No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Blame Attributions Against Heterosexual Male Victims of Sexual Coercion: Effects of Gender, Social Influence, and Perceptions of Distress
Abstract
If heterosexual male victims had been more active in the #MeToo movement, how might they have been judged? Although the #MeToo movement has been regarded as an historic milestone for women who were victimized by men in positions of power, participation in the movement by male victims has been noticeably absent. Research indicates that victims may avoid disclosure if they anticipate negative social reactions, and male victims may attract greater levels of victim blaming than female victims, particularly if their perpetrator was female. The current study investigated attributions of victim blame against a fictional heterosexual male in a between-subjects vignette design. Perpetrator gender and their social influence were manipulated in a sample of 208 college students. Results did not support the hypothesized main effects of perpetrator gender or social influence. Greater blame attributions were made against victims of a male perpetrator compared to one of an unspecified gender. Male participants attributed greater blame than females, and the relationship between shame proneness and blame was moderated by participant gender, males experiencing higher levels of shame engaged in less victim blame. Blame increased when participants believed the court case to be more distressing than the victimizing act. Results support the male rape myth framework, which posits that beliefs about a male victim’s experience of his own violation, particularly whether he experienced distress or pleasure, are related to gendered norms of masculinity, which include normative traits of toughness, dominance, and high sexual performance. Implications on the role of gender as a barrier to disclosure by male victims are discussed.
... Several studies have shown that women sex offenders are described more positively than men sex offenders, because their behavior is considered more acceptable, less dangerous, and interpreted as affective or romantic (Cain & Anderson, 2016;Carroll et al., 2019;Moore & Miller-Perrin, 2022;Struckman-Johnson & Struckman-Johnson, 1993). Consequently, in a scenario where women are seen as nonaggressive and men believed to have total control over sexual interactions, men are unlikely seen as victims and more often blamed for the acts they have suffered (Bohner et al., 2009;Catton & Dorahy, 2022;Loxton & Groves, 2022;Sleath & Bull, 2009). ...
... Describing how individuals, and particularly university students, perceive the phenomenon of SV perpetrated by women against men seems paramount to initiate the process of challenging these social mechanisms. Thus, previous studies have examined these perceptions in groups such as university students (Catton & Dorahy, 2022;Mackelprang & Becker, 2015;Moore & Miller-Perrin, 2022). ...
... Rights reserved. order to defend themselves from violence (Catton & Dorahy, 2022;Chapleau et al., 2008;Huitema & Vanwesenbeeck, 2016;Sleath & Bull, 2009;Turchik & Edwards, 2012;Walfield, 2018). Additionally, participants associated the victim's behavior with the possibility that he might not be heterosexual. ...
Introduction
Sexual violence (SV) perpetrated by women against men is socially dismissed and underrepresented in research. The aim of the current study was to explore the perspectives of university students (women and men) on women-perpetrated SV against men.
Methods
A total of 19 undergraduate students were presented with a vignette describing a hypothetical situation of SV and interviewed.
Results
A thematic analysis was performed, identifying four main themes: characters’ Features, sexual initiation Strategies, Consequences, and Motivations and Contexts. Participants endorsed gender stereotypes and victim-blaming narratives, but also challenged gender stereotypes and rape myths. Participants could identify violent sexual initiation strategies, could anticipate potential consequences of the abuse, and were able to imagine potential motivational and contextual factors that facilitated the abuse.
Conclusions
These results highlight the importance of providing adequate information regarding women-perpetrated SV and can inform preventative approaches targeting social norms that perpetuate the invisibility of this phenomenon. Recommendations for future research are discussed.
Policy Implications
Public policies that facilitate the training of professionals who contact with victims may help overcome the influence of rape myths that hinder appropriate intervention. Similarly, policies that support the prevention of SV in university contexts may contribute to translate the results from research into practice.
... One common interpersonal barrier is the anticipation of negative social reactions (Carson et al., 2020;Sivagurunathan et al., 2019;Weiss, 2010). Negative social reactions are responses to disclosure that provide unhelpful or harmful feedback, and include expressions of disbelief, and stigmatizing responses such as victim blame (Catton & Dorahy, 2022;Iles et al., 2021;Wager et al., 2021). Such responses may produce distress if they violate the victim's expected reaction from a disclosure recipient (Dworkin et al., 2019). ...
Research on disclosure of sexual victimization has consistently demonstrated that the act of disclosure and the disclosure recipient have a synergistic effect in facilitating either positive or negative post-assault outcomes. While negative judgments such as victim blame have been argued to serve a silencing function, experimental investigations of this claim are lacking. The current study investigated whether invalidating feedback in response to self-disclosure of a personally distressing event produced feelings of shame, and whether shame influenced subsequent decisions around re-disclosure. Feedback type (validating, invalidating, no feedback) was manipulated in a sample of 142 college students. Results partially supported the hypothesis that shame resulted from invalidation, however shame was better predicted by individual perceptions of invalidation than the experimental manipulation. Although few participants opted to make changes to the content of their narrative for re-disclosure, those who did had higher levels of state shame. Results suggest that shame may be the affective mechanism by which invalidating judgments silence victims of sexual violence. The present study also supports the distinction previously made between Restore and Protect motivations in managing this shame. This study provides experimental support for the notion that an aversion to being shamed, communicated via an individual’s perception of emotional invalidation, features in judgments of re-disclosure. Perceptions of invalidation, however, vary individually. Professionals working with victims of sexual violence should be mindful of the importance of shame attenuation in facilitating and encouraging disclosure.
... Social psychology research has also assessed responsibility attribution through the lenses of social perception and judgment (Weiner, 2006). In this view, stereotyped beliefs regarding intentionality can prejudice individuals' responsibility attribution (Catton & Dorahy, 2020;Corrigan, Markowitz, Watson, Rowan, & Kubiak, 2003;Cucchi & Cavazza, 2020). ...
This research examines three distinct processes that influence Americans’ prosocial responses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Employing a nationally representative sample, participants read either a mock-up news article on COVID-19 with a clear responsibility attribution (n = 496) or one without (n = 513) in a survey embedded experiment. Participants exposed to the responsibility attribution condition engaged in less systematic processing; systematic processing and all emotions mediated the relationship between responsibility attribution and support for government response measures. For donation intention, only systematic processing and the two socially oriented emotions were significant mediators. In essence, responsibility attribution in media coverage can exert powerful influence on public perception in an ongoing crisis.
