Men appear to interpret people's behaviors more sexually than do women. This finding, which has been replicated in scores of studies using a variety of methodological approaches, has been linked to important social concerns, including sexual assault and sexual harassment. This article provides a critical review of the published literature on…

This vignette study investigated factors that influence believing child sexual abuse disclosures. College student participants (N = 318) in a university human subject pool completed measures about their own trauma history and responded to questions about sexist attitudes. Participants then read vignettes in which an adult disclosed a history of…

Self-reports of sexual assault are affected by a variety of factors including the number of questions, question phrasing, and context. Participants (307 women, 166 men) were randomly assigned to one of two forms of a questionnaire. One form had the tactics used to obtain forced sex as the initial frame of reference, whereas the other form had the…

Results from 54 college men who heard misogynous or neutral rap music and then selected neutral, sexual-violent, or assaultive film vignettes to show a female companion suggest that misogynous music facilitates sexually aggressive behavior and support a relationship between cognitive distortions concerning women and sexual aggression. (SLD)

Assessed alcohol's role in sexual assaults by male college students. Interactions of alcohol use with assault variables did not suggest any role of alcohol use in predicting sexual aggression severity. Offender propensity to abuse alcohol and victim preassault alcohol use directly and indirectly related to sexual aggression severity. Offender…

Investigated how 165 female college students appraised their sexual assault risk in hypothetical dating situations, varying male partner characteristics and the consumption of alcohol. Findings suggest that women are partially accurate in making sexual-assault risk appraisals, and thus may benefit from rape prevention education that specifically…

Examines the acceptance of, and expectations of, sexual aggression in common dating situations for 546 college students who completed a measure of rape acceptance beliefs. Results suggest that a consensus on definitions of unacceptable behavior is emerging among males and females, although differences in expectations remain. (SLD)

Methodological analyses of sexual victimization research are still rare, despite the explosion of interest in this topic and widely varying rates across studies. In-depth analysis of the meaning of differences in rates is especially lacking. A series of five ethnically and geographically diverse focus groups were held to explore how wording in…

Male violence is an enduring feature of women's lives from childhood through old age. The review covers child sexual abuse, rape, and partner violence with emphasis on the prevalence of violence, its mental health consequences, the course of recovery, and mediators and moderators of traumatic impact. The primary focus is depression and…