to dating app conditions. The findings indicated no main effect for relationship context in either perceptions of consent or rape, and does not support the hypothesis. This may be due to a lack of specificity in the type of dating app used or the obviousness of the sexual assault depicted in the vignettes.

Limitations

One significant methodological error in the current study is that the vignette conditions were presented to participants in a standardized order; the order of presentation was not counterbalanced. As a result, participants may have responded differently to conditions based on their order of presentation. Perreault (1976) summarizes the problem of order-effect bias; the first item presented has been seen to create an “anchor” that influences participants’ responses to later items. Consequently, the participant then alters their “true response pattern” as the items progress. This

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 44 methodological error threatens the validity of the current results. This methodology was developed and administered prior to the current project, so the error was not detected by the current author until data analysis was underway.

Another form of bias that may have influenced responding is the social desirability effect. Based on various aspects of previous research and popular literature, it was expected that students would be much more accepting of rape myths, and that there would be more profound differences in perceptions of sexual consent between levels of relationship context and alcohol consumption variables. However, as these results and differences were not as robust as expected, it is suspected that a social desirability effect may have influenced responding. Moreover, the clear rape depicted in the vignettes may have been more vulnerable to a social desirability effect than a more ambiguous, or a varied, description. For methodological and simplicity reasons, the vignette authors did not want to create a varied, or more ambiguous, rape description. However, in retrospect, this may have been an error that led to less variability in responses about perceptions of consent.

The obvious description of rape may have influenced the lack of score variability.

Moreover, the use of the general term “dating app” may have been too ambiguous to influence the responses regarding consent. Although there were some significant differences found, the meaningfulness of the results are not robust.

Future research should continue to investigate the influence of relationship context and alcohol consumption on perceptions of consent. Methodological errors should be avoided in future research to increase the likelihood of finding clinically

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 45 meaningful results. To reduce the possibility of social desirability bias, future research may consider a more naturalistic collection of data. One consideration for more naturalistic responding is the use of video, rather than written, vignettes. Moreover, more ambiguous descriptions of sexual assault should be utilized in effort to elicit greater variability among perceptions of consent.

Conclusion

This study investigated the influence of various factors on perceptions of consent and rape in college students in response to vignettes that depict a date rape scenario. The primary factors investigated were levels of alcohol use by the female character in the vignettes and the context of the relationship: meeting in a classroom versus meeting through a dating app. Other factors investigated were background variables including participant gender, sexual trauma history, and rape myth acceptance. The clearest finding of this study is the gender difference in perceptions of consent; men were more likely to perceive consent in the date rape vignettes and women were more likely to perceive rape.

This finding was in the expected direction and is likely related to the finding that men scored higher in rape myth acceptance than women. While this and other results of the current study do not provide much clinical utility, they can be used to guide future research and program development. These findings can inform the development of future college rape prevention programs. Specifically, these results suggest that reducing rape myth acceptance is a valid area of content to focus on in these programs. Furthermore, as previous research has suggested, the current findings support the notion that rape

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 46 prevention programs would be most beneficial when conducted in separate classes for men and women.

The current author has several suggestions for future research in this area. The first suggestion regards the level of ambiguity in the depiction of sexual assault in the vignette. The current study used a fairly obvious depiction of sexual assault. However, this description may have lent itself to be vulnerable to social desirability bias regarding the responses about perceptions of consent. If future research investigates more ambiguous descriptions of sexual assault, it may find greater variation in responses regarding perceptions of consent. The second suggestion regards the use of a general term for the “dating app.” Previous literature has suggested that users have different intentions and purposes when accessing different specific dating apps. This suggests that some apps may be more for the purpose of casual sexual encounters than other apps. For this reason, it is suggested that future research specifies the specific dating app of investigation to reduce ambiguity regarding the intentions of the dating app user. The last suggestion regards the use of vignettes in studying sexual assault and perceptions of consent.

Previous research has indicated that vignettes do not capture the subtleties of in-person interactions and non-verbal communication. Moreover, providing a written narrative of the situation may contribute to the obvious description of sexual assault. It is suggested that future research investigate these phenomena with use of video dramatizations to improve the generalization to real life sexual assault scenarios.

The problems of sexual assault, alcohol use, and date rape are important, prevalent, and complicated issues. Understanding issues that may lead to prevention

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 47 strategies based on empirical literature. Using empirically-based to develop strategies for prevention of sexual assault, including the identification of high risk scenarios, will be important in addressing this problem on college campuses. Particularly with the rise of dating apps and the lack of research in that unique area, more research is truly needed to understand the influence that dating apps have on college students’ perceptions of consent.

