Sarah J. Harsey’s research while affiliated with Oregon State University and other places

DARVO (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender) is a response frequently exhibited by perpetrators of wrongdoing after being confronted or held accountable for their harmful behaviors. Consistent with the original conceptualization of DARVO as a strategy used by sex offenders to deflect blame and responsibility, sexual violence survivors report experiencing DARVO from their perpetrators following an assault. The purpose of the current study was to extend research on the connections between DARVO and sexual violence. We examined whether people who use DARVO as a means of responding to confrontations involving a range of wrongdoings also engage in behaviors and ascribe to beliefs that contribute to sexual violence. A sample of 602 university students was recruited to test hypotheses predicting positive associations between individuals’ use of DARVO responses, sexual harassment perpetration, and acceptance of rape myths. Supporting predictions, small but positive correlations emerged between study variables. Data from a second sample of 335 community adults from MTurk were analyzed to replicate findings from the undergraduate sample. Results from the community sample also revealed significant associations between DARVO use, sexual harassment perpetration, and rape myth acceptance. Findings offer further confirmation of a link between DARVO and sexual violence and suggest this defensive response is part of a larger worldview that justifies participation in sexual violence and blames victims.

Sexual violence is prevalent on college and university campuses, constituting one of the most urgent issues faced by institutions of higher education. Most students who have experienced sexual violence avoid seeking support from their institutions, despite the availability of resources. Institutional betrayal, which occurs when institutions betray those who depend on them by failing to prevent harm or respond supportively to reports of harm, may play a role in discouraging students from using campus services. The purpose of the current study was to bridge parallel literatures on institutional betrayal and students’ barriers to reporting and service use. Associations between institutional betrayal, barriers to campus service use, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among sexual assault survivors were investigated. A two-factor model of institutional betrayal—Institutional Climate and Institutional Response—was used for analyses. Results from a sample of 178 undergraduates who experienced campus sexual assault revealed both factors of institutional betrayal were associated with PTSD symptoms and service use barriers. Multiple regression analyses indicated that Institutional Climate, but not Institutional Response, was uniquely related to PTSD symptoms after controlling for sexual assault history. Multiple regression also identified Institutional Climate as a significant predictor of barriers related to fear of negative treatment. These findings emphasize the connection between institutions’ rape-supportive climate and sexual assault survivors’ distress and suggest that institutional responses could play a part in service use barriers. Addressing both factors of institutional betrayal through campus policies and practices is essential in combating high rates of sexual violence in higher education.

DARVO (deny, attack, reverse victim and offender) is a response exhibited by perpetrators to deflect blame and responsibility. When using DARVO, perpetrators deny their involvement in wrongdoing, attack their victims' credibility, and argue that they are the real victims. The purpose of this study was to measure the influence of DARVO and another manipulative tactic-insincere perpetrator apologies-on observers' judgments of a victim and perpetrator in a fictional sexual violence scenario. Perpetrator DARVO was experimentally manipulated via fictional vignettes to measure their impact on perceived perpetrator and victim abusiveness, responsibility, and believability. Data from 230 undergraduate students revealed that participants who were exposed to perpetrator DARVO rated the perpetrator as less abusive (ηp2=.09, 90% CI [0.04, 0.15]), less responsible for the sexual assault (ηp2=.02, [0.001, 0.06]), and more believable compared (ηp2=.03, [0.002, 0.07]) to participants who were exposed to a perpetrator who did not use DARVO. DARVO-exposed participants rated the victim as more abusive (ηp2=.09, [0.04, 0.14]) and less believable (ηp2=.08, [0.03, 0.14]), and also expressed less willingness to punish the perpetrator and greater willingness to punish the victim. Insincere apologies had minimal impact on ratings. By promoting distrust in victims and less punitive views of perpetrators, DARVO might contribute to rape-supporting outcomes such as victim blaming, greater victim distress, and low rates of rape reporting and perpetrator prosecution.

