College Students’ Expression of Rape Myths by Gender and Greek Life: A Mixed-Methods Study

Despite college students receiving increasing sexual assault education, campus sexual assault remains high. Research suggests that rape myths, which blame victims and excuse perpetrators, are commonly expressed among groups who demonstrate conformity to masculine norms. The current study examined the effects of gender and participation in Greek life on rape myth acceptance using survey data from 396 students and interviews with 15 students to identify specific rape myths. To our knowledge no other study has examined interviewees expression of subtle rape myth items across a spectrum, including partial agreement or indirect expressions of myths. Results indicated that there was a significant main effect of gender and Greek life on total rape myth rejection scores, such that women indicated higher rejection of rape myth scores than men and members of Greek life indicated higher rejection of rape myth scores than non-affiliated students. The subscale “She Asked for It” was the most commonly rejected rape myth followed by “He Didn’t Mean to,” “It Wasn’t Really Rape,” and “She Lied.” Results from the interviews indicated that 67.7% of participants expressed statements that excused the perpetrator, 46.7% of participants expressed victim-blaming statements, and 20% of participants expressed statements involving perpetrator stereotypes. Further analysis of the interviews revealed that expression of any given rape myth may take multiple forms, including “full expression of myth,” “partial agreement with myth,” “self-blame expression of myth,” or “peer expression of myth.” Findings highlight the importance of college campuses providing more consistent sexual assault education for all students that includes a discussion of rape myths, with a particular emphasis on those rape myth attitudes that may be more subtle.