The influence of masculine and feminine orientation on attitudes to sexually coercive behaviour
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to conduct a psychometric investigation of the Sexual Coercion Attitude Scale and to explore the impact of sex and of masculine and feminine orientation on attitudes towards sexual coercion attitude the Jungian theory of the personality formed the theoretical framework of this Thirty-eight male and thirty-four female university students participated in this study. They were asked to
complete questionnaires designed to measure sex-role orientation and attitudes towards sexual coercion. Sex-role orientation was measured using the Ben Sex Role Inventory, which classifies subjects according to the categories of masculine, feminine, androgynous and
undifferentiated. The Sexual Coercion Attitude Scale was used to measure attitudes towards sexual coercion. Individual items on this scale were generated on the basis sexual coercion and a review of the constructs that have emerged in the literature and were identified as important. The five sexual coercion constructs included consisted of the following : rape myths, sexual petting, forced sexual intercourse,
attitudes to \\'omen and benign sexual behaviours. The scale originally comprised of 66 items. Following factor analyses all five dimensions of sexual coercion did emerge clearly, and the validity of each of the five subscales of the Sexual Coercion Attitude Scale was confirmed.
All items with loadings of 0.5 or less were excluded from each of the subscales. The final items of the Sexual Coercion Attitude Scale consisted of twenty-three. Analyses of variance were used to assess the relationship between sex-role orientation, sex and attitudes to sexual coercion. Statistical analyses revealed that men and women differ significant{ in relation to their attitudes towards sexual coercion. The male subjects showed significantly more sexually coercive attitudes than the female subjects. Non-significance was found for sex-typed
differences in relation to attitudes to sexual coercion. Masculine sex-typed, feminine sex typed, androgynously and undifferentiated subjects were not significantly different in their attitudes to sexual coercion. These findings warrant further investigation and research in order to confirm or refute these findings.