Thesis (M.S.)--Auburn University, 2007. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (ℓ. 51-56)

Rape and sexual assaults are a huge epidemic not only in the United States, but in the world as well. Victims come across all races, ethnicities, ages, religions, classes and cultures. With so many victims, people often investigate what causes people to commit these crimes in order to decrease the likelihood of future incidents occurring. Pornography is often argued for being a possible cause of sexual assaults. While many sex offenders do have large collections of pornography, there has not been any concrete evidence to support that pornography causes people to rape. Acceptance of rape myths also could play a large role in how people perceive the victims of sexual assaults causing them even more trauma as well as them being less likely to report the crime. With over 2000,000 cases of sexual assault reported each year, it is important to attempt to find any possible causes. The intent of this thesis is to explore any possible associations with attitudes on pornography and perceptions of rape myths. Through my analysis, the participants were asked about their attitudes of pornography and details on if they chose to view pornography or not compared with their perceptions of rape myths.