Rape and seduction scripts of university students: implications for rape attributions and unacknowledged rape

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research,  Nov, 2003  by Heather L. Littleton,  Danny Axsom

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It is theorized that sexual scripts may play an important role in how individuals conceptualize and enact sexual behavior. In the present studies we investigated how such scripts could play a role in how incidents of rape are conceptualized. Both the rape attribution and sexual assault literature suggest that many incidents of unwanted, forced sex are not seen as rape. This may occur, in part, because these assaults do not fit with individuals' rape script and instead fit better with another, overlapping script.

A script is a type of schema, which is a cognitive structure that represents organized knowledge about a given domain (Schank & Abelson, 1977). Specifically, a script is a schema for a particular type of event, such as eating a meal at a restaurant or going out on a first date. Scripts contain information about props, roles, and rules regarding the sequence of events (Fiske & Taylor, 1991). They often operate unconsciously and are highly resistant to change (Demorest, 1995). In addition, schemas serve to influence cognitive processing. They influence attention, organization, interpretation, and recall of information (Baldwin, 1992; Zadney & Gerard, 1974).

The sexual script literature has focused on individuals' normative, or "traditional," sexual scripts. This literature supports the existence of scripts regarding sexual interactions. Elements of this script include the man as the initiator of sexual activity, the woman as the gatekeeper of sexual activity (i.e., she decides how far sexual activity should advance), and the man as having a higher sexual drive (Byers, 1996; LaPlante, McCormick, & Brannigan, 1980; Lottes, 1988; Metts & Spitzberg, 1996). In addition, whereas engaging in sexual activity with multiple partners is viewed as a positive activity for men, the opposite is true for women. Instead, engaging in activity with multiple partners is viewed as lowering a woman's worth (Byers, 1996; Metts & Spitzberg, 1996).

These scripts are often enacted in sexual interactions, particularly when individuals engage in sexual activity with partners with whom they do not have an established relationship. This makes sense given that individuals would be expected to rely more on scripts in a situation where their expected behavior is more ambiguous, such as when having sex for the first time with a particular partner. Indeed, college students asked to describe their recent sexual behavior report that men are more likely to initiate sex, particularly early in the relationship (O'Sullivan & Byers, 1992). Men also report using more strategies to engage in sex, whereas women report using more strategies to avoid engaging in sex (LaPlante et al., 1980; Metts & Spitzberg, 1996). Finally, men report having had more sexual partners than women do (Lottes, 1988).

Sexual Scripts and the Prevalence of Unwanted Sex

These traditional scripts may also contribute to the occurrence of unwanted sex, particularly sexual assault. Sexual assault is all too common in our society, especially among young people. Indeed, between 15 and 20% of college women have been raped (Botta & Pingree, 1997; Finley & Corty, 1993; Frazier & Seales, 1997; Koss, 1988; Layman, Gidycz, & Lynn, 1996; Littleton, 2003; Pitts & Schwartz, 1993; Schwartz & Legett, 1999). Several aspects of sexual scripts may contribute to sexual assault. For example, the idea that men should initiate sexual activity and will often have to use multiple strategies to overcome women's reluctance or refusals may lead men to feel justified in using verbal coercion or physical force to obtain sex (Metts & Spitzberg, 1996). In fact, of college women who reported having recently been in situations where a man wanted to engage in an unwanted sexual activity, 8% reported that the man tried to persuade her to engage in that activity, 7% reported that the man expressed displeasure or anger, and 16% reported that the man ignored her refusal and continued the behavior (Byers & Lewis, 1988). In a role-play situation where a woman refused to engage in a sexual activity, similar percentages of men reported that they would, or believed most men would, engage in such behaviors, particularly if the role-play occurred on a first date (Byers & Wilson, 1985; Quinn, Sanchez-Hucles, Coates, & Gillen, 1991). Finally, Muehlenhard, Andrews, and Beal (1996) found that college men rated engaging in an undesired sexual activity with a woman as a "little bit justifiable," even after she had refused twice.

Women's role as sexual gatekeeper, as well as the idea that engaging in sex with multiple partners lowers a woman's worth, may lead men to believe that women's resistance to sex is not genuine (i.e., that it is only token resistance) and thus they may persist in sexual activities with her that she does not want. For example, Muehlenhard et al. (1996) found that over half of the college men in their study stated that they could see themselves making continued sexual advances toward a woman after she had refused. Similarly, many college women report having had men continue a sexual behavior after they had refused to engage in that activity (Byers & Lewis, 1988). Finally, the belief that sexual prowess and having multiple sexual partners is desirable for men may lead them to be primed to interpret women's behavior as denoting sexual interest. In fact, several studies have shown that men view friendly and mundane dating behaviors on the part of women as denoting more sexual interest than women do (Abbey, 1982; Kowalski, 1993; Shotland & Craig, 1988).