TWO SOCIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF RAPE
I.
Sanday, The Socio-Cultural Context of Rape: A Cross-Cultural Study (1981)
 a cross-cultural sample of 156 tribal societies
 conclusions:
1. Rape is linked with an overall pattern of violence (interpersonal, intergroup, and war);
and violence against women is part of a larger pattern of violence.
2. Rape is linked with an ideology that encourages men to be tough and aggressive. Thus
rape is the playing out of a cultural script in which the expression of personhood for
males is directed by--among other things--interpersonal violence and an ideology of
toughness. Male sexuality is expressed in physical aggression, as are other expressions of
self.
3. Rape is an expression of an ideology of male dominance. Female power and authority are
lower in rape-prone societies. In addition, there is also greater sexual separation in rapeprone societies.
II.
Baron and Straus, Four Theories of Rape in American Society (1989)
Rape Rates by Region, 1970 and 1980 (in descending order):
West---South---North Central---Northeast
1. Gender Inequality
A major theme of feminist theories of rape is that rape functions as a mechanism of social
control in patriarchal societies--e.g., rape and the fear of rape enable men to assert power over
women and maintain the existing system of gender stratification. A related theme is that
traditional gender-role attitudes encourage rape.
-Gender Equality Index (GEX) operationalized the status of women with three dimensions:
economic equality (labor force participation, employment, income, SBA loans, above poverty
households), political equality (% Congress, state senates and houses, governors, judges,
mayors, governing boards), legal equality (fair employment acts, equal pay laws, sex
discrimination laws, family violence laws, etc.)
-Gender Equality Index Scores by Region (in descending order):
West---Northeast---North Central---South
-GEX (Gender Equality Index) correlation with rape rates = .23 (NOT statistically
significant)
2. Pornography
Feminist argument: "Pornography is the theory; rape is the practice."
-Sex Magazine Circulation Index (SMCX) = # copies sold / 100 males aged 15+ of 8
magazines (Playboy, Hustler, Penthouse, Chic, Club, Gallery, Genesis, Oui)
-Sex Magazine Circulation Index by Region (in descending order):
West---North Central---Northeast---South
-SMCX (Sex Magazine Circulation Index) correlation with rape rates = .64 (the 2 nd highest
correlation Baron and Straus found)
-BUT, Baron and Straus found that when appropriate statistical controls were introduced, the
correlation between sex-magazine readership and rape rates no longer held. "A more
likely possibility, in our opinion, is that the correlation between the circulation of
sexually explicit magazines and the rape rate is due to the presence of a hypermasculine
or macho culture pattern."
3. Social Disorganization
Social disorganization refers to those conditions that undermine the ability of traditional
institutions (e.g., family, church, neighborhood) to govern social behaviors.
-Social Disorganization Index (SDX) included 6 measures: geographical mobility, divorce,
lack of religious affiliation, men who live alone, female-headed households with children,
ratio of tourists to residents
-Social Disorganization Index by Region ( in descending order):
West---South---North Central---Northeast
-SDX (Social Disorganization Index) correlation with rape rates = .68 (the HIGHEST
2
4.
correlation of any factor Baron and Straus tested)
Legitimate Violence
The "cultural spillover theory" holds that the more a society tends to endorse the use of
physical force to attain socially approved ends (e.g., order in schools, crime control, military
dominance), the greater the likelihood that this legitimation of force will be generalized to
other spheres of life where violence is less socially approved (e.g., family, relations between
the sexes).
-Legitimate Violence Index (LVX) constructed to measure cultural support for violence, with
3 major groups of indicators: mass media preferences (violent TV viewership, violent
magazine circulation), government use of violence (corporal punishment in schools, death
sentences, executions), participation in legal or socially approved violent activities (hunting
licenses, college football players, National Guard enrollment and expenditures, lynchings)
-Legitimate Violence Index by Region (in descending order):
West---South---North Central---Northeast
-LVX (Legitimate Violence Index) correlation with rape rates = .22 (NOT significant)
A second measure was also constructed: a Violence Approval Index (VAX), based directly on
attitudes regarding circumstances justifying use of violence (social norms)--militarism,
executions, and guns (% supporting greater military spending, death penalty, opposing gun
control), % approval of punching an adult male stranger under a variety of circumstances, and
% approval of police striking an adult male citizen under a variety of circumstances.
-Violence Approval Index by Region (in descending order):
West---South---North Central---Northeast
-VAX (Violence Approval Index) correlation with rape rates = .17 (NOT significant)
direct effects on rape: social disorganization (+), sex magazine circulation (+), gender equality (-)
-other variables also related: % population in SMSAs, Gini Index, % unemployed
-indicates that combination of urbanism, economic inequality, and unemployment constitutes a
mixture of societal characteristics that increase the likelihood of rape
-combination of these 6 variables accounts for 83% of the state-to-state variation in rape rates
indirect effects on rape:
-social disorganization, ratio of males to females, & economic inequality (-)  circulation of sex
magazines
-social disorganization, economic inequality (-), & legitimate violence (-)  gender equality
social origins of rape:
 gender inequality: gender inequality  social climate conducive to violence against women
-in a male-dominated society, rape both reflects a low valuation of women and contributes to
and enforces their subordinate position
 hypermasculinity: the underlying third variable that likely produces a spurious correlation
between pornography and rape
 social disorganization: 2 effects: (1) in a violent and sexist society, lower social control 
higher rape, and (2) erosion of traditional sexist norms and domination  gender equality 
lower rape
 legitimate violence: no direct relationship
-but indirectly related through inverse relationship with gender equality
-i.e., status of women lower is lower in states with higher levels of legitimate violence
 urbanism, economic inequality, and unemployment: (1) urban areas provide greater
opportunities for criminal violence, (2) status inequalities  resentment, hostility (some of it
directed at women); without economic avenues of asserting masculinity, men may turn to rape
to do it