Effects of Clothing and Behavior on Perceptions Concerning an Alleged Date Rape

Abstract

The use of schemata in social cognition was the theoretical framework for this quasiexperimental study that investigated the relative effect of clothing, behavior, and participants' sex on perceptions surrounding an alleged date rape. A convenience sample of 368 individuals (men = 160, women = 208) read vignettes that manipulated the independent variables in a description of a date. After reading the vignettes, participants responded on Likert‐type scales to questions measuring their perceptions, including whether or not a rape had occurred. Participants were asked to provide reasons for each of their responses. Data were analyzed by using multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs), analyses of variance (ANOVAs), and qualitative techniques. Although the victim's clothing did not result in significant differences, the victim's behavior and participant's sex were statistically significant influences on participants' perceptions.

Korean High School Student's Perceptions of Sexual Harassment: The Effects of Victim's Clothing, Behavior, and Respondent's Gender

“…There were no other factors in the study to influence perceptions other than the clothing. Johnson and Lee (1999) proved in a previous study that the use of vignettes may have a positive effect in delivering variables and the situations compared to cases where only pictures are used. We replicated Johnson and Lee (1999)'s study on the effect of clothing on the perception of sexual harassment by using vignettes to deliver the situation effectively to respondents among adolescents in Korea in order to have a connection between past research in order to integrate existing and new knowledge.…”

“…Johnson & Lee (1999) investigated the effect of the victim's clothing, behavior, and the respondent's gender upon the perceptions of alleged "date rape". In this study, the victim's clothing was not significantly related to the perceptions of date rape; however, provocative behavior and respondent's gender were statistically influential on the respondents' perceptions toward date rape.…”

“…In addition, this study was different from previous studies that used only stimulations in the pictures of different clothing that makes clothing more salient to participants and magnifies its impact. Johnson & Lee (1999) used vignettes of different behaviors and situations for their stimulus; subsequently, they explained that the influence of clothing was not as significant.…”

“…Male undergraduates were more likely to regard sexual harassment as behavior caused by misunderstandings and excessive responses. Johnson and Lee (1999) also found statistical respondent' s gender differences on perceptions of alleged date rape, because of the low estimated mega squared valued for respondent's gender; however, they noted the need to be cautious about suggestions that there were meaningful differences in men's and women's perceptions.…”

“…There are no an official statistics on juvenile sexual harassment; however, 24.2% of middle school & high school student participants experienced sexual harassment according to research on the sexual harassment of juveniles (Kim et al, 2001). Previous studies in other countries investigated the relationship between a victim's appearance or clothing and sexual harassment/assault (Johnson & Lee, 1999;Johnson & Workman, 1992, 1994Lennon et al, 1992Lennon et al, -1993Whatley, 1995;Workman & Johnson, 1991). However, studies on adolescence and the relation to these topics have not been researched in Korea.…”