Rhonda R. DOBBS, Courtney A. WAID, Tara O’Connor SHELLEY

Explaining Fear of Crime as Fear of Rape Among College Females: An Examination of Multiple Campuses in the United States

Given the fact that women are less likely to experience crime victimization than males, researchers have been puzzled for decades as to why women experience higher levels of fear of victimization. Scholars such as Warr (1984) and Ferraro (1995, 1996) argue that the fear of rape that females experience shadows fear of other crime, as rape is viewed by females as a cotemporaneous offense that may lead to other offenses. The present study examines the impact of fear of rape on the overall fear of crime for men and women on college campuses. While women are significantly more fearful of crime prior to controlling for fear of rape, the findings indicate that once fear of rape is considered, women’s higher fear of other crimes seems to diminish such that there are either no sex differences in fear or men are more fearful than women. Relevant policy implications are discussed.

Keywords:

Gender, College Women Fear of Crime, Fear of Rape, Victimization Awareness,

PDF

___

Bennett, R. R., & Flavin, J. M. (1994). Determinants of fear of crime: The effect of cultural setting. Justice Quarterly, 11(3), 357–381.
Brantingham, P. J., & Brantingham, P.L. (1994). Surveying campus crime: What can be done to reduce crime and fear? Security Journal, 5(3), 160–171.
Brownmiller, S. (1975). Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape. New York: Bantam Books.
Clemente, F., & Kleiman, M. (1977). Fear of crime in the United States: A multivariate analysis. Social Forces, 56(2), 519-531.
Cobbina, J. E., Miller, J., & Brunson, R. K. (2008). Gender, neighborhood danger, and risk avoidance strategies among urban African American youth. Criminology, 46(3), 673-709.
Culbertson, K., Vik, P., & Kooiman, B. (2001). The impact of sexual assault, sexual assault perpetrator type, and location of sexual assault on ratings of perceived safety. Violence Against Women, 7(8), 858-875.
Currie, D. (1994). Women’s safety on campus: Challenging the University as a gendered space. Humanity and Society, 18(3), 24–48.
Day, K. (1994). Conceptualizing women's fear of sexual assault on campus. Environment & Behavior, 26(6), 742-765.
Ferraro, K.F. (1995). Fear of Crime: Interpreting Victimization Risk. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Ferraro, K. (1996). Women's fear of victimization: Shadow of sexual assault? Social Forces, 75(2), 667-690.
Fetchenhauer, D., & Buunk, B. (2005). How to explain gender differences in fear of crime: Towards an evolutionary approach. Sexualities, Evolution & Gender, 7(2), 95
Fisher, B.S., Cullen, F. T., & Turner, M. G. (2000). The Sexual Victimization of College Women. Washington, DC: Office of Justice Programs.
Fisher, B.S., & Sloan, J.J. III. (2003). Unraveling the fear of victimization among college women: Is the “shadow of sexual assault hypothesis supported? Justice Quarterly, 20(3), 633-659.
Garofalo, J. (1979). Victimization and the fear of crime. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 16(1), 80-97.
Gilchrist, E., Bannister, J., Ditton, J., & Farrall, S. (1998). Women and the fear of crime: Challenging the accepted stereotype. British Journal of Criminology, 38(2), 283–298.
Gordon, M.T. & Riger, S. (1989). The Female Fear: The Social Cost of Rape. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Gordon, M.T., Riger, S., LeBailly, R.K., & Heath, L. (1980). Crime, women, and the quality of urban life. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 5(3), 144-160.
Griffith, J. D., Hueston, E., Wilson, C., Moyers, & Hart, C. L. (2004). Satisfaction with campus police services. College Student Journal, 38(1), 150–56.
Hammer, J., & Saunders, S. (1984). Well-Founded Fear: A Community Study of Violence to Women. London: Hutchinson.
Jennings, W., Gover, A., & Pudrzynskas, D. (2007). Are institutions of higher learning safe? A descriptive study of campus safety issues and self-reported campus victimization among male and female college students. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 18(2), 191-208.
Katz, C.M., Webb, V.J., & Armstrong, T.A. (2003). Fear of gangs: A test of alternative theoretical models. Justice Quarterly, 20(1), 95–130.
Kelly, K.D., & DeKeseredy, W.S. (1994). Women’s fear of crime and abuse in college and university dating relationships. Violence & Victims, 9(1), 17-30.
Lane, J., & Meeker, J. W. (2003). Women's and men's fear of gang crimes: Sexual and nonsexual assault as perceptually contemporaneous offenses. Justice Quarterly, 20(2), 371.
