Introduction

• Rape will never be completely eradicated.

• However, research has found some variables that are at the root of the issue:

• Masculine gender roles

• Socialization to adulthood

• Male sexual aggression

• Cultural rape myths

• These are cultural norms that can be challenged.

• Their sociological elements suggest an ideological framework from which sociologists, psychologists, educators, communication experts, and others can develop and test prevention strategies.

• More research needs to be conducted to identify strategies or thought processes likely to prevent a rape, such as:

  • Stopping a rape when it seems inevitable. 

  • Identifying and disseminating information about patterns of behavior that may serve as a warning to potential victims.

  • Clearly establishing what constitutes consent to sexual activity.

   

  Filling the Research Gap

• I conducted a doctoral dissertation that offers an empirical study of date rape, focusing on verbal and nonverbal communication patterns that are factors in the date rape event. 

• The study placed emphasis on miscommunications and misperceptions that can be analyzed empirically rather than through generalization. 

• I conducted in-depth personal interviews with 18 date rapists and subsequent focus group discussions to verify findings.  

  My Goals

• I was committed to analyzing date rape primarily from an interactive communication perspective.  I intended to make only brief references to psychological and sociocultural variables. 

• This study was built on grounded theory, which required me to utilize an inductive and inclusive approach to categorizing, analyzing, and reporting findings.

• In reviewing interview transcripts, I discovered that psychological and social contextual considerations were highly evident and pervasive throughout data related to the perpetrators' perspectives toward life, human interactions, women, and themselves. 

• As I told my dissertation committee when I was defending my work: the crux of the social problem of date rape is rooted in the sex offenders' personality and socialization. 

• The good news is the prevention method: communication.

  Contextual Evidence

I found several different types of evidence about perpetrators' and victims' behaviors in a sexual assault situation.  Click on a button to learn more.

Psychological Context 

Sociological Context

Situational Context

Sequential Context

Rejection

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