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 48

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Appendix A

Vignettes Presented to Participants

Situation #1 James and Penny are both students in college. They met each other on a popular location- based mobile app that utilizes a swiping method to meet potential matches based on mutual attraction. After a few messages, they decided to meet at a local sports bar for their first date. They were having a good time when the bar called last call so they decided to go back to Penny’s house. Penny was sober. Once they got back to Penny’s house they began to make out. James started to take off Penny’s clothes and Penny said no. James was persistent and had sex with Penny.

Situation #2 James and Penny are both students in college. They met each other on a popular location- based mobile app that utilizes a swiping method to meet potential matches based on mutual attraction. After a few messages, they decided to meet at a local sports bar for their first date. They were having a good time when the bar called last call so they decided to go back to Penny’s house. Penny was also tipsy at this point. Once they got back to Penny’s house they began to make out. James started to take off Penny’s clothes and Penny said no. James was persistent and had sex with Penny.

Situation #3 James and Penny are both students in college. They met each other on a popular location- based mobile app that utilizes a swiping method to meet potential matches based on mutual attraction. After a few messages, they decided to meet at a local sports bar for their first date. They were having a good time when the bar called last call so they decided to go back to Penny’s house. Penny was drunk at this point. Once they got back to Penny’s house they began to make out. James started to take off Penny’s clothes and Penny said no. James was persistent and had sex with Penny.

Situation #4 James and Penny are both students in college. They met each other in class. After talking for a few weeks, they decided to meet at a local sports bar for their first date. They were having a good time when the bar called last call so they decided to go back to Penny’s house. Penny was sober. Once they got back to Penny’s house they began to make out. James started to take off Penny’s clothes and Penny said no. James was persistent and had sex with Penny.

Situation #5 James and Penny are both students in college. They met each other in class. After talking for a few weeks, they decided to meet at a local sports bar for their first date. They were

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 63 having a good time when the bar called last call so they decided to go back to Penny’s house. Penny was also tipsy at this point. Once they got back to Penny’s house they began to make out. James started to take off Penny’s clothes and Penny said no. James was persistent and had sex with Penny.

Situation #6 James and Penny are both students in college. They met each other in class. After talking for a few weeks, they decided to meet at a local sports bar for their first date. They were having a good time when the bar called last call so they decided to go back to Penny’s house. Penny was drunk at this point. Once they got back to Penny’s house they began to make out. James started to take off Penny’s clothes and Penny said no. James was persistent and had sex with Penny.

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 64

Standardized Vignette Questions

Keeping the story in mind, please answer the following questions. 1. To what degree do you think Penny might have wanted the sex? (Please choose a number)

Definitely Somewhat Definitely Did Not Want Wanted Wanted

1------2------3------4------5------6------7

2. To what degree do you think Penny consented to the sex? (Please choose a number)

Definitely Somewhat Definitely Did Not Consented Consented Consent 1------2------3------4------5------6------7

3. To what degree do you think Penny clearly expressed her feelings about having sex? (Please choose a number)

Not at All Somewhat Very Clearly Clearly Clearly

1------2------3------4------5------6------7

4. To what degree do you think Penny had control over what happened? (Please choose a number)

She Had She Had She Had No Control Some All At All Control Control

1------2------3------4------5------6------7

5. To what degree do you think James had control over what happened? (Please choose a number)

He Had He Had He Had No Control Some All At All Control Control

1------2------3------4------5------6------7

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 65

6. To what degree do you think James thought Penny wanted sex? (Please choose a number)

He Thought He Was He Thought She Did Not Unsure If She Wanted Want it She Wanted It It

1------2------3------4------5------6------7

7. To what degree do you think James thought Penny consented to the sex? (Please choose a number)

Definitely Somewhat Definitely Did Not Consented Consented Consent 1------2------3------4------5------6------7

8. To what degree do you think James thought Penny was resisting the sex? (Please choose a number)

He Thought He Was He Thought She Was Not Sure She Was Resisting Not Resisting

1------2------3------4------5------6------7

9. To what degree would you call this situation a ‘rape’? (Please choose a number)

Definitely It is Something Definitely Not Rape in Between Rape

1------2------3------4------5------6------7

10. If you were Penny, would you report what happened to the authorities (such as police, school officials, medical/mental health professional, crisis hotline, friends or family)? a. Yes b. No

11. If you were Penny, what reasons might have stopped you from reporting? a. No one would believe me b. I would be afraid of the negative social reactions

