Attribution of responsibility for sexual crimes beyond individual actors – construction of responsibility of offenders, victims and society in laypersons’ explanations

Abstract

This study analyses laypersons’ explanations for sexual violence. It focusses on how the responsibility for sexual crimes is constructed and attributed, and moreover, what kind of effect this has on the attribution of blame. The research data consist of 105 opinion pieces published in the leading Finnish newspaper since the beginning of the 21st century. The theory-driven qualitative analysis utilises attribution theory and focusses on laypersons’ interpretations and explanations for unusual acts and events deviating from social norms. Attribution theory is commonly utilised in relation to micro-level actors, the offender and the victim, whereas in this article, it is broadened to include also society as a macro-level actor. The analysis reveals that the construction of responsibility derives from (I) the chronological presentation and explanation of sexual crimes; especially (II) the causality attached to chronological phases, which emphasises the victim’s actions prior to the crime; and (III) the construction of active female agency against male passivity or absence of the perpetrator. Moreover, blame is based on a combination of active agency, produced in the analysed explanations, and stereotypical features connected to female gender (e.g. rape myths).

The Impact of Media Watching and Victim Gender on Victim and Offender Blameworthiness and Punishment

“…These potential outcomes are even more likely when considering that finding that the gender of the victim itself was not a significant influence on participants' perceptions of blameworthiness and deservingness of punishment of the offender and victim as has previously been found (e.g., Black & McCloskey, 2013;Davies et al, 2009;Kotanen & Kronstedt, 2019;Merken & James, 2019;Russell & Kraus, 2016). This implies that people's personal beliefs are not independent of their media engagement; that their personal beliefs are significantly informed by their media engagement.…”

“…In general, a victim is expected to physically resist their attacker, and if they do not resist, many individuals believe that the perpetrator should receive a more lenient sentence (Black & McCloskey, 2013). There is a double standard for women victims and men aggressors; for example, if an assaulted woman is intoxicated, she is deemed at least partially responsible, whereas an intoxicated man aggressor will likely use intoxication as a mitigating factor (Kotanen & Kronstedt, 2019).…”

“…For example, homosexual men are blamed more than heterosexual men in sexual assault cases (Davies et al, 2009). As a result, the gender of a sexual assault victim can impact perceptions of the validity of the sexual assault and attributions of blame when these gender roles are either affirmed or violated (Black & McCloskey, 2013; Kotanen & Kronstedt, 2019).…”

Rape in the Nordic Countries

“…The Act on Sexual Crimes was completely revised in 1999 to reinforce victims' individual autonomy and sexual self-determination as the main objects of protection. After a critical social debate and intensive campaigning by the Finnish section of Amnesty International, the legislative subsections on rape were further revised in 2011 and 2014 by widening the range of the punishability of rape (Kotanen & Kronsteadt, 2019). As of 2019, legislators are yet again under extralegal pressure to change the Act on Sex Crimes following Sweden's 2018 reform.…”

Attribution of Responsibility for Pick Up Artist Issues in China: The Impacts of Journalist Gender, Geographical Location, and Publication Range

“…Attribution of responsibility frame has been widely adopted to analyze media representations of topics like female victimization, sexual crimes, gender issues, and among others (e.g., Johnston et al, 2015; Kim et al, 2018). In these contexts, responsibilities can be attributed to three agencies: perpetrators, victims, and/or society (e.g., Kotanen & Kronstedt, 2019). Many studies have suggested that news media are more likely to ascribe responsibility to female victims than to male perpetrators and society (e.g., O’Boyle & Li, 2019).…”