Relying on the official rape rates, previous cross-national researchers found a significant and positive relationship between gender equality and the rates of reported rapes, and they used such findings as supporting evidence of the backlash hypothesis that increased gender equality leads to augmented violence against females. However, such a conclusion may be faulty because of the contested validity and reliability of the official rape rate. This study examined how the variation in a comprehensive legal definition of rape is associated with the rates of reported rapes across 74 countries by using the rates of reported rapes from the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime. The regression analysis suggests that the comprehensive legal definition of rape, more than a country's gender equality and developmental level, is related to the official rape rate. A country records a high official rape rate when the country includes a broad range of sexual assaults in the category of rape crime, suggesting a reevaluation of the existing studies on this topic.

中文翻译：

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国际强奸法对官方强奸率的影响。

以前的跨国研究人员依靠官方的强奸率，发现性别平等与报告的强奸率之间存在显着的正相关关系，他们使用这些发现作为强烈反对假设的支持证据，即增加性别平等导致对女性的暴力行为加剧. 然而，由于官方强奸率的有效性和可靠性存在争议，这样的结论可能是错误的。本研究使用联合国毒品和犯罪问题办公室报告的强奸率，研究了强奸的综合法律定义的差异如何与 74 个国家/地区的报告强奸率相关联。回归分析表明，强奸的综合法律定义，不仅仅是一个国家的性别平等和发展水平，与官方的强奸率有关。当一个国家在强奸犯罪类别中包含广泛的性侵犯时，该国家的官方强奸率记录很高，这表明需要重新评估有关该主题的现有研究。