Acceptance of Rape Myths in Greek Life Participation

This study addressed the concern that rape culture is prominent on college campuses, particularly with regard to Greek life and drinking alcohol. West and Zimmerman’s doing gender theory and theories on routine activities were utilized to explain these associations. The hypothesis of the study was that students who were members of Greek life would have a significantly higher acceptance of rape myths than students who do not participate in Greek life. In addition to this, a second hypothesis was tested to see if higher alcohol consumption led to greater acceptance of rape myths. To test these hypotheses, 169 participants, 116 females and 52 males were given a survey consisting of three different vignettes, each which gave an example of rape. Respondent agreement/disagreement with rape myths was then measured. The main findings of this survey showed that members of Greek life were more accepting of rape myths than those who did not belong to Greek life, and those who drank more were also more accepting than those who did not drink, but these differences were not statistically significant