A recent study led by a Washington State University scholar suggests college-age men who regularly read, watch or hear sports media are more likely to accept or believe myths about sexual assault.
The study, published in the Journal of Health Communication, says the relationship between consuming sports media and was still present even when researchers factored out other characteristics, such as fraternity membership and belief in “norms” of masculine behavior.
Dr. Stacey Hust, Dean of Faculty Affairs at WSU’s Murrow College of Communication and lead author of the study, called its findings surprising, and that it shows more research is needed to understand the results in a more detailed manner. But Hust said the initial results do point to some kind of connection between the way sports media are presented and attitudes among young men.
“The way the media packages sports is very formulaic,” Hust said. “Men are [often] portrayed in dominant, assertive positions, and women are portrayed in passive, sexually objectified positions. And that production is what we’re exploring.”
Five-hundred one male college students were asked to rank their agreement or disagreement with a series of statements related to myths about sexual encounters, such as the belief that women who flirt or dress in a provocative way deserve whatever treatment they get, or the myth that rape must involve a weapon.
A small number of the respondents reflected a correlation between belief in those myths and the amount sports media they consume – be it televised broadcasts, print and digital advertisements, or magazine articles. Overall acceptance of rape myths among the participants was low.
The findings establish a correlation, Hust said, but no clear explanation for the connection. She said more research is needed to fully understand the link between consumption of sports media and beliefs about sexual conduct.
“I frankly was surprised that sports media consumption was still significant even after accounting for beliefs in masculine norms,” Hust said. “What that suggests is that sports media consumption is playing a unique role.”
The study also uncovered an association between beliefs about rape and the philosophy of a “playboy norm,” an attitude of sexual promiscuity and permissiveness among men. That finding could be the springboard to further research about why young men believe what they do about relationships, power and boundaries, Hust said.
“That needs greater scrutiny. We need to know why that’s the case,” Hust said. “Because typically, beliefs in rape are associated with control and violence, and not necessarily beliefs [that are] related to sex.”
A key question, Hust said, is whether the packaging and presentation of sports influences beliefs about sexual misconduct, or whether young men who are inclined to believe rape myths happen to engage with more sports media. For that, she said, researchers would need to conduct a longitudinal (long-term) study that gauged responses to the rape myth questions over time.
Such a longitudinal study may also further clarify the relationships between exposure to sports media and acceptance of rape myths, and more firmly establish their root causes, Hust said.