It is well known that sexual violence is a prevalent social problem that often results in numerous deleterious outcomes for victims and these outcomes are often influenced by rape acknowledgment (i.e., whether the rape victim acknowledges their experience as rape). Most research on rape acknowledgment examines acknowledgment as a dichotomous variable and comprises heterosexual cisgender women, revealing two gaps in the literature. To fill these gaps, this study used quantitative data that oversampled LGBTQ+ populations to examine three categories of rape acknowledgment (yes, no, uncertain) among a gender and sexually diverse sample ( N = 817). Results indicate that 20% of the sample were uncertain as to whether they had been raped, 33% were unacknowledged victims, and 44% acknowledged their rape. Sexual minority transgender/nonbinary people had the highest prevalence of rape acknowledgment (56%), compared with four other groupings: heterosexual cis men and women as well as sexual minority cis men and women (28%–49%). Multivariate analysis revealed that when controlling for other factors, gender identity, but not sexual orientation, significantly predicts rape acknowledgment. Namely, sexual minority transgender/nonbinary people and cis women were more likely than cis men to acknowledge their rape. This study offers evidence to suggest that acknowledgment differs significantly by gender identity and is worth further inquiry. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether indicating victims of sexual attacks actively resisted their attacker or froze during their assault affected perceptions of victim blame, perpetrator blame and seriousness of the crime. We also tested whether victim and perpetrator gender or participants’ rape myth endorsement moderated the outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was a cross-sectional, vignette survey study with a 2 × 2 between-participants experimental design. Participants read a mock police report describing an alleged rape with a female or male victim who either resisted or froze, while perpetrator gender was adjusted heteronormatively.
Findings
Freezing and male victims were blamed more than resisting and female victims. Perpetrators were blamed more when the victim resisted, but male and female perpetrators were blamed equally. Seriousness of the crime was higher for male perpetrators and when the victim resisted. Female, but not male, rape myth acceptance moderated the relationship between victim behaviour and outcome variables.
Originality/value
This study highlights the influence of expectations about victim behaviour on perceptions of rape victims and the pervasive influence of rape myths when evaluating female rape victims. The data is drawn from the German border region of the Netherlands, which is an especially valuable population given the evolving legal definitions of rape in both countries.
This study examines blame attributions of victims and perpetrators in female-on-male rape cases and event severity attributions as affected by three victim-related variables: prior sexual victimization, resistance during the rape, and sexual arousal during the rape. It assesses the relative weight of each of these variables in determining the attribution of blame to the victim and perpetrator and the attribution of severity to the event. The study found that sexual arousal and absence of resistance correlated with higher victim blame attribution, lower perpetrator blame, and lower event severity attributions, while prior sexual victimization had the opposite correlations. We therefore conclude that blame and severity attributions are affected by the victim’s behavior prior to the rape and during the rape.
The significant sex-based discrepancy in violent crime suggests that something about maleness or masculinity contributes to this pattern. Research on masculinities clearly indicates that if men struggle to meet masculine gender role expectations, they are likely to report distress (Eisler & Skidmore, 1987; O'Neil, 2008). Empirical work demonstrates that failing to meet these expectations causes some men to become aggressive (Vandello & Bosson, 2013), but literature has not fully elucidated the psychological experience of that connection. To better understand the role threatened masculinity may play in fomenting male aggression, we created a new measure of threatened-masculinity shame-related responses. We then explored how these experiences related to aggression. The Masculinity and Shame Questionnaire is a scenario-based measure of shame-related responses to threatened masculinity: feel shame, escape, prevent exposure, and externalize blame. In a validation study with heterosexual males (n = 460), we found strong evidence for validity of the Masculinity and Shame Questionnaire among heterosexual men and a clear connection between threatened-masculinity shame-related responses and self-reports of a tendency to be physically aggressive. Threatened-masculinity externalization of blame mediated the relationship between threatened-masculinity shame-related responses and self-reported physically aggressive behaviors. Further, regression analyses showed that threatened-masculinity shamerelated responses account for variance in self-reported physically aggressive behaviors above and beyond the variance accounted for by general shame. Results suggest the threatened-masculinity shame dynamic is critical to consider in violence prevention and intervention work.
Objective: This study examines general biases and gender biases in blaming victims of rape and other crimes. General biases operate for any type of victimization and can bias attributions of blame downward (sympathy for victims and anger toward offenders) or upward (hindsight). Gender biases can lead to greater victim blaming for rape and female victims. Method: College students were presented with vignettes involving different outcomes and asked whether they blamed the victim (direct blame) and whether they thought the victim was irresponsible or should not have gotten herself in that situation (indirect blame). In Study 1 (N = 348), we manipulated whether the vignette ended with a rape or robbery and included two scenarios in which no negative consequence was mentioned. In Study 2 (N = 239), we manipulated the relationship of the offender and victim, the gender of the victim, and whether the vignette ended in a rape, homicide, assault, or accident. Results: Rape victims were not assigned more blame than other victims. In fact, participants were less likely to assign direct blame to rape victims than robbery victims. They tended to prefer indirect blame over direct blame, particularly in the case of rape and homicide. Conclusions: General biases better explained our results than gender biases. Sympathy for victims and anger toward offenders inhibit victim blaming, whereas hindsight encourages it.
Women commit sexual offenses, but the proportion of sexual offenders who are female is subject to debates. Based on 17 samples from 12 countries, the current meta-analysis found that a small proportion of sexual offenses reported to police are committed by females (fixed-effect meta-analytical average = 2.2%). In contrast, victimization surveys indicated prevalence rates of female sexual offenders that were six times higher than official data (fixed-effect meta-analytical average = 11.6%). Female sexual offenders are more common among juvenile offenders than adult offenders, with approximately 2 percentage points more female juvenile sex offenders than female adult sex offenders. We also found that males were much more likely to self-report being victimized by female sex offenders compared with females (40% vs. 4%). The current study provides a robust estimate of the prevalence of female sexual offending, using a large sample of sexual offenses across diverse countries.
The objective of the research described here is to discover whether the features of obedience must be present in order for responsibility to be so attributed or whether the status of the actors and the meaning of the situation are sufficient. In two studies, we present animation showing the movements of three geometrical figures. The subjects are asked to describe the action and to divide 100% of responsibility between the three figures. The first study, conducted face to face (22 subjects), shows that a figure presented as an authority as opposed to a person is seen to take on a determining role in the action and is attributed 40% responsibility (vs. 17.9%). A second study (92 subjects) confirms this mechanism when the figure is presented as having other resources at its disposal (hypnotism and manipulation). The status of the actors and the meaning of the situation are therefore sufficient to prompt the attribution of responsibility to the figure presented as having the resources. These results lend support critiques of the agentic state theory.
