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Conformity to Masculine Norms, the Dark Tetrad, and
Men’s Rape Myth Acceptance
David M. Tokar
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Central State University
This study extended research on men’s rape myth acceptance (RMA) by examining the relative contribu-
tions of conformity to masculine norms and the Dark Tetrad of personality to RMA in 301 predominantly
White and heterosexual men in the United States. Results of hierarchical regressions revealed that
conformity to masculine norms and the Dark Tetrad each accounted for incremental variance (i.e., beyond
the other variable set) in men’s RMA, with conformity to power over women and heterosexual self-
presentation norms and psychopathy emerging as unique and positive predictors. Results of post hoc
mediation analyses indicated that psychopathy’s relation to RMA was partially to fully mediated through
conformity to the power over women norm. Results of correlations supported hypothesized associations of
conformity to power over women and violence norms with psychopathy and sadism, conformity to the risk-
taking norm with psychopathy, and conformity to the playboy norm with three of the four Dark Tetrad traits.
Public Significance Statement
Men’s rape myth acceptance has been linked to attitudinal and behavioral indicators of sexual
aggression; therefore, it is important to identify factors that may underlie men’s endorsement of
rape myths. The present study demonstrated that men who conformed more to masculine norms—
especially desiring power over women and disdaining gay men—and possessed higher levels of
psychopathy were more likely to endorse rape myths.
Keywords: rape myth acceptance, conformity to masculine norms, Dark Tetrad, psychopathy
Prevalence data from a recent National Intimate Partner and
Sexual Violence Survey indicate that almost one in five (19.1%)
U.S. women has experienced attempted or completed rape during
their lifetime, and more than one in three (36.3%) experienced some
form of contact sexual violence (i.e., rape, being made to penetrate
someone else, sexual coercion, and/or unwanted sexual contact) at
some point in their lives (Smith et al., 2017). Given that over 90% of
the perpetrators of rape and other forms of contact sexual violence
against women are male (Smith et al., 2017), it is important to
understand factors that may underlie men’s likelihood to commit
sexual violence against women. One such risk factor is men’s rape
myth acceptance (RMA).
Burt (1980) defined rape myths as “prejudicial, stereotyped, or
false beliefs about rape, rape victims, and rapists”(p. 217).
Although they are generally false, rape myths are believed to be
widely held cultural beliefs “that serve to deny and justify male
sexual aggression against women”(Lonsway & Fitzgerald, 1994,
p. 134) and blame women victims. Examples of rape myths include
beliefs that women mean “yes”when they say “no,”rape is often the
woman’s fault, and women enjoy being raped. Importantly, men’s
endorsement of rape myths has been significantly and positively
associated with attitudinal and behavioral indicators of sexual
aggression against women, including acceptance of interpersonal
violence (Payne et al., 1999), adversarial sexual beliefs (Payne et al.,
1999), attraction to sexual aggression (Malamuth, 1989), sexual
assault perpetration (see Yapp & Quayle, 2018, for a review), and
rape proclivity and likelihood of raping (O’Connor, 2021;Seabrook
et al., 2018). Given the consistent associations of rape myth adher-
ence with different indicators of sexual aggression against women,
researchers have examined sociocultural and dispositional factors
that may underlie men’s endorsement of rape myths. Two of those
factors—one sociocultural and the other dispositional—are confor-
mity to masculine norms and the Dark Triad/Tetrad of personality,
respectively.
Conformity to Masculine Norms and Men’sRMA
Conformity to masculine norms refers to “the degree to which
individuals endorse personally enacting the requirements of mascu-
line norms”(Levant et al., 2020, p. 623). Examples of traditional
masculine norms in hegemonic U.S. culture include winning (drive
to win), emotional control (restriction of emotional expression),
power over women (desire to dominate women in one’s life),
playboy (desire for multiple and/or uncommitted sexual partners),
and heterosexual self-presentation (aversion to being perceived as
gay; Parent & Moradi, 2009). For decades, theorists have posited that
adherence to traditional masculine (and feminine) norms (e.g., men
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
This article was published Online First May 25, 2023.
The author has no known conflicts of interest to declare. The ideas and data
appearing in this article have not been previously disseminated.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to DavidM.
Tokar, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Central State
University, 1400 Brush Row Road, Wilberforce, OH 45384, United
States. Email: dtokar@centralstate.edu
Psychology of Men & Masculinities © 2023 American Psychological Association
2023, Vol. 24, No. 3, 237–247 ISSN: 1524-9220 https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000435
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