NCJ Number
137149
Date Published
1991
Length
230 pages
Annotation
In-person interviews were conducted with 295 women and 68 men in the cities of Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco to investigate the sources of the fear of rape and ways women cope with it in their daily lives.
Abstract
The responses suggest that fear of rape is central to the day-to-day concerns of about a third of women, a sporadic concern for another third, and of little concern to another third even though these women take precautions to prevent it. No significant differences emerged between victims and women who had never been raped in their estimates of the likelihood of their being raped in the future, but previously raped women felt significantly more fearful out alone at night. Research shows that many positive steps can be taken to allay female fear of rape: educate the public about rape, examine the role of pornography, promote campus rape education and prevention programs, promote reform in the law and the legal system, reform media coverage, involve legislators and other policymakers, encourage community involvement and nonrestrictive individual tactics such as enhancing one's physical ability, and consider new situation-centered policies to prevent an attack from occurring. 5 figures, 10 tables, and 244 references