Although research has been conducted on rape myth acceptance (RMA) and other factors associated with attribution formation, researchers have not yet determined how the combination of such factors simultaneously affects levels of victim blame and perpetrator blame. The current investigation recruited 221 students from an all-women's college to examine differences in blame attributions across RMA, victim gender, and perpetrator gender, and the relationship between the two parties (i.e., stranger vs. acquaintance). Results suggested that RMA, victim gender, and perpetrator gender account for a significant amount of variance in blame attributions for both victims and perpetrators. In sum, victim blame with female perpetrators was relatively consistent across levels of RMA, but increased substantially for male perpetrators as individuals endorsed higher levels of RMA. Perpetrator blame, however, was highest with male perpetrators when individuals endorsed low levels of RMA and lowest for male perpetrators when individuals endorsed relatively higher levels of RMA. Findings demonstrate the continued influence of RMA on blame attributions for both victims and perpetrators, and the stigma faced by male victims. More research is needed on the differing attributions of male and female victims and perpetrators, as well as differing attributions based on type of relationship. Such research will lead to a better and more thorough understanding of sexual assault and rape.
© The Author(s) 2015.
Sexual victimization of boys and men is understudied despite its alarming prevalence and potentially detrimental outcomes. Research suggests that the majority of men who have experienced something that would qualify as child sexual abuse (CSA) or adult rape based on research definitions do not label their experiences as sexual abuse or rape. This study sought to examine men's labeling of their own victimization by examining acknowledgment of CSA and adult rape in a convenience sample of 323 men who completed an online survey. In this sample, 49% of CSA victims and 24% of rape victims used the labels of sexual abuse and rape, respectively. Correlates of CSA acknowledgment included the perpetrator's use of physical force during the incident. Correlates of rape acknowledgment included perpetrator's use of force and a male rather than a female perpetrator. Acknowledged CSA victims reported more distress and higher rates of adult sexual revictimization compared with unacknowledged CSA victims. Unacknowledged rape victims, but not acknowledged rape victims, reported higher rates of distress compared to non-victims. Rape myths and rigid definitions of masculinity are discussed as possible factors contributing to the high rates of unacknowledged sexual victimization in this sample.
Problem/condition:
Sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence are public health problems known to have a negative impact on millions of persons in the United States each year, not only by way of immediate harm but also through negative long-term health impacts. Before implementation of the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) in 2010, the most recent detailed national data on the public health burden from these forms of violence were obtained from the National Violence against Women Survey conducted during 1995-1996. This report examines sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence victimization using data from 2011. The report describes the overall prevalence of sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence victimization; racial/ethnic variation in prevalence; how types of perpetrators vary by violence type; and the age at which victimization typically begins. For intimate partner violence, the report also examines a range of negative impacts experienced as a result of victimization, including the need for services.
Reporting period:
January-December, 2011.
Description of system:
NISVS is a national random-digit-dial telephone survey of the noninstitutionalized English- and Spanish-speaking U.S. population aged ≥18 years. NISVS gathers data on experiences of sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence among adult women and men in the United States by using a dual-frame sampling strategy that includes both landline and cellular telephones. The survey was conducted in 50 states and the District of Columbia; in 2011, the second year of NISVS data collection, 12,727 interviews were completed, and 1,428 interviews were partially completed.
Results:
In the United States, an estimated 19.3% of women and 1.7% of men have been raped during their lifetimes; an estimated 1.6% of women reported that they were raped in the 12 months preceding the survey. The case count for men reporting rape in the preceding 12 months was too small to produce a statistically reliable prevalence estimate. An estimated 43.9% of women and 23.4% of men experienced other forms of sexual violence during their lifetimes, including being made to penetrate, sexual coercion, unwanted sexual contact, and noncontact unwanted sexual experiences. The percentages of women and men who experienced these other forms of sexual violence victimization in the 12 months preceding the survey were an estimated 5.5% and 5.1%, respectively. An estimated 15.2% of women and 5.7% of men have been a victim of stalking during their lifetimes. An estimated 4.2% of women and 2.1% of men were stalked in the 12 months preceding the survey. With respect to sexual violence and stalking, female victims reported predominantly male perpetrators, whereas for male victims, the sex of the perpetrator varied by the specific form of violence examined. Male rape victims predominantly had male perpetrators, but other forms of sexual violence experienced by men were either perpetrated predominantly by women (i.e., being made to penetrate and sexual coercion) or split more evenly among male and female perpetrators (i.e., unwanted sexual contact and noncontact unwanted sexual experiences). In addition, male stalking victims also reported a more even mix of males and females who had perpetrated stalking against them. The lifetime and 12-month prevalences of rape by an intimate partner for women were an estimated 8.8% and 0.8%, respectively; an estimated 0.5% of men experienced rape by an intimate partner during their lifetimes, although the case count for men reporting rape by an intimate partner in the preceding 12 months was too small to produce a statistically reliable prevalence estimate. An estimated 15.8% of women and 9.5% of men experienced other forms of sexual violence by an intimate partner during their lifetimes, whereas an estimated 2.1% of both men and women experienced these forms of sexual violence by a partner in the 12 months before taking the survey. Severe physical violence by an intimate partner (including acts such as being hit with something hard, being kicked or beaten, or being burned on purpose) was experienced by an estimated 22.3% of women and 14.0% of men during their lifetimes and by an estimated 2.3% of women and 2.1% of men in the 12 months before taking the survey. Finally, the lifetime and 12-month prevalence of stalking by an intimate partner for women was an estimated 9.2% and 2.4%, respectively, while the lifetime and 12-month prevalence for men was an estimated 2.5% and 0.8%, respectively. Many victims of sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence were first victimized at a young age. Among female victims of completed rape, an estimated 78.7% were first raped before age 25 years (40.4% before age 18 years). Among male victims who were made to penetrate a perpetrator, an estimated 71.0% were victimized before age 25 years (21.3% before age 18 years). In addition, an estimated 53.8% of female stalking victims and 47.7% of male stalking victims were first stalked before age 25 years (16.3% of female victims and 20.5% of male victims before age 18 years). Finally, among victims of contact sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner, an estimated 71.1% of women and 58.2% of men first experienced these or other forms of intimate partner violence before age 25 years (23.2% of female victims and 14.1% of male victims before age 18 years).
