Rape Myth Scale (RAM)

1. When women talk and act sexy‚ they are inviting rape.
2. When a woman is raped‚ she usually did something careless to put herself in that situation.
3. Any woman who teases a man sexually and doesn’t finish what she started realistically deserves anything she gets.
4. Many rapes happen because women lead men on.
5. Men don’t usually intend to force sex on a woman‚ but sometimes they get too sexually carried away.
6. In some rape cases‚ the woman actually wanted it to happen.
7. Even though the woman may call it rape‚ she probably enjoyed it.
8. If a woman doesn’t physically fight back‚ you can’t really say that it was a rape.
9. A rape probably didn’t happen if the woman has no bruises or marks.
10. When a woman allows petting to get to a certain point‚ she is implicitly agreeing to have sex.
11. If a woman is raped‚ often it’s because she didn’t say “no” clearly enough.
12. Women tend to exaggerate how much rape affects them.
13. When men rape‚ it is because of their strong desire for sex.
14. It is just part of human nature for men to take sex from women who let their guard down.
15. A rapist is more likely to be Black or Hispanic than White.
16. In any rape case one would have to question whether the victim is promiscuous or has a bad reputation.
17. Rape mainly occurs on the “bad” side of town.
18. Many so-called rape victims are actually women who had sex and “changed their minds” afterwards.
19. If a husband pays all the bills‚ he has the right to sex with his wife whenever he wants.
 
  • Rape
  • Violence
 
This instrument can be found on pages 27-28 of Measures for the assessment of dimensions of violence against women: A compendium Compiled by Michael Flood‚ available online at: http://www.svri.org/measures.pdf
 
 

Lonsway‚ K.A.‚ and L.F. Fitzgerald (1994) Rape myths: In review. Psychology of Women Quarterly‚ 18‚ pp. 133-164.

Lonsway‚ K.A.‚ and L.F. Fitzgerald. (1995). Attitudinal antecedents of rape myth acceptance: A theoretical and empirical reexamination. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology‚ 68(4)‚ April‚ 704-711.

 
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