Table :

Table 12.1 Sample Items Used to Measure Rape Myths

Rape Myth

Measuring Statement

She asked for it

When women go around wearing low-cut tops or short skirts, they’re just asking for trouble.

It wasn’t really rape

If a woman doesn’t physically resist sex—even when protesting verbally—it really can’t be considered rape.

He didn’t mean to

Men don’t usually intend to force sex on a woman, but sometimes they get too sexually carried away.

She wanted it

Although most women wouldn’t admit it, they generally find being physically forced into sex a real turn-on.

She lied

Many so-called rape victims are actually women who had sex willingly and changed their minds afterward.

Rape is a trivial event

Women tend to exaggerate how much rape affects them.

Rape is a deviant event

Men from nice, middle-class homes almost never rape.

[Research from: Payne et al. (1999)]