Interpretation:
A substantial proportion of U.S. female and male adults have experienced some form of sexual violence, stalking, or intimate partner violence at least once during their lifetimes, and the sex of perpetrators varied by the specific form of violence examined. In addition, a substantial number of U.S. adults experienced sexual violence, stalking, or intimate partner violence during the 12 months preceding the 2011 survey. Consistent with previous studies, the overall pattern of results suggest that women, in particular, are heavily impacted over their lifetime. However, the results also indicate that many men experience sexual violence, stalking, and, in particular, physical violence by an intimate partner. Because of the broad range of short- and long-term consequences known to be associated with these forms of violence, the public health burden of sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence is substantial. RESULTS suggest that these forms of violence frequently are experienced at an early age because a majority of victims experienced their first victimization before age 25 years, with a substantial proportion experiencing victimization in childhood or adolescence.
Public health action:
Because a substantial proportion of sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence is experienced at a young age, primary prevention of these forms of violence must begin early. Prevention efforts should take into consideration that female sexual violence and stalking victimization is perpetrated predominately by men and that a substantial proportion of male sexual violence and stalking victimization (including rape, unwanted sexual contact, noncontact unwanted sexual experiences, and stalking) also is perpetrated by men. CDC seeks to prevent these forms of violence with strategies that address known risk factors for perpetration and by changing social norms and behaviors by using bystander and other prevention strategies. In addition, primary prevention of intimate partner violence is focused on the promotion of healthy relationship behaviors and other protective factors, with the goal of helping adolescents develop these positive behaviors before their first relationships. The early promotion of healthy relationships while behaviors are still relatively modifiable makes it more likely that young persons can avoid violence in their relationships.
Historically, many studies have examined rape victim blaming among various observers, using a vignette methodology in which victim characteristics were manipulated. However, a gap in the research concerns a clear distinction between victim and observer characteristics and its separate influence on rape victim blaming. The current paper explores this distinction by examining the victim characteristics of gender, sexuality, degree of resistance exhibited, and victim-perpetrator relationship, as well as the observer characteristics of gender, professional status, gender role attitudes, and rape myth acceptance in relation to rape victim blame. Findings indicate that these variables have significant effects on rape blame attribution. A number of theoretical standpoints including the Just World Theory, Defensive Attribution Hypothesis, and notion of Homophobia are discussed in relation to the findings with the aim of enabling interpretation of the results. The limitations associated with the vignette methodology are also identified and discussed, along with reference to the development of newer methodologies and their contribution to the field.
Tanto los hechos de la vida real como la investigación muestran que a las víctimas de violación a veces se las acusa de victimización. Apenas se ha estudiado el efecto de las características del autor en la culpabili- zación de las víctimas. En un experimento con una muestra comunitaria (N = 161) utilizando una metodo- logía de viñetas investigamos el efecto de las condenas anteriores y de la edad del autor, así como el género y su creencia en un mundo justo, en la atribución de culpa. Se predijo que se atribuiría menos culpa a la víctima y más al autor cuando éste había sido condenado anteriormente. Los resultados indican que la creencia en un mundo justo se asociaba (positivamente) a la culpabilización de la víctima y (negativamen- te) a la del autor. Los hombres culpabilizaban más a la víctima y las mujeres la culpabilizaban menos cuan- do el autor había sido condenado anteriormente. En consecuencia, el género constituye un factor importan- te en la explicación de la variación en la atribución de culpa.
We assessed 12-month prevalence and incidence data on sexual victimization in 5 federal surveys that the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted independently in 2010 through 2012. We used these data to examine the prevailing assumption that men rarely experience sexual victimization. We concluded that federal surveys detect a high prevalence of sexual victimization among men-in many circumstances similar to the prevalence found among women. We identified factors that perpetuate misperceptions about men's sexual victimization: reliance on traditional gender stereotypes, outdated and inconsistent definitions, and methodological sampling biases that exclude inmates. We recommend changes that move beyond regressive gender assumptions, which can harm both women and men.
Sexual assault generates much attention in social research, but male victims are largely neglected by a predominantly feminist perspective that seeks to highlight the gendered nature of sexual assault as a social phenomenon. As a result there is a relative lack of empirical information on male rape, but it is possible to chart the theoretical development of male rape as a social problem as it emerges in the social research discourse. It is important to examine this development because the current direction of the research on male rape has worrying consequences for how we theorize sexual assault in general. Here I examine how male rape is understood in academic discourse, and I focus specifically on how a credible male victim is constructed with reference to sexual difference, sexuality, and hierarchies of sexual harm. The analysis demonstrates the problems around the concept of ‘male rape’, and the need for all those researching sexual assault to account adequately for both male and female victims alike.
Victims of rape are sometimes blamed for the assaults against them. Research has examined primarily female victims; much less is known about men as victims and whether victim age affects attributions of victim blame. Furthermore, the study investigated the effects of Belief in a Just World (BJW) on blame attributions. Employing a vignette-type experimental study with a 2 (gender of participant)×2 (victim's gender)×2 (victim's age)×2 (participant BJW score) between-subjects design and several measures of blame attributions towards victim and perpetrator as dependent variables, a community sample (n = 164) participated. The main results were as hypothesised, namely that young male victims were attributed more blame, particularly by participants scoring high on BJW. Overall, victim blame level was low and perpetrator blame was high, and BJW was a powerful predictor of blame attributions.
Experiences of verbal sexual coercion are common and have potential for negative consequences, yet are not well understood. This study used qualitative and descriptive statistics to examine verbal sexual coercion experiences among a community sample of 114 women and explored the role of sexual precedence in these experiences. Analyses revealed that sexual precedence plays an important role in determining how these experiences come about and why women acquiesce to unwanted intercourse. Verbal persuasion and persistence were the most commonly reported tactics. The valence of this verbal persuasion differed qualitatively according to precedence status, with those having a history of sexual precedence using negative persuasion (e.g., threats to relationship) and those with no precedence relying on positive messages (e.g., sweet talk). Most women used direct verbal resistance to indicate their unwillingness to have sex, regardless of precedence status. Women's reasons for compliance and consequences differed qualitatively according to sexual precedence status.
