Finding the line:

Where socially normative

seduction becomes coercion
Rusty Wray
WASHINGTON STATE
UNIVERSITY VANCOUVER
April 29, 2015

Abstract
Our society is inundated with
heteronormative scripting that
influences our views of sex, and
sexuality. These scripts not only
impact views of our own sexual
realities but also guide our
sexual expectations of others.
Media and Entertainment has
taken an increasingly influential
role in this process, and it is
predicted that the media
influences how our society
views sexual behavior and
creates a socially normative sex

script that blurs the line from

where socially normative
seduction becomes criminally
illegal coercion.

Finding the line: Where socially

normative seduction becomes
coercion
In todays society our
population is inundated with
heteronormative scripts that
influence societal views on sex,
and sexuality. These scripts
impact the way that we not only
view our own sexual realities
but also help to guide our sexual
expectations of others. Media
and Entertainment has taken an
increasingly influential role in
this process, a study in the

Journal of Sex Research found

that on average adolescents are
exposed to more than 15
heteronormative sexual scripts
per hour of television among
the shows studied. It is
predicted that media influences
how our society views sexual
behavior and creates a socially
normative sex script that blurs
the line between where socially
normative seduction becomes
criminally illegal coercion.
To begin this process it is
important to first understand

rape legislation and its recent

evolution from narrow legal
definitions that limited
prosecution to forcible
penetration of the vagina to
todays broader definitions, as
well we must examined the
teared system that includes 1st,
nd
rd
2 , and 3 degree rape or
sexual assault charges in
regards to the prosecution of
this crime. Then we will
examine socially normative
scripting that influences
societies views of sex and

sexuality, as well as research of

medias role in that
heteronormative scripting. We
will also look at the gendered
effect on perception of womens
sexual intent. To try and better
understand why this line is to
often blurred in our society.
What is rape and how is it
defined?
Rape in the United States has
recently undergone an update in
its definition. The old definition
The carnal knowledge of a
female forcibly and against her

will. (FBI.gov, n.d.) was a

narrow definition that not only
created issues in regards to
holding offenders accountable
for their crimes. In 2012 the
FBI adopted a new definition of
rape, Penetration, no matter
how slight, of the vagina or
anus with any body part or
object, or oral penetration by a
sex organ of another person,
without the consent of the
victim. (FBI.gov, n.d.) this
broadened the legal protection
of women and for the first time

allowed the inclusion of men as

potential rape victims. However
this definition could still be
viewed as limited in its ability
to protect women when
seduction becomes coercion,
where a womans consents is
affected by other factors and
circumstances.
In the state of Washington we
have a multi teared system by
which rape can be prosecuted
and this system of 1st, 2nd, and
rd
3 degree rape does offer more
options by which rape can be

prosecuted. RCW codes come

from
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/defa
ult.aspx?cite=9A.44.040
RCW 9A.44.040, Rape in the
first degree.
(1) A person is guilty of rape in
the first degree when such
person engages in sexual
intercourse with another person
by forcible compulsion where
the perpetrator or an accessory:
(a) Uses or threatens to use a
deadly weapon or what appears
to be a deadly weapon; or

(b) Kidnaps the victim; or

(c) Inflicts serious physical
injury, including but not
limited to physical injury
which
renders the
victim unconscious; or
(d) Feloniously enters into the
building or vehicle where the
victim is situated.
(2) Rape in the first degree is a
class A felony.
RCW 9a.44.05 Rape in the
second degree.
(1) A person is guilty of rape in
the second degree when, under

circumstances not constituting

rape in the first degree, the
person engages in sexual
intercourse with another person:
(a) By forcible compulsion;
(b) When the victim is
incapable of consent by
reason of being physically
helpless or mentally
incapacitated
(c) When the victim is a
person with a developmental
disability and the perpetrator
is a person who is not
married to the victim and

who:
(i) Has supervisory authority
over the victim; or
(ii) Was providing
transportation, within the
course of his or her
employment, to the victim
at the time of the offense;
(d) When the perpetrator is a
health care provider, the
victim is a client or patient,
and the sexual intercourse
occurs during a treatment
session, consultation,
interview, or examination. It

is an affirmative defense that

the defendant must prove by
a preponderance of the
evidence that the client or
patient consented to the
sexual intercourse with the
knowledge that the sexual
intercourse was not for the
purpose of treatment;
(e) When the victim is a
resident of a facility for
persons with a mental
disorder or chemical
dependency and the
perpetrator is a person who is

not married to the victim and

has supervisory authority
over the victim; or
(f) When the victim is a frail
elder or vulnerable adult and
the perpetrator is a person
who is not married to the
victim and who:
(i) Has a significant
relationship with the victim;
or
(ii) Was providing
transportation, within the
course of his or her
employment, to the victim

at the time of the offense.

