# What percentage of straight men would rape women under "ideal" circumstances? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 12, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688 "2010-01-12T18:34:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/41 "2010-01-13T03:57:01Z")
Didn’t read past the OP, so as to give unspoiled commentary. As far as I know, rape has little to do with sex. It’s mostly about a perverse power/control/abuse thing. I don’t think most men are into that. Scratch that…no real men are into that, but some assholes that happen to be male are. ---
**Author:** ![Cesario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Cesario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cesario)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/42 "2010-01-13T04:14:34Z")
I voted on the high end, 75-99%. (I’m thinking around 80%.) I think I lose a little more faith in humanity every time I contemplate what is considered normal, acceptable behavior in “the dating game”. Like many, however, I’m not so devoid of faith in my fellow human beings that I view the forcable scenario as the one that’s most likely to qualify as “ideal circumstances”. Use of drugs, deception, and all manner of other things seem infinitely more likely to me. Add in the ones who are too ignorant of one anothers’ feelings or lacking in ability to interpret them, and we’ve got another large group. I do believe it is a minority who would actually want to force themselves on another person, and I don’t see “fear of getting caught” as the main issue. The main issue is people who suffer from a kind of distorted thinking wherein either they view sex as something owed to them, or wherein they believe they are wanted even in the face of violent resistence. There’s also a disturbing degree to which people can justify poor behavior to themselves. Consider the person who decides that it’s okay to slip someone a roofy and have his way with her, since what she doesn’t know can’t traumatize her. This is someone who genuinely cares about the other person’s mental health, but has such distorted thinking that they are dangerous anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/43 "2010-01-13T04:25:50Z")
Jesus, is this the natural end-point of the “if a woman walked up to you in a bar…” threads? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/44 "2010-01-13T04:44:54Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > It could be that 5% of the men commit 75% of the rapes. I’d expect a bigger percentage than that, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a minority of rapists are responsible for most rapes. Like murder; most murderers kill one person. Then you have the minority of murderers, who kill person after person. Some people give in to their uncivilized urges once; a few have no problems with indulging themselves regardless of the cost to others. ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/45 "2010-01-13T05:52:05Z")
> [@](#): > > n my experience, sex with a woman who isn’t an enthusiastic, willing, active partner just isn’t any fun. I can’t imagine how any man could enjoy doing it with a woman who’s out cold, let alone one who’s trying to fight him off. Yes. Assholes/things that commit rape are just SO self centered. They misuse their penis. Most of the rapes do seem to be the " got drunk/stoned and have impaired judgement sort of thing. Not to mention the guys who may misread social cues and think " Oh she wants what I want" Not to mention the assholes who take advantage of girls with develeopmental delays. I know a couple who were raped by “boyfriends” However, even with that stranger rape tends to be overall kind of rare. Ido agree with whoever said that most rape is probaly perpetrated by scum who are so narcisstic/sociopathic the only thing that matters is THEIR pleasure! ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/46 "2010-01-13T08:53:42Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Haven’t they done polls about these things where a lot of men admit to it, if they could get away with it? Though I don’t know how accurate those things are. They get cited a lot, but then again, I don’t know if the wording is, “Would you rape” or if it’s more like, “Would you coerce.” I’ve heard of surveys (and this was ages ago, so I no longer remember where I heard it) done of college students where the survey asked “Would you rape a woman?” and naturally, very few said yes. Then a bit later another of the questions asked (for example) “Would you finger a woman who’d passed out from drinking?” and the number of yeses was significantly higher. The questions continued on presenting similar scenarios which met the legal definition of rape/sexual assault, but without using those words to describe it; and the number of “yes” answers were pretty significant. The point being, is that the reason a lot of men rape, is that they convince themselves that it’s not rape to do [whatever]. It’s not even a matter of thinking they can get away with it – they don’t even believe that it’s wrong. And I think the number of these guys is pretty significant, although I hope most of 'em eventually get wiser as they get older. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/47 "2010-01-13T09:23:14Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > … but I believe some college survey suggested that as many as 6% admitted to doing it for the survey-maker’s value of rape. I’d actually guess that the “floor” is higher than that, since the survey questions used the word “force” which is still a very loaded word. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/48 "2010-01-13T10:49:35Z")