Assessed the extent to which the sex of an assault victim and the type of assault influence attributions of blame. In Study 1, 87 female and 48 male undergraduates read 2 transcripts of assaults and completed global and specific measures of attribution. In Study 2, 80 male and 80 female undergraduates completed gender role attitude scales, viewed videotapes of assaults, and completed attributional measures. Results demonstrate the influence of sex, and its societal definition as gender, on attributions in the context of victimization. Across several types of assault and in different situations, more blame was attributed to female than to male victims. The type of blame attributed also varied by sex of the victim: More blame was attributed to the character of female victims than to that of male victims, and more blame was attributed to the behavior of male victims than to that of female victims. These attributional patterns were particularly strong among Ss with traditional gender role attitudes. Implications for the major attributional approaches are reviewed. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Conducted 3 experiments, using 44, 34, and 46 undergraduates as Ss, to examine the following proposition: An O of an accident, to preclude the possibility that he could cause such a misfortune, will attribute responsibility for its occurrence to a person potentially responsible, and will attempt to differentiate himself from that person. This tendency will increase with the probability of occurrence and the severity of the accident's consequences. It was found that heightened probability of occurrence, especially in the form of personal similarity to the potential perpetrator, lessened O's attributions of responsibility and increased his ascription of carefulness to the perpetrator. Avoidance of blame for the accident thus appeared to be more important to Os than avoidance of the occurrence. A category of perceiver response defensive attribution was proposed to encompass this attributional error and similar perceiver biases. The other major finding was a consistent failure to replicate E. Walster's (see 40:3) finding of increased assignment of responsibility with increased severity of outcome. This was surprising, as severity-dependent attribution would appear to be consistent with legal and moral tradition, and self-protection. Such attribution might be an essentially "irrational" response that is suppressed when O is alerted to the attribution task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
We sought to examine the prevalence of reciprocal (i.e., perpetrated by both partners) and nonreciprocal intimate partner violence and to determine whether reciprocity is related to violence frequency and injury.
We analyzed data on young US adults aged 18 to 28 years from the 2001 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which contained information about partner violence and injury reported by 11,370 respondents on 18761 heterosexual relationships.
Almost 24% of all relationships had some violence, and half (49.7%) of those were reciprocally violent. In nonreciprocally violent relationships, women were the perpetrators in more than 70% of the cases. Reciprocity was associated with more frequent violence among women (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=2.3; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.9, 2.8), but not men (AOR=1.26; 95% CI=0.9, 1.7). Regarding injury, men were more likely to inflict injury than were women (AOR=1.3; 95% CI=1.1, 1.5), and reciprocal intimate partner violence was associated with greater injury than was nonreciprocal intimate partner violence regardless of the gender of the perpetrator (AOR=4.4; 95% CI=3.6, 5.5).
The context of the violence (reciprocal vs nonreciprocal) is a strong predictor of reported injury. Prevention approaches that address the escalation of partner violence may be needed to address reciprocal violence.
One of four possible vignettes manipulated by (a) level of rape myth contained within them (low vs. high) and (b) type of rape (stranger vs. acquaintance) was presented to participants followed by scales measuring victim blame, perpetrator blame, belief in a just world, sex-role egalitarian beliefs, and male rape myth acceptance. Victim blaming was predicted by male rape myth acceptance. Perpetrator blaming was predicted by male rape myth acceptance and sex-role egalitarianism. Differences were found in victim and perpetrator blaming in terms of stranger and acquaintance rape and also in relation to manipulating the level of rape myths. Findings are discussed in relation to the previous literature on rape victim and perpetrator blaming.
Recently, incapacitated rape has emerged as a distinct type of sexual victimization. However, little is known about its longer-term psychological consequences. Two studies compare the psychological consequences of incapacitated rape to those of forcible rape and verbal coercion. Generally, the traumatic impact of incapacitated rape was intermediate to that of verbal coercion and forcible rape; however, there were domains (e.g., current perceived trauma and emotional impact) in which incapacitated and forcible rape had a similar impact and other domains (e.g., attributions of responsibility) in which incapacitated rape was similar to verbal coercion. This research suggests that sexual assault researchers might benefit from separately examining forcible and incapacitated rape.
This article describes the "rape myth" and tests hypotheses derived from social psychological and feminist theory that acceptance of rape myths can be predicted from attitudes such as sex role stereotyping, adversarial sexual beliefs, sexual conservatism, and acceptance of interpersonal violence. Personality characteristics, background characteristics, and personal exposure to rape, rape victims, and rapists are other factors used in predictions. Results from regression analysis of interview data indicate that the higher the sex role stereotyping, adversarial sexual beliefs, and acceptance of interpersonal violence, the greater a respondent's acceptance of rape myths. In addition, younger and better educated people reveal less stereotypic, adversarial, and proviolence attitudes and less rape myth acceptance. Discussion focuses on the implications of these results for understanding and changing this cultural orientation toward sexual assault.
We investigated women's and men's reports of experiencing and using tactics of postrefusal sexual persistence, defined as persistent attempts to have sexual contact with someone who has already refused. Participants were 275 men and 381 women at Midwestern and Southern universities. More women (78%) than men (58%) reported having been subjected to such tactics since age 16; this difference was significant for the categories of sexual arousal, emotional manipulation and lies, and intoxication, and for two tactics within the physical force category (physical restraint and threats of harm). More men (40%) than women (26%) reported having used such tactics; this difference was significant for the sexual arousal, emotional manipulation and lies, and intoxication categories. We present participants' written descriptions of their experiences.
This articles describes a procedure for the study of destructive obedience in the laboratory. It consists of ordering a naive S to administer increasingly more severe punishment to a victim in the context of a learning experiment. Punishment is administered by means of a shock generator with 30 graded switches ranging from Slight Shock to Danger: Severe Shock. The victim is a confederate of the E. The primary dependent variable is the maximum shock the S is willing to administer before he refuses to continue further. 26 Ss obeyed the experimental commands fully, and administered the highest shock on the generator. 14 Ss broke off the experiment at some point after the victim protested and refused to provide further answers. The procedure created extreme levels of nervous tension in some Ss. Profuse sweating, trembling, and stuttering were typical expressions of this emotional disturbance. One unexpected sign of tension––yet to be explained––was the regular occurrence of nervous laughter, which in some Ss developed into uncontrollable seizures. The variety of interesting behavioral dynamics observed in the experiment, the reality of the situation for the S, and the possibility of parametric variation within the framework of the procedure, point to the fruitfulness of further study.
