Critical Article Reviews

Chapman, Kathy; Cohn, Ellen; Ward, Sally K.; White, Susan; Williams, Kirk.
“Acquaintance Rape and the College Social Scene” Family Relations 40, no. 1 (Jan 1991): 65-71. http://links.jstor.org.

Problems with Acquaintance Rape

The authors in “Acquaintance Rape and the College Social Scene” provide readers with many instances occurring on college campuses of sexual experience that is unwanted and forced upon women. The article opens informing the readers that college women are at the highest risk in our society today for being raped; date rape is the most common kind of rape in colleges. The purpose of this article is to discuss problems of acquaintances of date rape. I think this article gets the point across of how dangerous rape is becoming on college campuses and has a lot of evidence and statistics from researches and studies throughout the article to support that theory.
This article is based around acquaintances of date rape and it branches off to many different categories. It discusses many incidences of acquaintance rape which are occurring especially in the party scene of colleges. The article presents different and very specific descriptions of these incidences and the situations to help the reader understand more and have a clearer view of what is occurring. The article also discusses policy implications for those people who are working towards preventing it in college such as students, support groups, and faculty. This article talks about many leading factors and causes of date rape that people should know and be familiar with for their own knowledge and safety.
The article first addresses just how common sexual assault and violence on college campuses are. Sexual incidences in college vary from campus to campus. They seem to occur more in large schools, where the security isn’t as hands-on as many of the other schools, and there are so many more students interacting with one another that it is easier to meet people in the larger colleges. The percentage of girls experiencing sexual assaults or encounters can range anywhere from 15% to almost 80% in colleges. I think this statistic is scary considering the smallest percentage, 15, is still a lot! The statistics are more specific when referring to actual rape, which averages between 15-25%.
The next problem addressed in this article is how serious the issue of underreporting all these rapes is. This problem is especially common when a person is raped by someone they do not know. When this occurs, it is highly impossible to stop people from getting raped or sexually assaulted considering the rapist is still out there without receiving punishment and will continue to victimize women until he gets caught. A shocking statistic presented in this article shows just how problematic underreporting is. On 32 campuses, roughly 58% of people raped mention it to someone and only 5% bring it to the police. This is absolutely shocking to think that the police only know about 5% of college campus rapes. This shows just how many rapists are not behind bars for their actions. If people would report more, rape incidents would surely decline. Why do people hesitate to report these incidences? The answer varies but most importantly comes down to women just assume nothing will be done because they don’t know anything about the person. Many women are also in denial and don’t want to deal with the interrogation and repercussion.
The next issue addressed is that ambiguity is definitely present in acquaintance rape on campuses. People are even more hesitant to rape acquaintance rape because of the fact that they know each other. Many people undermine the severity of rape when they know the person who did it and think of it as a mistake, which has become a big problem today. Rape is rape, whether it’s done by a stranger or friend, it shouldn’t be ignored. The role of alcohol is another factor that increases rape in colleges, especially in fraternities. As we know, alcohol can often to lead to aggression and violence; in this article, it is reported that 75% males and 55% females who have experienced acquaintance rape were on some form of drugs or drunk. It is not possible to establish a causal link between alcohol and rape, but as we can see, it has a strong effect.
I think this is a very powerful article. The evidence that is supported in it is very helpful; it is concrete information, supported with the use of statistics that seem shocking to think of. I admired how they addressed problems and explained why these problems exist to begin with. The authors of this article really dug deep into research and studies to prove to the readers that these problems are getting worse. With the article presenting leading causes of these problems, it is helpful because you can be more cautious and aware of them. What definitely needs to be changed, based on what I have learned in this article, is that more rapes need to be reported and they should definitely not be excused because of acquaintance. An experience such as that can be damaging to you and you may never be able to trust anyone again. A victim of rape is never guilty and should give the blame to the rapist who fully deserves it.



Campell, Robin R; Cowan, Gloria. “Rape Causal Attitudes among Adolescents.” The
Journal of Sex Research 32, no. 2 (1995): 145-153. http://links.jstor.org.

