2
1997; Tjaden and Thoennes 2000; Fisher, Cullen & Turner 2000)
1
exaggerate sexual assault rates
by conflating normal, albeit unpleasant, sexual encounters with rape/sexual assault. Critics point
to the large percentage of women who fail to acknowledge their experiences as rape and ask,
wouldn’t victims know if they have been raped?
The response from those on the opposing side of the debate is an emphatic “no.” In fact,
for Koss, the large surplus of unacknowledged rape victims revealed in her study merely
substantiates what feminists have been arguing all along, that too often women do not recognize
when they have been raped (Koss and Cook 1993). According to Koss and many feminist theorists
(Parrot 1991; Estrich 1987; Griffin 1971; Buchwald et al. 1993; Schwartz & DeKeseredy 1997),
such low recognition rates are a consequence of the permeation of cultural scripts that narrowly
define “real rape” as brutally violent attacks by strangers, relegating all other sexual assaults,
especially those committed by partners and friends, to a category of incidents that are seen as less-
than-real rape. For many theorists (Brownmiller 1975; Dworkin 1987; 1993; MacKinnon 1987;
Russell 1975; Scully 1990; Sanday 1981), non-recognition of sexual coercion in general is caused
in large part by a culture that legitimizes male aggressive behavior as normal, perpetuates the view
that male-female sexual interaction is “naturally” adversarial and suggests that men are born with
an uncontrollable sex drive that can not be stopped once aroused.
Given both the prevailing cultural messages that normalize sexual coercion, and the fact
that so many sexually coercive situations are committed by acquaintances and intimate partners,
2
it
1
Most violence-against-women researchers (Schwartz & DeKeseredy 1997; Tjaden and Toennes 2000; Fisher,
Cullen & Turner 2000) utilize some variation of Koss’ sexual experiences survey instrument (Koss and Oros 1982)
developed to measure the underlying legal conditions of rape consistent with rape reform laws.
2
Research shows that more than 70% of sexual assaults are committed by someone the victim knows and most of
these are committed by someone with whom the victim is romantically involved (Schwartx & DeKeseredy 1997;
Muehlenhard & Linton 1987, Fisher et al. 2000; Laumann et al. 1994). In a separate paper (Weiss 2001), I write
about how familiarity with one’ perpetrator complicates a victim’s ability to define a situation as criminal.
Convention