Empirical Evaluation Of The Major Explanations Of Women's Rape Fantasy

Women’s Rape Fantasies: An Empirical Evaluation of the Major Explanations This study was aimed at determining possible explanations of rape fantasies which woman experience. The researchers came up with six hypotheses. The first was that Erotophilia will be negatively related to frequency of rape fantasies. The second one was that frequency of consensual sexual fantasies will be negatively related to frequency of rape fantasies. The third one was that the openness predictors, erotophilia, frequency of consensual sexual fantasies, openness to fantasy, and sensation seeking, will show positive relationships with frequency of rape fantasies. The fourth one is that Openness predictors will show positive relationships with sexual arousal to

The first explanation was the women’s openness to sexual experience which states that rape fantasies may derive from a woman’s generally open, accepting, and guilt-free attitude toward sex (Gold et al., 1991; Pelletier & Herold, 1988; Strassberg & Lockerd, 1998). The second explanation was the woman’s sense of sexual desirability and attractiveness. The central idea here is that the rape fantasy portrays the woman as so attractive, seductive, and irresistible that, in her presence, men cannot control themselves (Hariton, 1973; Heiman, LoPiccolo, & LoPiccolo, 1976; Kanin, 1982; Knafo & Jaffe, 1984). The third explanation was that of sexual blame avoidance which states that these fantasies allow women to avoid blame or guilt that may arise from directly expressing their sexual desires (Critelli & Bivona, 2008; Hawley & Hensley, 2009; Knafo & Jaffe, 1984; Moreault & Follingstad, 1978; Shulman & Horne,

Participants were 355 women over the age of 18 years from two state universities in the southwestern U.S. The study was described as research on sexuality, including personality, sexual fantasy, and sexual aggression. Participants received research credit for their participation. Ages ranged from 18 to 33 (M=20.04, SD=2.41). The sample was 59% Caucasian/White, 16% African American/Black, 13%Hispanic/Latina, 6%Biracial,5% Asian American or Pacific Islander, and 1% American Indian or Alaskan Native. With regard to marital status, 89% were single, 5% were married, .3% were divorced, and 5% listed their marital status as other. For sexual orientation, 91% described themselves as heterosexual, 6% as bisexual, 2% as lesbian, and 1% as other. They were examined using a sexual fantasy checklist, which included eight types of rape fantasies, participants’ descriptions of a rape fantasy they have had, a rape fantasy scenario audio presentation, and measures of personality. While this is a good sample size, the problem lies with the distribution of the sample. A larger sample with regard to all women of different age groups and walks of life, not just undergraduate students, would have aided in the data analysis, particularly when looking for possible interactions between age or background and explanation of rape fantasies. Besides that, a far too small sample size of minority groups were used compared to Caucasians which made up