In a study conducted at the University of North Dakota, almost 1 in 3 college young men revealed that they would force a woman to have a sexual intercourse with them if they knew that no one would know about the act and if they wouldn’t deal with any consequences.
However, fewer men revealed that they would “rape” a woman. This highlights the issue that not many men are able to relate “rape” with the act of forcing a woman to have sexual intercourse with them. Further explanations and observations of the men involved in the study led to the conclusion that these men had “callous sexual attitudes”.
The young men who admitted they were fine with “intentional rape” had hostile attitudes toward women while those who admitted they will force a woman into sexual intercourse but uncomfortable at the act of “rape” had a lesser hostile attitude towards women. “Callous sexual attitudes” are attitudes based on the cultural stereotype that women are viewed as objects and men are aggressive beings characterized by hyper masculinity.
Those people with “callous sexual attitudes” are led to believe that women are passive sexual objects and men who initiate sexual acts aggressively demonstrate masculine behavior. To help more people know about the association between “rape” and forcing someone to have sexual intercourse, the researchers of the study suggested that people become educated on sexual consent and healthy relationships through educational programs.