# \"Good Guys Don't Rape\": Greek and Non-Greek College Student Perpetrator Rape Myths
## 4 Discussion
### Implications  
Public perceptions and expectations of rape and the context in which it takes place are different from reality [31]. Oftentimes, the media focuses on sexual assault cases that do not reflect the norm (i.e., which then upholds rape myths) and instead focuses on cases where the perpetrator fits a typology of a creepy man in the bushes [2; 27; 41]. Research has shown the framing of sexual assault through the media directly affects attitudes about rape [42; 43; 44]. For example, stranger rape and false accusations that are given large amounts of media attention are seen as more legitimate and offer a frame of reference when determining the legitimacy of other cases [41; 45]. In addition, media typically focuses on the \"myth of the black rapist,\" when the story is of a black perpetrator and a white women [46]. This allows for the public to recall these situations or schema and to believe they are more common than they truly are [31; 47]. Instead, the media needs to reflect that perpetrators of sexual assault can look like the \"boy next door\" and not the creepy man lurking in the bushes, who rarely exists [27]. Thus, it is difficult to hold men who perpetrate sexual violence accountable if guilt is difficult to attribute to men who have good characteristics in other aspects of their lives, outside of sexual violence. Typically, when college-aged men are accused of rape, society perceives that they were essentially \"good guys who drank too much alcohol and who used poor communication\" [14]. Criminal justice research suggests that perceptions of perpetrators play a significant role in peoples' beliefs about the \"legitimacy\" of sexual assault as a crime and the manner in which guilt is determined [41; 42; 45; 48]. Perceptions of sexual assault often develop from rape scripts, which endorse a stereotypical view of rape experiences [49]. That is, rape scripts present \"real rape\" as a violent attack perpetrated by a stranger in a public location [50; 51]. Despite the endorsement of these scripts, the majority of sexual assaults qualify as acquaintance rapes, occurring between two people who know each other (i.e., up to 90%; [52]). Thus, rape myths and rape scripts are mutually reinforcing, defining rape more narrowly, and inaccurately. Unfortunately, endorsement of these rape myths and false rape scripts often results in increased victim blaming and shielding perpetrators from blame [49]. In a recent and controversial case in 2016, a Stanford athlete named [PERSON] was found guilty of raping a young unconscious female. Although prosecutors argued for at least a six-year sentence, Judge [PERSON] sentenced the rapist to only six months of prison because his rationale was that [PERSON]'s \"... positive character references given by his father had factored into his decision, as well as his age, his lack of a criminal history, and the role that alcohol played in the assault.... A prison sentence would have (too) a severe impact on him\" [53]. In addition, the rapist fit the same profile as the judge: White, middle-class, Stanford athlete alumni and a Phi Beta Kappa. Thus, the rapist was a \"good guy.\" However, voters in 2018 did not agree with Judge [PERSON]'s ruling, as he was the first judge recalled in California in more than 80 years [54]. The incident at Stanford University is certainly not in isolation as there are a myriad of sexual assault cases making national news as of late that involve men whom we would otherwise conceptualize as \"good guys.\" Educational efforts aimed at shifting public view of what a rapist looks like, which may include those who are deemed \"good guys\" is clearly warranted. Although the Interfraternity Council (IFC) that oversees Greek-life does not publish statistics on Greeks, we do know that fraternity and sorority alumni represent the \"largest sector of lifetime donors to colleges, four times more than non-Greeks, and thus have a firm grip on university politics\" [18].