Previous studies of the effects of rape on men have focused mainly on clinical populations. This study extended current research by investigating the effects of rape on a non-clinical sample of men recruited from the general population by media advertising. A total of 40 male rape victims were asked to provide details of their assaults, levels of psychological disturbance, long-term effects, and reporting issues. Results revealed that most assaults had been carried out using physical or violent force, in a variety of different circumstances. All of the victims reported some form of psychological disturbance as a result of being raped. Long-term effects included anxiety, depression, increased feelings of anger and vulnerability, loss of self-image, emotional distancing, self-blame, and self-harming behaviors. Findings are discussed in relation to previous research in the area and perceptions of rape.
Moral emotions represent a key element of our human moral apparatus, influencing the link between moral standards and moral behavior. This chapter reviews current theory and research on moral emotions. We first focus on a triad of negatively valenced "self-conscious" emotions-shame, guilt, and embarrassment. As in previous decades, much research remains focused on shame and guilt. We review current thinking on the distinction between shame and guilt, and the relative advantages and disadvantages of these two moral emotions. Several new areas of research are highlighted: research on the domain-specific phenomenon of body shame, styles of coping with shame, psychobiological aspects of shame, the link between childhood abuse and later proneness to shame, and the phenomena of vicarious or "collective" experiences of shame and guilt. In recent years, the concept of moral emotions has been expanded to include several positive emotions-elevation, gratitude, and the sometimes morally relevant experience of pride. Finally, we discuss briefly a morally relevant emotional process-other-oriented empathy.
Rape survivors who speak out about their assault experiences are often punished for doing so when they are subjected to negative reactions from support providers. These negative reactions may thereby serve a silencing function, leading some rape survivors to stop talking about their experiences to anyone at all. The current study sought to examine this worst case scenario. Focusing on the qualitative narratives of eight rape survivors who initially disclosed the assault but then stopped disclosing for a significant period of time, this study sought to provide an in-depth description of how negative reactions silenced these survivors. Three routes to silence were identified: 1) negative reactions from professionals led survivors to question whether future disclosures would be effective; 2) negative reactions from friends and family reinforced feelings of self-blame; and 3) negative reactions from either source reinforced uncertainty about whether their experiences qualified as rape. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
Several explanations have been forwarded to account for sexual coercion in romantic relationships. Feminist theory states that sexual coercion is the result of male dominance over women and the need to maintain that dominance; however, studies showing that women sexually coerce men point towards weaknesses in that theory. Some researchers have, therefore, suggested that it is the extent to which people view the other gender as hostile that influences these rates. Furthermore, much research suggests that a history of childhood sexual abuse is a strong risk factor for later sexual victimization in relationships. Few researchers have empirically evaluated the first two explanations and little is known about whether sexual revictimization operates for men or across cultures. In this study, hierarchical linear modeling was used to investigate whether the status of women and adversarial sexual beliefs predicted differences in sexual coercion across 38 sites from around the world, and whether sexual revictimization operated across genders and cultures. Participants included 7,667 university students from 38 sites. Results showed that the relative status of women at each site predicted significant differences in levels of sexual victimization for men, in that the greater the status of women, the higher the level of forced sex against men. In addition, differences in adversarial sexual beliefs across sites significantly predicted both forced and verbal sexual coercion for both genders, such that greater levels of hostility towards women at a site predicted higher levels of forced and verbal coercion against women and greater levels of hostility towards men at a site predicted higher levels of forced and verbal coercion against men. Finally, sexual revictimization occurred for
This volume argues that the commitment to justice is a fundamental motive and that, although it is typically portrayed as serving self-interest, it sometimes takes priority over self-interest. To make this case, the authors discuss the way justice emerges as a personal contract in children's development; review a wide range of research studying the influences of the justice motive on evaluative, emotional and behavioral responses; and detail common experiences that illustrate the impact of the justice motive. Through an extensive critique of the research on which some alternative models of justice are based, the authors present a model that describes the ways in which motives of justice and self-interest are integrated in people's lives. They close with a discussion of some positive and negative consequences of the commitment to justice.
It is posited in the empathy-altruism hypothesis that altruistic motivation evoked by empathy is directed toward the ultimate goal of improving another person's welfare. In this study the empathy-altruism hypothesis was examined. Measures of altruism, empathy, and social desirability were completed by 112 individuals in a university setting. A positive and significant association was found between altruism and empathy (rs = .24, p = .01, 95% CI [.06-.41]). No significant associations were found between social desirability and altruism or between social desirability and empathy. Because the loss of capacity to feel empathy may lead to burnout, disillusionment, and reduced altruistic helping efforts, the clinical applicability and implications of these findings are particularly important to health care and other helping professions.
This study investigated the influence of two separate components of defendant attractiveness (physical attractiveness and occupation), subject sex, and subjects' pre-trial empathic biases on attributions of responsibility for rape. Subjects were presented with one of four descriptions of a hypothetical rape case, in which the defendant was described as either a physically attractive or unattractive janitor or scientist. Dependent measures consisted of 12 questions, based upon the hypothetical rape case, and included attributions of responsibility for the incident, social perceptions of the rape victim and defendant, certainty of the defendant's guilt, and proposed sentence for the defendant. In accord with previous research, both components of defendant attractiveness, as well as observer sex, were predictive of subjects' perceptions of the rape victim and defendant. However, evidence for Berscheid and Walster's contention that attractiveness operates as a main effect was moderated by the finding that attractiveness interacted with observer sex and with the pretrial empathic bias of the observer. Main effects and interactions for observers' empathy toward rape victims and rapists were revealed. The implications of the research for juror selection in rape cases and for the low conviction rate for sexual assault are discussed.
This study examines men’s sexual victimization experiences in the United States using a nationally representative sample of victim narratives from the National Crime Victimization Survey. An analysis of men’s incidents reveals many similarities to women’s rapes and sexual assaults as well as some rather gendered differences, particularly in regard to offender sex, victims’ willingness to report to officials, and a few uniquely masculine ways in which some men frame their experiences. The study begins an important exploration of men’s descriptions of their sexual victimization experiences and responses and encourages future empirical and theoretical research of this understudied population of victims.
In this article, the author examines women's processes of acquiescence to unwanted sex in marriage. Through analyses of 41 interviews with women who have experienced some form of unwanted sex in a marital or long-term intimate relationship, the author uncovers five types of acquiescence to unwanted sex and discusses the conditions under which women adopt a given type. This research extends Finkelhor and Yllo's nonphysical types of coercion to better understand the contexts in which women experience unwanted sex in marriage. It is argued that the processes and consequences of “giving in” to unwanted sex with an intimate have not been given as much scholarly attention as other forms of forced sex that have traditionally been identified as rape.
