IN THE FIRST STUDY REPORTED, 25 STATEMENTS PERTAINING TO RAPE WERE ADMINISTERED IN BOOKLET FORM TO A SAMPLE OF 111 FEMALE AND 70 MALE UNDERGRADUATES. FACTOR ANALYSIS OF ITEM RATINGS IDENTIFIED TWO FACTORS: PERCEIVED CAUSALITY AND PERCEIVED SEVERITY OF CONSEQUENCES. COMPARISONS OF THE ITEMS' LOADING ON EACH OF THE TWO FACTORS REVEALED CONSISTENT DIFFERENCES IN PERCEIVED CAUSALITY AND NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN PERCEIVED SEVERITY OF CONSEQUENCES BETWEEN THE SEXES, WITH MALES MORE THAN FEMALES ATTRIBUTING A CAUSAL ROLE TO THE VICTIM. THE SECOND STUDY, A ROLE-PLAYED VIDEO TAPE INTERVIEW BETWEEN A PRESUMED RAPE VICTIM AND A POLICE OFFICER, WAS SHOWN TO 23 MALE AND 24 FEMALE UNDERGRADUATES. SUBJECTS RATED THE VICTIM ON A SERIES OF SCALES THEMATICALLY SIMILAR TO THE STATEMENTS USED IN THE FIRST STUDY. DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTION BETWEEN THE SEXES CONSISTENT WITH THE FIRST STUDY WERE FOUND, WITH MALES VIEWING THE VICTIM AS PLAYING A GREATER CAUSAL ROLE IN THE RAPE EPISODE THAN THE FEMALES. WHILE THE BASIC FINDINGS OF THE TWO STUDIES ARE CONSIDERED STABLE AND CONSISTENT, THE SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RAPE VICTIM IN THE SECOND STUDY (DIVORCED AND RAPED ONCE BEFORE) ARE NOTED. THE RESULTS OF THESE STUDIES ARE COMPARED WITH THOSE OF SIMILAR STUDIES. IT IS SUGGESTED THAT THE RESULTS ARGUE THAT WOMEN RATHER THAN MEN SHOULD PLAY THE MAJOR ROLE IN CRISIS ASSISTANCE TO RAPE VICTIMS. DATA AND REFERENCES, BUT NOT THE STUDY INSTRUMENT, ARE PROVIDED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED--RCB)