I put 1-10%, thinking about 5-10% is the rough level of scumbags I seem to encounter. Could be more or less. Personally, I can’t even fathom the attraction, and find the idea of role play of this or even spanking as something that just does absolutely nothing for me, to the point of being disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/49 "2010-01-13T11:19:00Z")
I think less than 1%. None of the conditions really seem like they would increase the actual numbers. Also, the set-up makes it sound like the rapist is fully aware he is committing a crime (else why would he care about legal consequences) and overpowers his victim. Even some actual rapists (the kind who convince themselves the woman is willing, or who commit the crime under the influence of drugs and don’t overpower anyone), while evil, might not want to do it. And then there are the social consequences. Are there really people who don’t care about the social consequences of being a rapist, but can’t think of a way to get by the legal aspect? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/50 "2010-01-13T11:35:38Z")
> [@Zeriel](#): > > I think your “ideal circumstances” are somewhat mistaken–I think that a very low (\<1% ) of men would rape a woman in the scenario you describe where there would be overpowering involved. > > I’d have voted potentially as high as the the 26-50% range if your definition of rape included “getting them so drunk/stoned/doped up (on recreational substances, mind, not GHB/roofies) they no longer remember why they wouldn’t say ‘yes’”, based on my frat party experiences–mostly because I believe a fair percentage of men would deliberately overestimate a “willing” partner’s legal ability to consent far more readily than they’d forcibly rape. Same reasoning, same result here. And I’d add that if on top of that you add browbeating, strongarming, tricking, blackmailing, peer pressuring, mind games etc… in order to get the woman to give a consent she doesn’t really mean, deliberately throwing away everything but that half-hearted “…ok”, you can add ~30 more percents. I know, I know, we’ve already had that great debate - grey line, how can you know if she really means yes, she shouldn’t say yes if she doesn’t mean it, blah blah blah. It’s still extremely uncool and you know it. ETA : clarification : I’m not talking directly at \*\*Zeriel \*\* here - it’s general yous and wes throughout. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/51 "2010-01-13T11:43:16Z")
You’re talking about date rape, right? I think its hugely dependent on the circumstances. In the fifties and sixties, the percentage might well have been above 10 percent, because the men could put their consciences at rest with some rationale like:“her mouth said no, but her eyes and body said yes”, to “a man has needs and she was a tease” and “well, she didn’t tell anybody later, so it’s our little secret”. Nowadays, I suspect the percentage of men able to delude themselves like that is (far) under 1 percent. On the other hand, given a war situation, and command as well as army comrades turning a blind eye or even encouraging, soldiers to rape and loot, and most men being drunk, the percentage might be about 20-30 percent. Woman psychologist here. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/52 "2010-01-13T15:16:25Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I pikced 11-25% but in all honesty I don’t know. > > To those who picked under one percent - I mean, you do know there are a lot of rapes taking place, right? I suspect those voting that way were reading the question as I did initially before corrected, mainly as what _additional_ percentage of men would rape if given the opportunity. Obviously, some percentage of men rape right now: see my previous post about the "floor’ and the “ceiling” numbers. Say, if 6% (number taken from that college survey, just as an example) of men are already prone to rape women - stranger-on-stranger, date rape, whatever. Obviously these folks would rape if given the opportunity - they have already proved that. What percentage of the rest _not_ raping women because they are deterred by the law and/or lack the opportunity (but would if they could)? To my mind, that’s the interesting question. Rape is a unique sort of crime because there in no consensus as to how desireable the object of the crime is. Everyone likes money, so theft is instantly understandable. Everyone has at one point or another been very angry at someone and so violence is also understandable. Most types of common crime are undestandable (if not condoneable). Rape is an oddity because there is an actual contrioversy over whether men would, or would not, relish sex if it were coerced. Obviously some do, and those that do relish it a lot - enough to risk severe social sanctions in order to get it. The argument is really whether those that aren’t doing it secretly relish it also, or not. In short, is rape a crime more like theft - something understandable if deplorable - or is it more like pedophilia or cannibalism - something that the average person isn’t really tempted to do? To my mind, that’s the question; and I lean towards the latter. ---
