Sexually aggressive men's responses to a date rape analogue: Alcohol as a disinhibiting cue

Sexually aggressive and nonaggressive college men listened to an audio tape date rape analogue during which cues of nonconsent and force gradually escalated over time, and signified when unwanted sexual advances should terminate. Before listening to the scenario, participants were instructed that the couple depicted on the tape either had or had not consumed alcohol. Alcohol acted as a permissive cue for the sexually aggressive group, delaying their decisions to desist sexual advances compared to aggressive peers who were not provided with this situational disinhibitor. However the presence or absence of character alcohol consumption did not differentially impact nonaggressive men's decisions. In partial support of a suspicious schema explanation relatively more aggressive men rated the woman as less honest in expressing her feelings about sex, resulting in overestimations of how much she really wanted to have sex, However; they rated her behavior as less typical than most women's behavior given the same sexual scenario. Suspiciousness was enhanced in the alcohol condition.