(2) Rape in the second degree is
a class A felony.
RCW 9A.44.060 Rape in the
third degree.
(1) A person is guilty of rape in
the third degree when, under
circumstances not constituting
rape in the first or second
degrees, such person engages in
sexual intercourse with another
person:
(a) Where the victim did not
consent as defined in RCW
9A.44.010(7), to sexual

intercourse with the

perpetrator and such lack of
consent was clearly
expressed by the victim's
words or conduct, or
(b) Where there is threat of
substantial unlawful harm to
property rights of the victim.
(2) Rape in the third degree is a
class C felony. (WA.gov, n.d.)
The evolution of the definition
of rape and multi teared system
for persecution does offer some
protection from coercion based
rapes as well as other forms of

rape where consent can be

less definable. However there
are many factors that influence
if rape charges will be filed and
if the offender will be held
accountable for their actions,
but how does socially normative
scripting of sex, influences our
society views of coercion rape
regardless of these legal
statutes.
Society and Socially
Normative Scripting
These socially normative
gendered scripts begin as soon

as the gender of a child is

identified and as that child
grows these gendered scripts
continue to not only influence
the way children see themselves
but how society sees them. Sex
and sexuality scripts are no
different and take a more
central role in this socially
normative scripting as children
begin to mature sexually. This
offer some potential cues as to
how these socially normative
scripts affect how we see rape
and sexual violence towards

women. Boys go through

adolescence influenced by a
socially normative script that
their sexual desires are
uncontrollable. However girls
are influenced by the socially
normative script that their
desires are not only
controllable, but they are also
taught that they have the
responsibility to set the limits of
their sexual interactions with
the uncontrollable desires of
men. (Rutter & Schwartz, 2012)
These socially normative scripts

create a gendered effect in the

way that society sees sex,
seduction and coercion for men
and women that will last
throughout their lives.
This horrific crime of rape
through seduction that crosses
the line to coercion is too often
viewed by our society as an
issue of miscommunication,
wherein the woman did not
adequately set the limits of sex
in the face of the uncontrollable
sexual desires of men. Men are
also repeatedly encouraged to

continue to push the line of

seduction to fulfill this
uncontrollable desire, as guided
by the socially normative script
that a woman is supposed to
play hard to get or it reflects
negatively on her. (Drapela,
2015) These socially normative
scripts create an ever clouded
view of when seduction crosses
the line to coercion. As seen in
the way our society reacted to
the rape allegation of Pittsburg
Steelers quarterback Ben
Roethlisberger in 2010. A

month after the allegations

surfaced a TibLive.com survey
found that 54% of Western
Pennsylvania residents still had
a favorable view of Big Ben
(Ben Roethlisbergers
nickname). (Prine, 2010), and in
2012 from the NFL draft in
April until the start of training
camp in late July
Roethlisbergers jersey was the
24th most popular as rated by
sales via NFLshop.com.
(Jessop, 2012) Even the District
Attorney Fred Bright stated

there is plenty of blame to go

around, There was too much
drinking going on and in
comments as to the actions of
Roethlisberger DA Bright said
You're supposed to stand for
something. You're the leader.
You should be a role model.
You don't need to put yourself
in this position anymore.'"
(Pine, 2010)
The Medias Influence
Our media and entertainment
re-enforces these socially
normative scripts and help to

influence and guide what we

find to be acceptable behavior
in regards to gender roles,
dating, mating, and sex. The
study From sex to sexuality:
Exposing the heterosexual
script on primetime network
television, looked at
Heterosexual Scripts from a
feminist perspective, involving
25 primetime television shows
that are frequently viewed by
adolescents. This study
determined four themes central
to the heterosexual script, 1)