**Author:** ![MJinks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@MJinks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MJinks)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/53 "2010-01-13T17:48:42Z")
I still believe it’s less than 1%. There are ~30 million males in England, take away those under 16 (I have no idea, lets say a third) and that still leaves 200,000 potential rapists. I don’t want to believe there are more than that… ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/54 "2010-01-13T18:06:15Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Like murder; most murderers kill one person. Jeez…my condolences to that guy. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/55 "2010-01-13T18:42:02Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > To those who picked under one percent - I mean, you do know there are a lot of rapes taking place, right? Yeah, under 1%. Think of it this way: you’re in a room with 101 people, and only one of them is likely to be a rapist. That seems fair. I have to ask, those of you who answered 50% and upwards, do you really, _really_ think that given a crowd of 4 men, that two of them are potential rapists? Holy cow fuck! What sort of demographic environment do you all live in? ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/56 "2010-01-13T19:23:10Z")
> [@MJinks](#): > > I still believe it’s less than 1%. There are ~30 million males in England, take away those under 16 (I have no idea, lets say a third) and that still leaves 200,000 potential rapists. I don’t want to believe there are more than that… Why have you arbitrarily taken away those under 16? [This](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3285383.ece) rapist was only eleven, and sadly the story isn’t that uncommon. Several of my (former, they’ve obviously been thrown out of school now) students, all well under sixteen, are currently awaiting sentencing for a gang rape, and one for a separate incident of one-on-one rape. In the first instance, they thought they would get away with it because the girl was known to be sexually active, so they decided to all have her at once. In the second, the electricity had gone off and a boy dragged a girl into a toilet, thinking that because the lights were out and the CCTV system was linked up to the power supply, he wouldn’t get caught. The second one in particular fits pretty well into the OP’s scenario - he really thought he could get away with it, so he did it. I am unconvinced that 99% or more of men wouldn’t feel the same way, especially with the number of women I know who have been raped or sexually assaulted. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/57 "2010-01-13T19:30:43Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Jeez…my condolences to that guy. The hell with that-_I_ want the name of his doctor! ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/58 "2010-01-13T20:00:02Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Jesus, is this the natural end-point of the “if a woman walked up to you in a bar…” threads? No. I wasn’t thinking of those threads at all. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/59 "2010-01-13T20:09:25Z")
> [@Teacake](#): > > I am unconvinced that 99% or more of men wouldn’t feel the same way, especially with the number of women I know who have been raped or sexually assaulted. You \*seriously \*believe that 99%+ of men would rape if given that chance? :rolleyes: That is so fucking insane. Anyone who believes that has some serious issues. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688/60 "2010-01-13T20:16:57Z")
> [@Teacake](#): > > Why have you arbitrarily taken away those under 16? [This](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3285383.ece) rapist was only eleven, and sadly the story isn’t that uncommon. Several of my (former, they’ve obviously been thrown out of school now) students, all well under sixteen, are currently awaiting sentencing for a gang rape, and one for a separate incident of one-on-one rape. In the first instance, they thought they would get away with it because the girl was known to be sexually active, so they decided to all have her at once. In the second, the electricity had gone off and a boy dragged a girl into a toilet, thinking that because the lights were out and the CCTV system was linked up to the power supply, he wouldn’t get caught. > > The second one in particular fits pretty well into the OP’s scenario - he really thought he could get away with it, so he did it. I am unconvinced that 99% or more of men wouldn’t feel the same way, especially with the number of women I know who have been raped or sexually assaulted. While I do think we shouldn’t exclude boys under 16–a lot of rapists are very young–I think that saying that 99 percent of men would rape if they could get away with it is a BIT bleak. Yes, many women are raped and assaulted, but I think that some men commit many acts of rape. I think if I genuinely believed that the overwhelming majority of men would rape if they could, I’d go out and hang myself. What a world! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-straight-men-would-rape-women-under-ideal-circumstances/524688.md?page=4)