GENDER-ROLE AND ATTITUDES TOWARD RAPE IN MALE AND FEMALE COLLEGE-STUDENTS

This study examined the relationship between college students' gender roles and attitudes toward rape. Subjects were 145 male and 374 female college students with a mean age of 20.1 years. The institution has a 12.5% minority population. Subjects received a questionnaire packet c ontaining the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), an acquaintance or strang er rape scenario, a questionnaire designed to assess attitudes toward the scenario, the short version of the Attitudes Towards Women Scale ( AWS), the Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (RMAS), and the Attitudes Toward Rape questionnaire (ATR). It was hypothesized that participants classi fied as masculine according to the BSRI would believe in more rape myt hs, hold more pro-rape attitudes, and believe in more traditional gend er roles than would those who were classified as feminine, androgynous , or undifferentiated A gender by gender role interaction on the AWS r evealed that feminine and androgynous men were exceptions to the patte rn that men had significantly less egalitarian views than women. Respo nses to the scenario questionnaire suggested that women and men view a cquaintance rape differently, and that men may experience more attitud e change as a result of a rape awareness workshop than women.