Rape in these movies was committed by sadistic, disturbed, lower class individuals who prey on children and the vulnerable. The movies in 1996 presented a monolithic depiction of rape. Interrater reliability was high, ranging from 85 percent agreement for whether the movie was directed at a male or female audience to alpha =.98 for the occurrence of rape. If the sex scene was classified as a rape, several other variables were measured, including time of occurrence, type of rape, and whether the offender was punished for the crime.
For individual sex scenes, coders identified the type of sex that was occurring (heterosexual or homosexual, consensual or rape), who initiated the act, the use of birth control, and the use of drugs and/or alcohol. For each movie, coders identified the genre of the film, the type of audience to which the film was directed, and whether the movie contained any sex scenes. Training for each coder consisted of an introduction to the survey instrument, including definitions of sex and rape, and watching sample movies collectively and discussing the results.
Each of the 50 films was watched by 3 individual coders.
