Just Because She Doesn't Want to Doesn't Mean It's Rape: An Experimentally Based Causal Model of the Perception of Rape in a Dating Situation

Shotland, R. Lance; Goodstein, Lynne

doi:10.2307/3033793

Cited by 129 publications

(97 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Unfortunately, this view puts an overly restrictive framework around victims' experiences, which do not usually conform to this stereotype (e.g., Koss, Heise, & Russo, 1994;Littleton, Tabernik, Canelas, & Backstrom, 2009). Research in this area shows that participants are less likely to label hypothetical incidents of forced sexual intercourse as rape if they contain some aspects of normative sexual scripts, such as a victim and perpetrator who are in a romantic relationship (e.g., Hannon, Kuntz, Van Laar, Williams, & Hall, 1996;Shotland & Goodstein, 1983).…”

Section: Labeling Sexual Violencementioning

confidence: 99%

Labeling Acts of Sexual Violence: What Roles do Assault Characteristics, Attitudes, and Life Experiences Play?

Sasson

Paul

2014

Behav. Soc. Iss.

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The label assigned to a given act of sexual violence (e.g., rape, sexual assault) can have a notable impact on perceptions of the incident and the role of the individuals involved. Research has identified personal rape scripts and assault characteristics as factors that influence the labeling of sexual violence. This study advances the field by providing information about the influence of participant-related variables (e.g., life experiences, personal attitudes) on the labeling of a sexual violence vignette. Results from this online study of 379 participants revealed that victim empathy, perpetrator empathy, rape myth acceptance (RMA) and receipt of a rape disclosure were associated with correctly labeling a sexual violence vignette as a rape; RMA remained a significant predictor of labeling after all variables were entered into the regression simultaneously. Assault characteristics, victimization history, acknowledgement of victimization and gender were not associated with the label assigned to the vignette in the regression, although inspection of qualitative reasons given for labeling the vignette revealed that some of these factors may influence label choice. Importantly, participants who labeled the event as a rape were less likely to assign responsibility for the assault to the victim. Implications of correctly identifying and labeling experiences of sexual violence, both for victims and for support providers, are discussed.

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Section: Labeling Sexual Violencementioning

confidence: 99%

Labeling Acts of Sexual Violence: What Roles do Assault Characteristics, Attitudes, and Life Experiences Play?

Sasson

Paul

2014

Behav. Soc. Iss.

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“…Situational factors studied include victim and perpetrator attractiveness, victim dress, victim and perpetrator alcohol consumption, the timing of a victim's initial resistance to sexual advances, and the degree of relationship between victim and perpetrator. Specifically, victims tend to be judged more negatively and perpetrators less negatively when the victim is physically unattractive (Vrij and Firmin 2001), when she is shown wearing a short skirt compared to a longer skirt (Workman and Freeburg 1999), when both victim and assailant had been drinking (Norris and Cubbins 1992), when the victim waits until after engaging in sexual activity to resist (Kopper 1996;Shotland and Goodstein 1983), and when the victim and perpetrator are previously acquainted (Abrams et al 2003;Bell et al 1994;Frese et al 2004). …”

Section: Judgments Of Rape Victimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Influences on Judgments of Rape Victims: The Role of the Negative and Positive Social Reactions of Others

Brown

Testa

2007

Sex Roles

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An experimental study examined whether judgments about a rape victim can be influenced by the social reactions of others, and whether this effect would be moderated by the type of rape (stranger or date rape) or by the gender of the participants. One hundred and ten U.S. college students (90% white; 59% female) responded to rape vignettes in which the type of rape and the social reactions received by the victim (negative, positive, or neutral) were manipulated. People exposed to negative social reactions made less positive judgments. Men and people who read about a date rape also made less positive judgments, but neither variable interacted with type of reactions to impact judgments.

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“…Past research suggests that the extent of force used to coerce sex is negatively associated with the level of responsibility assigned to the victim (e.g., Shotland and Goodstein 1983). Presumably, degree of force is inversely related to how controllable and thus avoidable a coercive event may appear to be.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Verbal Sexual Coercion and Perceived Victim Responsibility: Mediating Effects of Perceived Control

2007

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Verbal coercion involves unwanted sexual penetration compelled by psychological pressure. It was hypothesized that, to the degree that verbal coercion is seen as controllable, victims may be held more responsible. Two samples of US undergraduates rated perceptions of hypothetical sexual coercion scenarios. In Study 1, participants (N=120) read scenarios of either verbal coercion or rape by a male dating partner. Participants perceived verbal coercion as more controllable than rape, which accounted for the greater responsibility attributed to verbal coercion victims. In Study 2, participants (N=275) read scenarios involving either male-to-female or female-to-male verbal coercion. Participants perceived female-to-male coercion as more controllable, which accounted for the greater responsibility attributed to a verbally coerced man.

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Just Because She Doesn't Want to Doesn't Mean It's Rape: An Experimentally Based Causal Model of the Perception of Rape in a Dating Situation

Cited by 129 publications

References 23 publications

Labeling Acts of Sexual Violence: What Roles do Assault Characteristics, Attitudes, and Life Experiences Play?

Labeling Acts of Sexual Violence: What Roles do Assault Characteristics, Attitudes, and Life Experiences Play?

Social Influences on Judgments of Rape Victims: The Role of the Negative and Positive Social Reactions of Others

Verbal Sexual Coercion and Perceived Victim Responsibility: Mediating Effects of Perceived Control

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