The proposed research program will investigate the nature of male perceptions of the drinking woman. The basic contention is that men view a woman differently when she is believed to have consumed alcohol. Moreover, these differences probably translate into evaluations and attributions regarding sexual disinhibition that would support or even precipitate sexual advances and/or aggressiveness. An underlying assumption is that males are socialized to view a woman's drunkeness as an exploitable weakness. In the real world, these penceptual biases may play a mediating role in sexually violent acts that involve a drinking female victim. The first of the five studies being proposed will examine the nature of these biases and the influence of other situational variables. Study two will examine the influence of the male observer's own alcohol consumption. The balanced placebo design will be employed so as to distinguish between expected and actual consumption effects. The third study will investigate the perceptions reported by female observers to determine if the biases that obtain with males replicate with females. In these first three studies, the portrayals of the drinking woman will be presented via written vignettes or videotape. Rating forms will be used to assess subject's perceptions. The final two studies will examine behavioral ramifications of these perceptual biases. For these studies, a live confederate will be used to portray the drinking woman. Study four will determine if males see the drinking woman as a less severe critic as evidenced by the male's self-reported anxiety and ad lib drinking. In study five, subjects will be given an opportunity to shock a female confederate to investigate the possibility that males see the drinking woman as less sensitive to physical pain. Overall, these studies will enrich our understanding of the role that alcohol can play in sexual violence. Also, more needs to be learned about the expectations we hold about how alcohol affects others.
