Intimate Partner Rape: A Review of Six Core Myths Surrounding Women’s Conduct and the Consequences of Intimate Partner Rape

Abstract

The focus of this paper is to highlight and review the evidence surrounding common intimate partner rape (IPR) myths, their prevalence in society, and identify those who are most likely to endorse such beliefs. Six core IPR myths are discussed related to misconceptions surrounding (1) women’s decisions to remain in abusive relationships, (2) why women delay or never report IPR, (3) women’s perceived motivations when an IPR report is made, (4) a perceived lack of trauma that occurs as a consequence of this type of rape, (5) male sexual entitlement within intimate relationships, and (6) whether it is even possible to rape a marital partner. This article draws together a wealth of studies and research that evidence why such IPR myths are indeed factually inaccurate and examines how victims, justice professionals, police practitioners, and legal decision-makers endorsement of false beliefs pertaining to intimate partner rape serve to hinder various justice pathways. We discuss the consequences of rape mythology in so far as they create social barriers that prohibit the reporting of rape, impact the progression of an allegation through the criminal justice system and ultimately, obstruct rape victims’ access to justice. The review concludes by considering evidence regarding the possible benefits of education interventions in reducing the problematic influence of rape myths.

Juror characteristics on trial: Investigating how psychopathic traits, rape attitudes, victimization experiences, and juror demographics influence decision-making in an intimate partner rape trial

“…The consistency with which rape myths were found to influence juror verdict selections pre- and post-deliberation appears to indicate that this form of crime-specific attitude may be robust during group-deliberation, with pre-trial juror perspectives seemingly unaffected by alternative views expressed by other jury group members. This is, however, somewhat speculative and future research may seek to explore this assumption through qualitative analysis of deliberative discussions among the jury panels [For a recent scoping review of the six common rape myths which pertain to IPR see ( 79 )].…”

Child abuse and neglect and associated mental health outcomes: a large, population-based survey among children and adolescents from Jamaica and Uganda

“…Research indicates that respondents are more honest about abuse experiences in studies using self-report surveys compared with face-to-face interviews (Rumble et al , 2018). Second, participants in Halcón et al ’s (2003) study were asked directly about whether they had experienced physical and sexual abuse, as opposed to asking about certain events and behaviors without labelling them as abuse (Lilley et al , 2023; Widanaralalage et al , 2022). Halcón et al ’s approach to capturing CAN is problematic because some abusive behaviors may not be construed by respondents as abusive, leading to under-reporting.…”

Examining the immediate and enduring psychological impact of street harassment on women’s mental health

“…Women in the current study also described questioning their actions and responses to the incidents, with one author commenting, "I still don't know if I responded correctly" (Blog 10) and another, "I thought I was overreacting" (Blog 17). This isn't surprising given street harassment's constant dismissal as "trivial" or "insignificant" (Fileborn & O'Neill, 2023;Gardner, 1995) and found to be common among female victim-survivors of sexual violence more widely (Lilley et al, 2023). This dismissal, in turn, causes women to doubt the validity of their own experiences (Davis, 1994;Debowska et al, 2021;Sowersby et al, 2022) and account for their own behaviours.…”