MENS REACTIONS TO HYPOTHETICAL FORCEFUL SEXUAL ADVANCES FROM WOMEN - THE ROLE OF SEXUAL STANDARDS, RELATIONSHIP AVAILABILITY, AND THE BEAUTY BIAS

The study investigated 142 college men's reactions to a vignette in wh ich they were to imagine receiving a physically forceful sexual advanc e from a female casual acquaintance. Participants were predominantly m iddle-class Caucasian students from psychology classes. Results reveal ed that men with more restricted sexual standards had significantly mo re negative reactions to the advance than did men with less restricted standards. Further only 16% of men with more restricted sexual standa rds, compared to 34% of men with less restricted standards, said they would consent to sex with the vignette woman. Men who were instructed to assume that they had a girlfriend in the scenario situation had mor e negative reactions to the advance than did men who assumed that they did not have a girlfriend Evidence was found for a beauty bias: men w ho read that the initiator was average looking had less positive react ions than did men who read that the initiator was very attractive. Res ults add support to the authors' Sexual Opportunity Model explaining m en's reactions to coercive sexual contact with women.