This article, “Rape Causal Attitudes among Adolescents,” by Gloria Cowan and Rombin Campell, discusses the causes of rape and addresses the problem that not many adolescents are aware of the beliefs and causes of rape and do not have a clear understanding of the issue of rape. The authors of the article want to change that so they put forth possibly ways people can do so. This article presents five possible causes of rape that were compared by high-school students in California. It also represents factors that affect peoples’ attitude towards rape. Models, causes, and factors are presented in this article and are really helpful because they are helpful and informative; I do feel however that the artists could have explored it a bit deeper to give a better understanding of what they’re talking about, such as using statistics, examples, and situations.
This article does a good job of listing and elaborating on the 5 most probable causes of rape, which are male dominance, female precipitation, society, male sexuality, and male pathology. The male dominance cause basically is that men view themselves as more superior to women and that is why they rape women. They believe rape is due to the imbalance between males and females. Those who believe female precipitation is the most likely cause, feel that rape occurs because of how a woman looks and presents herself, for example, if she is an attractive girl, which is probably why she was raped. Or if she came off dressing a little provocative, that would be another possible reason. The third cause, Society, is that rape occurs because of the society and how the people are affected by the media and others around them. Male Sexuality is that rape happens because men have stronger sexual needs than women do and it is hard for them to control themselves. Lastly, Male Pathology believes that rapists are hostile and have something psychologically wrong with them. They are angry people and resent themselves so they take it out on other people. Depending on who is viewing these 5 causes, will determine which one they feel is most appropriate. Personally, I think out of these, the Male Pathology cause is the most accurate. Some may feel I chose that because I am a girl and they may be true but I just can’t see how someone who doesn’t have problems and isn’t angry can rape a person
This article examines adolescents’ beliefs about the causes of rape and feels it is important to examine further into the issue to know more about it. People at this age are especially prevalent of victimization and this article feels there is a strong need for efficient to be with others who have shared their same experiences so they don’t feel ashamed talking about it. Rape awareness programs and prevention programs are very necessary for the safety of adolescents. A place where they feel comfortable and are able to fully understand the issue of rape needs to be available to them. This article discusses the factors that are related to the attitudes about the causes of rape. These include: gender, age, ethnicity, communication sources, and exposure to pornography. All of these can affect what the adolescent thinks the cause of rape is.
Three models are proposed in this article that can relate to deviance. One is psycho-pathological which suggests that there is something wrong with rapists and is similar to the pathological perspective of deviance, which assumes people who are deviant have disorders. Physiological is a model which suggests that rape is something that is the cause of men’s biological sexual nature and history. The third model is Sociocultural which views women in rape situations as subordinate and forced sex should just be accepted. This model holds women more responsible for forced sex than the other two models do.
Studies in this article show that people who believe and accept myths about rape are more likely to think that rape holds women more responsibly and feel that the woman put herself in that situation. These people feel that either the woman is lying, deserved it because of bad judgment, or is leading the male on so it’s therefore her fault. What is important about these “rape myths” is that it views the victimizer in two ways. One agrees with the pathological perspective on deviance and just assumes the rapist is crazy. The other view is that males cannot control their sexual drive so it’s okay for males to force unwanted sex on females, because they simply cannot control themselves. The research focuses on college students and it is very sad to see that 1/3 of the high school students tested, felt girls were responsible for forced sex. The other 2/3 who were mostly all girls, only 21%, felt that for a male to force sex on a female is wrong in every aspect. I think this is so sad to think that there are people out there who think majority of women raped should be held responsible based on what they know about rape myths, which aren’t even true. A person raped should never be held responsible.
After reading this article, I think that adolescents really need to learn more about rape. They are so naïve when it comes to forming an opinion on it that they resort to myths or stories that they have heard and most of the males feel that women are at fault. I think this article is right about a lot of things, such as the factors like age, gender, and ethnicity, which will have an affect on the causes. For example, I feel the Male Pathology cause is the most accurate and that may just be because I am a woman. Men are more likely to have a different view, as are people older than me and people younger than me. Similar to deviance, a person’s views is based on factors such as their society, age and gender and that is why there is not a correct way to view causes of rape, just like there is no correct way to say who is deviant and who is not.