NCJ Number
207193
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 9 Issue: 6 Dated: September-October 2004 Pages: 579-604
Editor(s)
Vincent B. Van Hasselt,
Michel Hersen
Date Published
September 2004
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This article is a literature review of the proposition that cognitions play a crucial role in men’s desire to rape.
Abstract
This document reviews a variety of research on rapists including research on date rapists, marital rapists, and convicted offenders. Most of the research on date or acquaintance rape comes from surveys of college students, while research on marital rape comes from interviews with victims. The research on incarcerated offenders comes from research on hospitalized or imprisoned populations. Research on gang rape, serial rapists, rapist/murderers, and homosexual rape is less common and therefore not frequently included in this literature review. Thus, the majority of the research reviewed for this article is on college students and convicted offenders. The main thesis of this literature review is men’s cognitions foster rape, which is what some men think enables them to commit rape. These cognitions involve rapists’ attitudes and beliefs about sex (rape-supportive beliefs, sexual preoccupation, and hypersexuality), their sexual scripts (including fantasies and sexual plans), and their beliefs about appropriate masculinity (i.e., hypermasculinity). The model proposes that date rapists and convicted offenders are linked by a common set of beliefs about sex, rape, and masculinity. These belief systems include: the beliefs that rape is justified and that men and women are sexual enemies; that men are more sexual than women and that excessive sexual preoccupation and sexual arousal in men are acceptable; that scripts and fantasies draw out and replay sexual scenarios in the rapist’s head; and include the man’s view of appropriate masculinity and whether his view about himself allows for the use of sexual force against women. The review also shows that the elements in this cognitive model of rape are interrelated. Recommendations for future research are included. References and 1 table