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David (I) Reiss, Attitudes towards rape: feminist and social psychological
perspectives, 7 Crim. Behav. & Mental Health 104 (1997).

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David (I) Reiss, Attitudes towards rape: feminist and social psychological
perspectives, 7 Crim. Behav. & Mental Health 104 (1997).

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Reiss, D. (1997). Attitudes towards rape: Feminist and social psychological
perspectives. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 7(1), 104-106.

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perspectives," Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health 7, no. 1 (March 1997): 104-106

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104 Book reviews

disordered women offenders in the USA.

Finally, this book should not be seen as a book by a woman, about women
and for women. Integration in the workplace means that increasing numbers
of men are working with female offenders, in prison and hospital settings.
Women in the CriminalJustice System may help them to clarify their attitudes to
their female colleagues, inmates or patients.

Susan Iles
Broadmoor Hospital
Crowthorne, Berkshire RG 117EG

ATTITUDES TOWARDS RAPE: FEMINIST AND SOCIAL

PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

By Colleen A. Ward. Sage Publications, London EC2A 4PU. 1995, 240 pp.
Hardback, E37.50, ISBN 0-8039-8593-2. Paperback, £12.95, ISBN 0-8039-
8594-0.

Principally concerned with rape myths, Colleen Ward's book is divided into
two distinct parts: the first examines the nature and extent of the problem and
the second analyses possible solutions. The author looks at individually held
attitudes towards rape and examines their effect upon the functioning of social
institutions, highlighting the effect of false beliefs on responses to both vic-
tims and perpetrators. She concludes by examining the action that needs to be
taken to change public consciousness.
Rape myths are discussed from two perspectives - feminist rape theory and
social psychological research findings. For the author, the relationship between
these two disciplines is a symbiotic one, leading her to argue that initial feminist
insights have been subsequently justified and supported by social psychological
research. She contends that critical feminist thought has encouraged social psy-
chologists to apply rigorous experimental method and theory, for example in
attitude research and attribution theory. Feminists, presented here as imagina-
tive, intellectually critical pioneers, are championed as having exposed society's
misconceptions about rape. Social psychologists are contrasted as their less
inspired, but more scientifically rigorous, followers. With little critical examina-
tion the author vigorously promotes feminist theory and activist methods.
The argument that rape myths are widespread and have far-reaching
adverse consequences for both individuals and societies is convincing.
Societal and institutional reactions to rape victims reinforce and reflect nega-
tive individual attitudes. The typical stereotype of rape as a rare event, a 'sex'
crime, perpetrated on provocative women by strangers who use physical force
and coercion, is challenged with considerable cogency. Society clearly does
not treat rape victims fairly: victims of sexual violence are perceived as precip-
 Book reviews 105

itating their own victimisation and sexual assault is often trivialised. It is also
undoubtedly true that women are expected to conform to traditional and
restricted gender roles in society, but the argument that both rape itself and
institutional reactions to sexual violence function as a means of exerting
social control over women remains unproven. Is rape really an inevitable
extension of normal (i.e. violent and controlling) male behaviour towards
women within a patriarchal society?
Unfortunately for the clarity of its arguments, the book is, for the most
part, rather stodgily written in unnecessarily dense and forbidding language, a
factor that severely restricts its potential readership. The only section where
the author writes with any real fluency, thereby allowing her enthusiasm to
shine through, is in her description of feminist activism in Singapore, where
she lives and works. Individual sections are over-burdened by the repetition of
information already discussed. On the positive side, the reference list is
impressive and there are useful summaries at the end of each chapter.
This is a book which should be useful not only to academic feminists, but
to all researchers at the interface of women, crime and society. Only the
daunting, adamantine style prevents me from recommending it to all who deal
with rapists and their victims.

David Reiss
Department of Forensic Psychiatry
Institute of Psychiatry
London SE5 8AF