The study had three research aims: (1) to examine the current perception of female rape. Given recent changes in public awareness of female rape, it was predicted that respondents would conceptualize a typical female rape as an acquaintance rape rather than as the stranger rape stereotype; (2) to examine whether these perceptions differ according to respondents' gender; (3) to examine the ‘cultural lag’ theory of male rape, where it was hypothesized that if the public perception of male rape lags behind female rape, then a typical male rape will be conceptualized as the classic stranger rape stereotype. Findings showed that contrary to predictions, a typical female rape was conceptualized according to the stranger rape stereotype. It was also found that instead of lagging behind female rape along the stranger ‐ acquaintance rape dimension, male rape was viewed predominantly in terms of ‘other’ factors (factors not found on the stranger ‐ acquaintance dimension, e.g. victim/rapist sexual orientation, rapist calls victim names), which were erroneous, sexualizing and homophobic.

This study reports a preliminary investigation into accounting practices for male rape in conversation. Thirty men and women, in dyads, were asked to discuss an incident of male rape presented to them in a vignette. The findings showed that two main issues were discussed: the experience of the rape act and societal responses to male victims. In addition, participants established a ‘hierarchy of suffering’, where rape was judged to be worse for ‘heterosexual’ men than it is for ‘women’ or ‘gay’ men. Hegemonic, phallocentric representations of heterosexuality were mobilized to argue that acts of rape and consensual intercourse are the same for ‘gay’ men and ‘women’ and therefore less traumatic than for ‘heterosexual’ men. This obscures the violence of rape for gay men and women and exonerates perpetrators by minimizing injury sustained. Participants also argued that heterosexual victims are likely to experience ridicule for having departed from hegemonic masculinity. Arguments were constructed to avoid charges of being dismissive towards women and gay men and of victim blaming in relation to heterosexual men. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This study investigated the spontaneous occurrence of characterological and behavioral blame in talk about rape. Although participants are willing to attribute both types of blame to rape survivors when prompted to do so by preexisting categories on questionnaires, little is known about the naturalistic aspect of these concepts as they might occur during the course of conversation. The present study also examined how participant and survivor gender influence these attributions. Findings showed that observers attributed both characterological and behavioral blame to rape survivors spontaneously during the course of conversation and in similar proportions to the self-blame observed in rape survivors. Also, both men and women blamed female and male survivors differently. Both men and women attributed more behavioral blame to the female than to the male survivor. Men also attributed more characterological blame to the female than to the male survivor, whereas female participants attributed equal amounts of characterological blame to both survivors.Studies have revealed many similarities in survivors' reactions to rape. Rape survivors typically experience a variety of reactions following their rape such as the shame of disclosure and safety fears (Ruch, Gartrell, Amedeo, & Coyne, 1991), and many of these experiences impede recovery. However, the attribution made by the survivor about the cause of his or her rape, usually in the form of self-blame, is thought to be particularly closely associated with postrape distress and recovery. One of the most widely researched theories of self-blame hypothesizes a twofold distinction between characterological and behavioral self-blame. First introduced by Janoff-Bulman (1979) in her research on counselors' views of self-blame in rape survivors, the theory has gained prominence because of the contentious hypothesis that some self-blame in the form of behavioral self-blame can actually be

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