Risk of Rape on College Campuses

Marital Rape

Attitudes toward Marital Rape among College Students

Close to 62% of female rape victims are between the ages of 12 and 24 (Rosenthal 407), an age group which encompasses the college years. This would explain why an estimated one in four college women have been raped while attending college (Rosenthal 412). The men responsible for this statistic, between 7 and 25% of all male college students, admit to forcing a woman to have sex and most see nothing wrong with doing so. Feminist theory would have us believe that these acts are the product of males attempting to preserve a male dominated society through an act of violence, while evolutionary theory would posit that these men have low social status and therefore little chance of mating success (Rosenthal 207). Neither theory seems to capture the fact that fraternity members are responsible for at least 50% of all rapes that occur on college campuses (Rosenthal 412). It seems unlikely that the members of fraternities collude to maintain male dominance over women or represent low social status males. Instead, the most consistent explanation is that rape committed by fraternity members is due in large part to a culture of competition, dominance, and sexual aggressiveness.

Partner or marital rape accounts for 25% of all rapes committed in the United States (Rosenthal 411). According to one study cited by Rosenthal, the majority of early adolescent boys and girls felt that rape was acceptable between a husband and wife. This may explain why up to 25% of male college students see nothing wrong with forcing a woman to have sex. To better understand the attitudes college students have towards marital rape, Auster and Leone extracted survey data to answer three questions: (1) is marital rape equivalent to stranger rape, (2) how should a married woman respond to being forced to have sex with her husband, and (3) whether they would support legislation making marital rape equivalent to stranger rape in the eyes of the law. The independent variables were gender and sorority or fraternity membership. The study sample was 1,800 college students enrolled at a private college located in the Northeastern United States.

The main finding was that 82.8 and 95.4% of male and female students, respectively, agreed or strongly agreed that marital rape should be prosecuted in the same way stranger rape is prosecuted (Auster and Leone 146). The difference in attitudes towards this issue was statistically significant between genders. When fraternity membership was examined, 87.5 and 74.3% of non-members and members, respectively, agreed or strongly agreed. Fraternity membership was also a statistically significant determinant of attitudes towards this issue. On the other hand, sorority membership status had no impact.

When the college students were asked about women forced to have sex with their husbands the vast majority, regardless of gender or sorority/fraternity membership, supported counseling (Auster and Leone 146). Two-thirds of the men and about four-fifths of the women respondents supported filing for divorce, but when asked whether the husband should be prosecuted for rape, gender and fraternity membership again determined the outcome. Close to 40% of men agreed that the husband should be prosecuted for rape, compared to over 60% of women. Less than 33% of fraternity members supported this remedy, while just over 43% of non-fraternity, college males agreed. The same was true concerning legislation making marital rape equivalent to stranger rape, with 84.0 and 95.3% of male and female college students, respectively, approving or strongly approving. Fraternity membership was associated with less support (77.1 vs. 87.7%). When comparing the answers approve and strongly approve, 60.0 and 17.1 of fraternity members gave these answers. By comparison, 43.1 and 44.6 of non-fraternity, college males approved and strongly approved, respectively.