Attitudes toward women key in higher rates of sexual assault by athletes

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-06/ncsu-sat060216.php

Public Release: 2-Jun-2016
Study: Attitudes toward women key in higher rates of sexual assault by athletes
North Carolina State University

An online study of male undergraduates shows that more than half of study participants on intercollegiate and recreational athletic teams - and more than a third of non-athletes - reported engaging in sexual coercion, including rape. The increased risk of sexual coercion by athletes was linked to "traditional" beliefs about women and a higher belief in rape "myths," which are used to justify sexual assault.

Previous research has shown that male college athletes are more likely than college students in general to commit sexual violence or engage in sexual coercion. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Education called for colleges and universities to institute efforts to educate athletes and address sexual violence.

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"We found that 54.3 percent of the intercollegiate and recreational athletes and 37.9 percent of non-athletes had engaged in sexually coercive behaviors - almost all of which met the legal definition of rape," Desmarais says.

"As high as these numbers are, they may actually under-represent the rates of sexual coercion, since the study relied on self-reported behavior," Desmarais says.

Non-athletes were much less likely to believe in rape myths, such as that if a woman is drunk or doesn't fight back, it isn't rape. And non-athletes were less likely to harbor more traditional, and frequently negative, beliefs about women, such as that "Women should worry less about their rights and more about becoming good wives and mothers."

In addition, the researchers found that there was no difference between recreational and intercollegiate athletes in regard to their views toward women, belief in rape myths or sexual behavior.

After analyzing the data, researchers found that belief in rape myths, and more traditional beliefs about women, played a key role in the increased likelihood that athletes would commit sexual assault.

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