NCJ Number
81155
Journal
Journal of Social Issues Volume: 37 Issue: 4 Dated: (Fall 1981) Pages: 123-137
Date Published
1981
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This paper is based on interviews with a sub-sample of 13 women who had been both raped and had avoided being raped when attacked.
Abstract
Both acts had to occur when the woman was an adult, and at least one attack had to have taken place not more than two years prior to the interview. These women were part of a larger convenience sample of 94 women, 18 and over, who had either been raped or had avoided being raped when threatened within two years prior to the interview. The interviews examined both background and situational variables. Because for these 13 women the background factors, except for the prior assault, were held constant since each women was her own control, it is possible to see the impact of situational variables on the outcome -- rape or rape avoidance. Women were more likely to avoid rape under the following circumstances: 1) when they were attacked by strangers, 2) when they used multiple strategies, screamed and physically struggled, 3) when the assault took place outside, and 4) when their primary concern was with not being raped. Women were more likely to be raped under the following circumstances: 1) when they were attacked by men they knew, particularly if they had had a prior sexual relationship with them, 2) when the only strategy they used was talking or pleading, 3) when the assault took place in their homes, 4) when their primary concern was with not being killed or mutilated, and 5) when there was a threat of force. (Publisher abstract)