Typically, sexual coercion has been viewed as a less serious form of sexual aggression than attempted rape or rape. However, sexual coercion may be better understood as a qualitatively different type of sexual aggression experience. We examined the correlates of sexual coercion and rape/attempted rape experiences separately among a sample of young women who were at increased risk of sexual victimization as a result of their high levels of sexual activity and alcohol consumption. We hypothesized that personality variables would be associated with sexual coercion but not rape experiences. We found that low self-esteem, low assertiveness, and high sexrelated alcohol expectancies were associated with sexual coercion experiences but not with rape or attempted rape. Higher levels of casual sexual activity and alcohol consumption were associated with both types of experiences. Findings suggest that sexual coercion may be prevented by improving sexual assertiveness and weakening alcohol expectancies to emphasize personal control.
Considers the proposition that to be "a man" in contemporary American society is to be homophobic, that is, to be hostile toward homosexual persons in general and gay men in particular. It is argued that homophobia is an integral component of heterosexual masculinity, to the extent that it serves the psychological function of expressing who one is not (i.e., homosexual) and thereby affirming who one is (heterosexual). Further, homophobia reduces the likelihood that heterosexual men will interact with gay men, thereby ruling out opportunities for the attitude change that often occurs through such contact. It is concluded that a long-term strategy for eradicating homophobia must focus on heterosexual masculinity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Previous research found that men attribute more blame to rape victims than do women; men also attribute less blame to perpetrators. In rape situations with a male perpetrator and a female victim, the roles of perpetrator and victim are confounded with gender category. To determine whether men are more lenient toward perpetrators or toward other males, the present study examined attributions of blame in scenarios that varied the gender category of both perpetrator and victim. Results showed that men's and women's attributions of blame to perpetrators were based on the role that was enacted, rather than gender per se: Men attributed less blame to perpetrators than did women, regardless of the perpetrator's gender category, indicating that men were more lenient toward perpetrators than were women. In addition, when the victim was female, the perpetrator was blamed more and the victim was blamed less than when the victim was male.
Research on sexual coercion has revealed a beauty bias in that participants judge coercive sexual advances committed by attractive individuals as more acceptable than coercive advances committed by unattractive individuals. In this study, we examined the extent to which there exists a similar socioeconomic status bias in people's perceptions. Participants (N = 160) read 1 of 8 vignettes that depicted sexual advances and responded to several questions about the acceptability of the initiator's behavior. The coerciveness of the advance was manipulated by varying whether the touch occurred in a gentle manner with no threat or in a forceful manner with a threat of harm. Male participants always received a vignette that portrayed a woman initiating a sexual advance, and female participants always received a vignette that portrayed a man initiating a sexual advance. Socioeconomic status of the initiator was manipulated by what type of clothing he/she wore (shabby or expensive) and the car he/she drove (old or new). Results indicated that a gentle touch was more acceptable than a forceful touch, and men found sexual advances more acceptable than did women. Participants rated sexual advances by wealthy individuals as more acceptable than sexual advances by poor individuals. However, the greater acceptability of advances by wealthy individuals appeared to hold up only in the case of a gentle touch. In addition, men appeared to be more prone to the socioeconomic status bias than were women. Methodological limitations and future directions are discussed.
Verbal coercion involves unwanted sexual penetration compelled by psychological pressure. It was hypothesized that, to the
degree that verbal coercion is seen as controllable, victims may be held more responsible. Two samples of US undergraduates
rated perceptions of hypothetical sexual coercion scenarios. In Study 1, participants (N = 120) read scenarios of either verbal coercion or rape by a male dating partner. Participants perceived verbal coercion
as more controllable than rape, which accounted for the greater responsibility attributed to verbal coercion victims. In Study
2, participants (N = 275) read scenarios involving either male-to-female or female-to-male verbal coercion. Participants perceived female-to-male
coercion as more controllable, which accounted for the greater responsibility attributed to a verbally coerced man.
College students (157 men and 158 women; predominantly white middle class) from psychology courses at a midwestern university rated their agreement with statements reflecting myths that male rape cannot happen, involves victim blame, and is not traumatic to men. Statements varied by whether the rape perpetrator was a man or woman. Results showed that a majority of subjects disagreed with all myth statements, but most strongly with trauma myths. Percentages of disagreement with myths for subject groups ranged from 51% to 98%. Women were significantly more rejecting of rape myths than were men. Subjects were more likely to accept myths in which the rape perpetrator was female rather than male. Subjects' past victim experience with sexual coercion was not related to rape myth acceptance. Results are discussed in terms of societal attitudes toward rape and sex role stereotypes.
In this study, we investigated the prevalence of women's sexual aggression against men and examined predictors of sexual aggression in a sample of 248 women. Respondents reported their use of aggressive strategies (physical force, exploitation of a man's incapacitated state, and verbal pressure) to make a man engage in sexual touch, sexual intercourse, or oral sex against his will. Childhood abuse, gender role orientation, ambiguous communication of sexual intentions, level of sexual activity, and peer pressure were included as predictors of sexual aggression. Almost 1 in 10 respondents (9.3%) reported having used aggressive strategies to coerce a man into sexual activities. Exploitation of the man's incapacitated state was used most frequently (5.6%), followed by verbal pressure (3.2%) and physical force (2%). An additional 5.4% reported attempted acts of sexual aggression. Sexual abuse in childhood, ambiguous communication of sexual intentions, high levels of sexual activity, and peer pressure toward sexual activity were linked to an increased likelihood of sexual aggression. The findings are discussed in relation to the literature on men's sexual aggression.
Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) factors were correlated with empathy and social desirability to clarify the unexpected findings of a previous investigation. Statistical controls for the complex nature of the NPI revealed the Exploitativeness/Entitlement (EE) dimention to predict less emotional and cognitive empathy, more interpersonal distress, less social responsibility and lower social desirability scores. In contrast, Leadership/Authority was associated with less interpersonal distress, as was the Superiority/Arrogance factor, and also greater social responsibility. EE therefore may operationalize a maladaptive trait characterized by a socially undesirable and irresponsible interpersonal insensitivity. Other NPI dimensions may record more adaptive self-functioning.
Although men are far less likely than women to be victims of heterosexual assault, such cases have been reported with increasing frequency in recent years. We compared social judgments about male and female victims of heterosexual and homosexual rape and tested hypotheses concerning social cognitions that are assumed to underlie a male rape mythology. In a 2 × 2 × 2 design, 77 male and 89 female subjects made a series of judgments about a sexual assault case in which sex of victim and sex of assailants were manipulated. Consistent with the hypotheses, the male victim of sexual assault by females was judged more likely to have initiated or encouraged the sex acts, and more enjoyment and less stress were attributed to him. This pattern of results was more pronounced among male subjects. The results are discussed in relation to stereotypic beliefs concerning male sex roles, sexual motivation, and sexual functioning that are likely to affect the social cognitions of both observers and male victims of heterosexual assault.
