title: Women's attitudes toward forcible rape.
abstract: This study assessed the attitudes of women with diverse backgrounds toward possible responses to an attempted sexual assault and also ascertained their beliefs about how society should handle a convicted rapist. Additionally, the role which the personality dimensions of assertiveness and internal-external expectamcy play in shaping attitudes toward rape was investigated. Seventy-seven women and 25 men were administered the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule, the Rotter I-E Scale, and a Rape Inventory. Women relied on a narrow range of options to deal with a rapist's attack, depending mostly on less active modes. They advocated humane approaches be taken with convicted rapists. Personality played only a minor role.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001290:Attitude; D001519:Behavior; D004924:Escape Reaction; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D011678:Punishment; D011902:Rape; D012926:Social Control, Formal; D014930:Women