McCreedy, K.R., & Dennis, B.G. (1996). Sex-related offenses and fear of crime on campus. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 12(1), 69–80.
Madriz, E. (1997). Nothing Bad Happens to Good Girls: Fear of Crime in Women’s Lives. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Parker, K.D., McMorris, B.J., Smith, E., & Murty, K.S. (1993). Fear of crime and the likelihood of victimization: A bi-ethnic comparison. Journal of Social Psychology, (5), 723-732.
Parker, K.D., & Ray, M.C. (1990). Fear of crime: An assessment of related factors. Sociological Spectrum, 10, 29–40.
Rader, N.E. (2004). The threat of victimization: A theoretical re-conceptualization of fear of crime. Sociological Spectrum, 24(6), 689–704.
Rader, N., May, D., & Goodrum, S. (2007). An empirical assessment of the threat of victimization: Considering fear of crime, perceived risk, avoidance, and defensive behaviors. Sociological Spectrum, 27(5), 475-505.
Reid, L., & Konrad, M. (2004). The gender gap in fear: Assessing the interactive effects of gender and perceived risk on fear of crime. Sociological Spectrum, 24(4), 399
Riger, S., Gordon, M.T., & LeBailly, R. (1978). Women's fear of crime from blaming to restricting the victim. Victimology: An International Journal, 3, 274-284.
Skogan, W. G., & Maxfield, M. G. (1981). Coping with Crime: Individual and Neighborhood Reactions. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Sloan, J.J., Lanier, M.M., & Beer, D.L. (2000). Policing the contemporary university campus: Challenging traditional organizational models. Journal of Security Administration, 23(1), 1–20.
Smith, L.N. & Hill, G.D. (1991). Perceptions of crime seriousness and fear of crime. Sociological Focus, 24(4), 315–327.
Smith, M.D. (1988). Women's fear of violent crime: An exploratory test of a feminist hypothesis. Journal of Family Violence, 3(1), 29- 38
Smith, W., & Torstensson, M. (1997). Gender differences in risk perception and neutralizing fear of crime: Toward resolving the paradoxes. British Journal of Criminology, 37(4), 608-634.
Softas-Nall, B., Bardos, A., & Fakinos, M. (1995). Fear of rape: Its perceived seriousness and likelihood among young Greek women. Violence Against Women, (2), 174-186. Stafford, M.C., & Galle, O.R. (1984). Victimization rates, exposure to risk, and fear of crime. Criminology, 22(2), 173-185.
Stanko, E. (1987). Typical violence, normal precaution: Men, women and interpersonal violence in England, Wales, Scotland and the USA. In J. Hanmer and M. Maynard (Eds), Women, Violence, and Social Control. London: Macmillan
Stanko, E.A. (1990a). The Case of Fearful Women: Gender, Personal Safety and the Fear of Crime. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Baltimore.
Stanko, E. (1990b). Everyday Violence: How Women and Men Experience Sexual and Physical Danger. London: HarperCollins.
Stanko, E. (1992). The case of fearful women: Gender, personal safety, and fear of crime. Women and Criminal Justice, 4(1), 117-135.
Stanko, E. (1995). Women, crime, and fear. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 539(1), 46-58.
Stinchcombe, A.L., Adams, R., Fleimer, C.A., Scheppele, K.L., Smith, T.W., & Taylor, D.G. (1980). Crime and Punishment: Changing Attitudes in America. Jossey Bass.
Sutton, R.M., & Farrall, S. (2005). Gender, socially desirable responding and the fear of crime: Are women really more anxious about crime? The British Journal of Criminology, 45(2), 212-224.
Turner, K.B., & Torres, A. (2006). Campus safety: Perceptions and experience of women students. Journal of College Student Development, 47(1), 20–36.
Warr, M. (1984). Fear of victimization: Why are women and the elderly more afraid? Social Science Quarterly, 65(3), 681-702.
Warr, M. (1985). Fear of rape among urban women. Social Problems, 32(3), 238-250.
Warr, M. (2000). Fear of crime in the United States: Avenues for research and policy. In D. Duffee (Ed.), Measurement and analysis of criminal justice, Vol. 4 of Crime and Justice 2000. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.
Weitlauf, J.C., Smith, R.E., & Cervone, D. (2000). Generalization effects of coping- skills training: Influence of self-defense training on women’s efficacy beliefs, assertiveness, and aggression. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(4), 625-633.
Wilcox, P., Jordan, C., & Pritchard, A. (2007). A multidimensional examination of campus safety: Victimization, perceptions of danger, worry about crime, and precautionary behavior among college women in the post-Clery era. Crime & Delinquency, 53(2), 219-254.
Yodanis, C.L. (2004). Gender inequality, violence against women, and fear: A cross- national test of the feminist theory of violence against women. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 19(6), 655-675.