Sex is masculine, this included

the view that sex is a main
component in defining a mans
masculinity, as well it included
the view that men should be
aggressive pursuers of women,
objectify them sexually and
value women based on
attractiveness, 2) The Good
Girl, this implies that women
should be responsible for
protecting themselves from the
sexual advances of men, as well
as use sex as a means by which
to maintain proper healthy

relationship status, which

includes fulfilling the mans
sexual desires under acceptable
circumstances, and taking a
passive role in their own sexual
desires. 3) Masculine Courting
Strategies, depicts men as
predators and that use their
power to attract women by
buying them gifts and showing
off their physical strength. This
also includes an implication that
women are attracted to strong,
powerful, wealthy men. 4)
Feminine Courting Strategies,

this includes women dressing

provocatively to attract men or
suggestively touching
themselves rather than directly
asking men out. (Kim et al.,
2007) This study found 662
script enactments in 51 aired
hours of these television
programs, meaning that on
average adolescents, watching
the 25 most popular television
shows for their age group, were
exposed to 15.53 heteroscript
messages per hour. 45.15% of
the messages depicted the sex

as masculine script, 13.39% of

the messages depicted the
feminine courting strategies
script, 11.50% of messages
depicted the good girl script,
and 8.84% depicted the
masculine courtship strategies
script. (Kim et al., 2007)
In one example from the
former popular teen television
show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
Buffy wakes up next to a male
character after having spent the
night with him. Upset she
rushed to put her clothes on and

leave, the male character says I

thought we could. You
know. Suggestively raising
his eyebrows, Buffy initially
rejects him. He grabs her pulls
her onto his lap and puts his
hand up her skirt as she
struggles to get away ultimately
leading to Bully relenting and
consenting to have sex with
him. (Kim et al., 2007) In
another example in the popular
show Modern Family the early
teen adolescent child Alex
Dunphy is restrained from

leaving and kissed by an

adolescent boy while on
vacation in Wyoming. Her
initial response is to pull away
her body language is clear that
the boy crossed the line of
unwanted sexual advances, but
after a discussion about how he
stole her first kiss and how
upset she was, she kisses the
boy again, claiming to give the
kiss back, the boy smiles as if to
acknowledge that he knew she
wanted him to kiss her even if
she didnt. (Modern Family,

2011) This lends support to the

idea that media promotes a
socially normative script that
blurs the line from where
socially normative seduction
becomes criminally illegal
coercion.
The Gender Effect
When examining how
socially normative scripts
influence society it is also
important that we examine how
gender effect may influence
these views. There are a number
of studies that looked at the

effect of gender in regards to

the way men and women
perceive sexual intent and the
findings suggest that rapesupportive attitude is a more
accurate predictor of incorrect
perceptions when it comes to
womens sexually intended
offerings. These studies suggest
that the gender effect may be
inaccurately influenced by a
sub-group of men who are more
likely to incorrectly perceive
sexual intent in women's
behavior that allows them to

more easily cross the line from

seduction to sexually coercive
behavior. These men have a
tendency to endorse socially
normative sex-role stereotypes.
(Farris et al., 2007) In one study
there was evidence that men
with rape-supportive attitudes,
such as victim blaming,
perceived more female sexual
intent than women reported
offering, whereas men without
rape-supportive attitudes more
accurately perceived the levels
of intent the women reported as

offering. (Abbey & Harnish,

1995). These findings were
supported by the Vrij and Kirby,
study that found that men who
with rape-supportive attitudes
also inaccurately perceived
women's sexual intent, but this
study noted that gender
differences in rape-supportive
attitudes did not fully account
for the gender effects. (Vrij &
Kirby, 2002)
The Farris et al., 2006 study
took a different approach and
found that men with rape-

supportive attitudes were also

more likely to perceive that
provocative clothing signaled
sexual interested. (Farris et al.,
2006) The same study found
evidence to suggest that
provocative clothing decreased
sensitivity to a women's cues as
to her sexual interest. (Farris et
al., 2006) In a study from
Perper and Weis findings
suggested that these men who
miss perceived a womans
intent based on her clothing
would be wrong, as only 4.3%

of college women dressed

provocatively as a way to
indicate sexual interest (Perper
& Weis, 1987).
Conclusion
When attempting to examine
the line between seduction and
coercion we must look beyond
the socially normative scripts
that influence our societys
views of acceptable dating and
mating behaviors, and take into
account that one of the main
complication in understanding
when seductions becomes

sexual coercion is that there are

many different paths that lead to
sexual violence. (Farris et al.,
2008)
In the end the updated
broader definition of rape is a
good first step in the fight to
protect women and prosecute
offenders, however while there
is evidence to suggest that
media is complicate in their
heteronormative scripting and
that rape-supportive attitudes do
influence how a womans
sexual intent is incorrectly

perceived. There were no

studies found that conclusively
supports the hypothesis that the
influence media has on how our
society views sexual behavior
creates a socially normative sex
script that blurs the line from
where socially normative
seduction becomes criminally
illegal coercion.. More research
is needed at this time.

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