Research suggests that Internet pornography (IP) plays an important role in the lives of emerging adults, particularly when it comes to their attitudes and beliefs about sex. However, surprisingly little work has explicitly examined attitudes toward IP among this population. Even fewer studies have assessed the relationship between such attitudes and other aspects of emerging adults' beliefs about sex, especially those that contribute to the persistence of sexual violence. To fill this gap, we investigated the relationship between emerging adults’ attitudes toward IP and rape myth acceptance using the Internet Pornography Questionnaire (IPQ), a new self-report measure designed to evaluate IP consumption patterns, attitudes toward IP, and knowledge about IP in adults. Descriptive analyses indicate emerging adults in this study endorsed diverse and sometimes contradictory patterns of attitudes toward IP. Specifically, participants reported high agreement with both negative and positive statements about IP. After controlling for gender, we found that both positive and neutral attitudes about IP (and not frequency of pornography masturbation) predicted rape myth acceptance, such that more positive or more neutral attitudes were associated with higher rape myth acceptance. Moreover, participants who demonstrated more accurate knowledge about IP endorsed rape myths at significantly lower levels. Study limitation and directions for future research and sexual violence prevention are discussed.

Increases in the availability and accessibility of Internet pornography have led growing numbers of children to become consumers of sexually explicit media. Research has identified negative behavioral and attitudinal outcomes associated with Internet pornography use in childhood and adolescence, but few studies have examined sexual victimization as a correlate. The current study aimed to examine the association between age of first Internet pornography exposure and sexual victimization. Data from 154 undergraduate women yielded several important findings. Women who viewed Internet pornography unintentionally at a younger age reported more sexual victimization. Specifically, compared to women who were first unintentionally exposed to Internet pornography at age 14 or older, women with unintentional first Internet pornography exposure before the age of 14 reported more childhood sexual abuse, sexual abuse in adulthood, and more instances of sexual coercion and aggression. Women with younger age of unintentional Internet pornography exposure also reported more interpersonal sexual objectification than women who had never viewed Internet pornography at all. Age of first intentional exposure to Internet pornography was not related to women’s self-reported experiences of objectification, although this may be because women’s intentional exposure tended to happen at older ages. Overall, the results of this study suggest that women’s unintentional Internet pornography exposure at a young age may contribute to a potentially harmful sexual socialization. Early Internet pornography exposure in childhood should be considered a potential risk factor for women’s sexual victimization.

Many studies have examined the consequences of being objectified by others and of self-objectification, but less attention has been given to those who objectify others. We therefore examined the relationship between attitudes accepting the objectification of women, self-objectification, and sexist beliefs. Using data from 314 male and female participants, analyses revealed that men and women’s self-objectification and hostile sexism significantly predicted their acceptance of the objectification of women. These findings suggest that adopting an objectified sense of self and sexist perspectives are associated with endorsing an objectifying view of women. Future research should continue to expand our understanding of the possible motivations behind the objectification of women.

Perpetrators of interpersonal violence sometimes use denial, engage in personal attacks on victim credibility, and assume a victimized role (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender; DARVO) to deflect blame. Two new experimental vignette studies were conducted to investigate DARVO. Experiment 1 (316 university students) aimed to assess the effects of a perpetrator’s use of DARVO on perceptions of perpetrator and victim credibility, responsibility, and abusiveness. Participants who were exposed to DARVO perceived the victim to be less believable, more responsible for the violence, and more abusive; DARVO also led participants to judge the perpetrator as less abusive and less responsible. Experiment 2 (360 university students) examined whether learning about DARVO could mitigate its effects on individuals’ perceptions of perpetrators and victims. Results from Experiment 2 indicate that DARVO-educated participants perceived the victim as less abusive and more believable, and rated the perpetrator as less believable. These experiments show DARVO effectively reinforces the distrust of victims’ narratives, but education can reduce some of its power. We suggest that more research and education about this perpetrator tactic is needed to combat its anti-victim effects.

Perpetrators of violence often use a strategy of Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender (DARVO) to confuse and silence their victims. Although some previous research has examined the individual elements of DARVO, this is the first study to directly examine DARVO as a unitary concept and to investigate how it relates to feelings of self-blame among victims. Subsequently, 138 undergraduate students were asked to report on a time they confronted an individual over a wrong-doing. DARVO was assessed with a new measure constructed for this study. Analyses revealed that: (1) DARVO was commonly used by individuals who were confronted; (2) women were more likely to be exposed to DARVO than men during confrontations; (3) the three components of DARVO were positively correlated, supporting the theoretical construction of DARVO; and (4) higher levels of exposure to DARVO during a confrontation were associated with increased perceptions of self-blame among the confronters. These results provide evidence for the existence of DARVO as a perpetrator strategy and establish a relationship between DARVO exposure and feelings of self-blame. Exploring DARVO aids in understanding how perpetrators are able to enforce victims’ silence through the mechanism of self-blame.