There is a growing body of research examining the disclosure of sexual assault. But the focus on time to first disclosure does not capture the whole picture. Survivors also differ in how long they continue to disclose, to whom they disclose, and the types of reactions received during disclosure. To provide a more comprehensive view of disclosure, this study sought to identify patterns of disclosure among a sample of 103 female sexual assault survivors recruited from the community. This study also sought to identify characteristics of each disclosure pattern, differences in how each disclosure pattern tends to unfold (e.g., who is told and how they react), and differences in how these disclosure patterns are related to physical and mental health outcomes. Results revealed four distinct disclosure patterns: nondisclosers, slow starters, crisis disclosers, and ongoing disclosers. Assault characteristics and rape acknowledgment distinguished nondisclosers and slow starters from the other two disclosure groups. Slow starters were also less likely to disclose to police and medical personnel and received negative reactions less frequently while nondisclosers experienced more symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress than other groups. Implications of these findings for future research and practice are discussed.
Theory suggests that shame should be positively related to aggression while guilt may serve as a protective factor. Little research has examined mediators between the moral emotions and aggression. Results using path analyses in four diverse samples were consistent with a model of no direct relationship between shame-proneness and aggression. There was, however, a significant indirect relationship through externalization of blame, but mostly when aggression was measured using self-report. Guilt-proneness, on the other hand, showed a direct negative relationship to aggression whether using self-report or other reports of aggression. Guilt was also inversely related to aggression indirectly through externalization of blame and empathy. Identifying these differing mechanisms may be useful in developing more effective interventions for aggressive individuals.
This study investigated the impact of respondent gender, victim gender, and victim sexual orientation on judgments toward the victim of a depicted stranger rape. Respondents were required to read a scenario in which victim gender and sexual orientation varied between subjects, and to complete measures of behavioral blame, responsibility, and severity of the attack. Results revealed that male respondents made more anti-victim judgments than female respondents did. Male respondents judged gay male victims more negatively than they did other victims. Female respondents' judgments were pro-victim regardless of victim gender and victim sexual orientation. Results are discussed in relation to the feminist analysis of victim blame, and blame toward male rape victims. Implications for support services, particularly of male victims, are also considered.
To investigate whether previous findings from interview studies of a prospective relationship between shame and psychopathology (e.g. Andrews, 1995) could be replicated using questionnaires.
A total of 163 university students participated in a longitudinal questionnaire study.
The Experience of Shame Scale (ESS), a questionnaire based on a previous interview measure, and an established shame scale (TOSCA), were considered in their relation to depressive symptoms assessed at two time points 11 weeks apart.
Both scales made significant independent contributions to depressive symptoms at time 1. However, only the ESS predicted additional significant variance in time 2 symptoms when time 1 symptoms were controlled.
It was concluded that the reason for the differential performance of the two scales was that the ESS, like the shame interview, assesses specific areas of shame related to self and performance, whereas the TOSCA assesses general shame and may therefore be more prone to mood-state effects.
Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MC) (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960) scores were collected on 1096 individuals involved in forensic evaluations. No prior publication of forensic norms was found for this instrument, which provides a measure of biased self-presentation (dissimulation). MC mean score was 19.42 for the sample. Also calculated was the score on Form C (MC-C) (Reynolds, 1982), and the mean for this 13-item scale was 7.61. The scores for the current sample generally are higher than those published for non-forensic groups, and statistical analysis indicated the difference was significant for both the MC and MC-C (d =.75 and.70, respectively, p <.001). Neither gender nor educational level proved to be significant factors in accounting for variance, and age did not appear to be correlated with scores. Group membership of subjects based on referral reason (family violence, abuse, neglect, competency, disability) was significant for both the MC and MC-C scores. Results suggest the MC or MC-C can be useful as part of a forensic-assessment battery to measure biased self-presentation.
This study examined respondents' perceived level of blame and responsibility for three victims of rape, as a function of attitudes toward homosexuals, and perceived similarity to the victim, as indicative of Shaver's (1970) Defensive Attribution Hypothesis. Victims were a homosexual and heterosexual male, and a female. A sample of 168 university students completed questionnaires, which included three rape scenarios and subsequent questions, the Index of Attitudes Toward Homosexuals (Hudson & Ricketts, 1980), and the short-form Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (Reynolds, 1982). Results indicated that respondents higher in homophobia (regardless of gender) blamed the homosexual male rape victim and the behavior and character of the heterosexual male rape victim, more than the female rape victim. Male respondents in general also blamed the heterosexual male rape victim, more than female respondents. Shaver's defensive attribution hypothesis was not supported. Results are discussed in terms of the possible link between homophobia and male blame.
Most researchers who have investigated attributions of blame toward victims in sexual-assault depictions have considered only female victims of male perpetrators. Few researchers have investigated the effects of perpetrator gender or victim sexual orientation on blame attributions toward male victims. The present authors investigated those two variables. Participants were 161 undergraduates at a British university in social science courses, each of whom read one scenario of a set in which perpetrator gender and victim sexual orientation were varied between subjects, and who completed a questionnaire measuring their blame toward the victim and the perpetrator. The present results showed that male participants blamed the victim more if a person of the gender that he was normally attracted to assaulted him. Male participants also regarded the female perpetrator in more favorable terms than they did the male perpetrator regardless of the victim's sexual orientation. The authors discussed the present results in relation to gender role stereotypes.
Participants (80 men, 80 women) read hypothetical date rape scenarios, wherein the perpetrator's socioeconomic status (bus driver versus doctor) and the victim's level of resistance (verbal versus verbal and physical) were varied, and made judgments about who was at fault and what the
consequences should be. In general, men assigned more blame to the victim and less blame to the perpetrator than did women. However, men assigned more blame to the bus driver than to the doctor. Women, on the other hand, assigned more blame to the victim who was raped by the bus driver than
to the victim who was raped by the doctor. The results also indicated that participants recommended harsher punishments for the perpetrator when the victim resisted verbally than when she resisted verbally and physically. Future research on the role of the perpetrator's, the victim's, and
the participants' socioeconomic status in judgments about date rape is suggested.