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 66

c. I am not sure that it was “real” rape d. Self blame: I should have made better choices e. I have no proof or evidence that it happened f. Other

12. Should Penny report what happened to the authorities (such as police, school officials, etc)? a. Yes b. No

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 67

Sexual Experiences Survey

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 68

Updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (IRMA)

Strongly agree Strongly disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Subscale 1: She asked for it 1. If a girl is raped while she is drunk, she is at least somewhat responsible for letting things get out of hand. 2. When girls go to parties wearing slutty clothes, they are asking for trouble. 3. If a girl goes to a room alone with a guy at a party, it is her own fault if she is raped. 4. If a girl acts like a slut, eventually she is going to get into trouble. 5. When girls get raped, it’s often because the way they said “no” was unclear. 6. If a girl initiates kissing or hooking up, she should not be surprised if a guy assumes she wants to have sex. Subscale 2: He didn’t mean to 7. When guys rape, it is usually because of their strong desire for sex. 8. Guys don’t usually intend to force sex on a girl, but sometimes they get too sexually carried away. 9. Rape happens when a guy’s sex drive goes out of control. 10. If a guy is drunk, he might rape someone unintentionally. 11. It shouldn’t be considered rape if a guy is drunk and didn’t realize what he was doing. 12. If both people are drunk, it can’t be rape. Subscale 3: It wasn’t really rape 13. If a girl doesn’t physically resist sex—even if protesting verbally—it can’t be considered rape. 14. If a girl doesn’t physically fight back, you can’t really say it was rape. 15. A rape probably doesn’t happen if a girl doesn’t have any bruises or marks. 16. If the accused “rapist” doesn’t have a weapon, you really can’t call it rape. 17. If a girl doesn’t say “no” she can’t claim rape. Subscale 4: She lied 18. A lot of times, girls who say they were raped agreed to have sex and then regret it. 19. Rape accusations are often used as a way of getting back at guys. 20. A lot of times, girls who say they were raped often led the guy on and then had regrets. 21. A lot of times, girls who claim they were raped have emotional problems. 22. Girls who are caught cheating on their boyfriends sometimes claim it was rape.

• Scoring: Scores range from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree). • Scores may be totaled for a cumulative score. • Higher scores indicate greater rejection of rape myths.

(Payne, Lonsway, & Fitzgerald, 1999; McMahon & Farmer, 2011)

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 69

Appendix B

Table 1.

Minimums, Maximums, Means, and Standard Deviations for Updated IRMA Subscales and Total Score Min Max M SD She Asked For It 1.67 5.00 3.83 0.94 He Didn’t Mean To 1.50 5.00 3.44 0.87 It Wasn’t Really 2.00 5.00 4.46 0.69 Rape She Lied 1.00 5.00 3.39 1.08 Total Score 2.09 5.00 3.80 0.74 *Note. Higher scores reflect rejection of rape myths.

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 70

Table 2.

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 71

Table 3.

Minimums, Maximums, Means, and Standard Deviations for Responses to Updated IRMA Subscales and Total Score Min Max M SD Men She Asked For It 1.67 5.00 3.52 0.97 He Didn’t Mean To 1.50 5.00 3.16 0.73 It Wasn’t Really Rape 2.00 5.00 4.27 0.74 She Lied 1.00 5.00 3.00 1.00 Total Score 2.09 4.82 3.50 0.70 Women She Asked For It 2.67 5.00 4.28 0.68 He Didn’t Mean To 2.17 5.00 3.85 0.91 It Wasn’t Really 2.80 5.00 4.73 0.50 Rape She Lied 1.80 5.00 3.97 0.93 Total Score 2.86 5.00 4.24 0.55

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 72

Table 4.

Means and Standard Deviations for Perceived Consent and Rape in Women With and Without a Sexual Trauma History Women with Sexual Trauma Women without Sexual Trauma History History

M SD M SD Consent 1.28 0.52 1.49 0.99 Rape 6.45 0.99 6.32 1.15

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 73

Table 5.

Means and Standard Deviations for Overall Perceived Consent Across Vignette Conditions Sober Tipsy Drunk M SD M SD M SD Dating App 1.74 .12 1.65 .10 1.72 .12 Classroom 1.78 .12 1.94 .13 1.65 .11

ATTITUDES ABOUT DATE RAPE: CONTEXT AND CONSENT 74

Table 6.

Means and Standard Deviations for Overall Perceptions of Rape Across Vignette Conditions Sober Tipsy Drunk M SD M SD M SD Dating App 5.76 .14 5.89 .14 6.22 .14 Classroom 5.88 .16 5.85 .14 6.12 .14