28 American students said they would rape a woman if there were no consequences
They were asked if violence was ‘manly’ and danger was ‘exciting’
Harry ShukmanA third of male students at an American uni said they would rape a woman if there were no consequences for them, a new study has claimed.
Prof Sarah Edwards at North Dakota found 31.7 per cent of men who were polled said they would force a woman to have sexual intercourse with them in a “consequence-free situation”.
And 13.6 per cent of participants—most of whom were third years—said they would rape a woman regardless of the consequences.
A Cardiff promo firm tried to promote a night with a rape joke in 2013
The news comes after a survey revealed a third of women say they were sexually assaulted at uni – and almost half of them didn’t tell anyone.
Researchers in America also quizzed the 87 volunteers about their level of hostility towards women and if it influenced the results.
The aim was to show participants did not know “coercing somebody to intercouse by holding them down” is the same as rape.
They read out statements like “I feel that many women flirt with men just to tease them and hurt them” and “I am easily angered by women” and made judgements depending on how high they agreed or disagreed.
Other questions assessed the participants’ scale of “hypermasculinity”, including if they found danger “exciting”, if they thought violence was “manly” and if they were genuinely fans of “callous sexual attitudes”.
This comes after Californian lawmakers passed the “affirmative consent” bill which demands students verbally consent to sex beforehand.
The bill says: “Affirmative consent must be ongoing throughout a sexual activity and can be revoked at any time.
“The existence of a dating relationship between the persons involved, or the fact of past sexual relations between them, should never by itself be assumed to be an indicator of consent.”
Read the study here.