"Research indicates that 25% to 30% of male college students in the United States and Canada admit that there is some likelihood they would rape a woman if they could get away with it. In the first study of males' self-reported likelihood to rape that was conducted at the University of California at Los Angeles, the word rape was not used; instead, an account of rape (described below) was read to the male subjects, of whom 53% said there was some likelihood that they would behave in the same fashion as the man described in the story, if they could be sure of getting away with it (Malamuth, Haber, and Feshbach, 1980).
Yeah. I agree. If memory serves, eighteen year olds don't know squat about sexuality; they're just starting. If they're Americans, they've grown up in a really weird world of overstimulation/undergratification and are seriously mixed up. (I"m not saying they're more mixed up than males in other cultures; they're just mixed up in a particular way.)
Eighteen year old girls are also confused. The virgin/whore idea is still with us and women, more so than men, are conflicted about their sexual feelings. Young women often give very contradictory signals: they want to test their powers but may often back off at the last minute. I would argue not; he's just playing the game according to her terms. No doubt, this can drive men crazy.
Sometimes young women will get drunk with the express purpose of having sex without having to feel guilty about it. Of the kids who hang out with my teenage son, there is one girl who is a classic case. The question then is, is the young man who takes advantage of this fact a rapist? I would say not.
Studies also don't seem to differentiate between types of rape. For example,there's sexual rape, which usually involves people who know eachother: family members, date rape, etc.; and there's violent rape, which seems to have very little todo with sex. When I was in cop shop learning to be a state park ranger, I saw the two hour confession of that guy in Santa Cruz who raped and dismembered a large number of women and buried their parts here and there. There was nothing sexual about that; the guy was pretty terrifying in an absent kind of way.
As for pornography, (leaving aside the abuse of children and unwilling subjects -- which constitutes crimes in and of themselves), I don't get why people get so het up. The point of porn is to cause genital excitation ... which then produces a bigger bang. People use it as they would a vibrator or any other mechanical means to enhance a physical pleasure. I don't see anything moral/immoral about it. If lust is as far as you can go or if lust is where you want to go and you have a partner that wants to go with you....well, you'll get what you ask for and then will have to decide for yourself if that's what you really want.
Joanna