NCJ Number
113040
Journal
Archives of Sexual Behavior Volume: 16 Issue: 2 Dated: (1987) Pages: 107-123
Date Published
1987
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This study uses two aspects of a State's sexual climate -- sex magazine readership rate and the degree of sexually liberal attitudes -- and examines their relationship to the incidence of reported rape.
Abstract
The study sample included 41 States with valid data for the Sexual Liberalism Index, an instrument designed to gauge the degree of subjective sexual openness and permissiveness that exists in a State. The two sexual climate measures are correlated (r =0.50), but each also seems to measure a different facet of sexual climate, e.g., tolerance for the sexual behavior of others in the case of the Sexual Liberalism Index, and perhaps sexuality per se in the case of sex magazine readership. Results indicate that States in the Northeast have the highest average sexual liberalism score, and States in the west have the highest average readership of sex magazines. No relationship is shown between sexually liberal attitudes and rape. However, sex magazine readership, urbanization, poverty, and a high percentage of divorced men each are associated significantly with the incidence of reported rape. The findings are interpreted within a theoretical model that posits rape as a function of social disorganization and hypermasculine gender roles and sexuality. Tabular data, charts and 19 references. (Author abstract modified).