@Yeahright ; and others – Disagree or agree, I think there are a couple things to keep in mind: 1) This study is an example of how weak survey design can undermine a valid research premise; and
2) Even with with it’s obvious flaws, the conclusions still generally reflect results gathered from more comprehensive research and current crime statistics.
What am I talking about? The actual research paper is titled “Denying Rape but Endorsing Forceful Intercourse: Exploring Differences Among Responders”. You can read it here – https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/vio.2014.0022.
What’s clear from the beginning is that questions put to the survey qroup ( 86 college males mostly in their junior year) don’t exactly justify all the outrage in the headlines. Particpants were first asked “Have you ever coreced somebody to intercourse by holding them down?” Followed by “Have you ever raped somebody?” And the big news blaring from The Independent, Huffpost, USA Today, Buzzfeed, etc is all about the group segment that answered “Yes” to both. But in fact the more statistically significant finding is the percentage that gave negative responses to each question – 68.3% and 86.4%. So what does all this actually prove? How does it really “Explore differences among responders”?
I dunno, but my own thoughts run like this:
• 86 people is a pretty thin sample to generalize about anything.
• Do these undergrad studs even know what it actually means to coerce someone? How many are flunking english? And even if they do know, how many were juicing up their history for some other motive (all survey responders were given extra academic credit for participating)?
• Have I ever held somebody down as part of sex? Well…yes, in fact I have. And I’ve been held down too, in the same way. But doesn’t the degree and kind of force matter? What does this study tell the respondents about that when asking the questions? Not much.
• But I do know the difference between rape and role playing. Abusive assault isn’t just kinky fun. I’ve fought back more than once to keep from being a victim (and it’s why I carry a gun).
• When I look hard at my own thoughts & feelings I find myself somewhere between agreement and suspicion. How many guys have I become involved with who fit this profile? Too many. But how many times have I choked on some overhyped media version of “research findings” that amount to junk? My head aches.
• The fact is, crime stats and better investigations than this one show some alarming outcomes for both men and women when it comes to sexual abuse. There’s far more involved than just frat boys gone bad :
https://www.nsvrc.org/statistics
My own feeling is that men are not the enemy when it comes to dehumanizing sex. But they need to be better allies with women struggling against violence and exploitation. We all need to learn how to love each other better.