Rape Myth Acceptance Impacts the Reporting of Rape to the Police

Abstract

We examined the association between rape myth acceptance (RMA) and reporting rapes to the police. Situational characteristics of the rape (e.g., stranger attack, injury) are known predictors of reporting, but no existing studies have examined the association between beliefs about rape and reporting. In addition, most studies of RMA do not assess victimization history. Incarcerated women experience high rates of sexual assaults prior to incarceration. We recruited 74 rape survivors from a northwestern state prison. Results suggest that women who endorsed higher levels of RMA were less likely to report their rapes to police; however, participants endorsed few rape myths.

The Impact of Gendered Stereotypes on Perceptions of Violence: A Commentary

“…Likewise, a woman's own internalization of rape myths can dictate her willingness to report an assault (Heath, Lynch, Fritch, & Wong, 2013). However, if a woman decides to report, she may face obstacles from law enforcement officers if they themselves subscribe to rape myths.…”

A comparison of intimate partner and other sexual assault survivors’ use of different types of specialized hospital-based violence services

“…Societal and individual adherence to these myths or misconceptions may impact the help-seeking of survivors of sexual assault by an intimate partner [ 16 ]. There is some evidence to indicate that survivors of sexual assault by intimate partners may be less likely than those assaulted by strangers to report to the police [ 17 ] and seek help from crisis intervention services [ 18 ].…”

Influence of Victim and Perpetrators’ Alcohol Use on Social Work Student’s Levels of Rape Myth Acceptance

“…Higher levels of rape myth acceptance have been linked to increased likelihood of sexual aggression (Basow & Minieri, 2011). Higher levels of rape myth acceptance also have the potential to lead to the underreporting of sexual assaults (Heath, Lynch, Fritch, & Wong, 2013). Women who accept these rape-supportive beliefs and whose experience corresponds with these myths are less likely to identify their experience as rape (Peterson & Muehlenhard, 2004).…”

“…Previous research has established that certain factors such as date or acquaintance rape (Heath et al, 2013) and alcohol consumption by the victim and/or perpetrator (Bernat et al, 1998) independently affect rape myth acceptance among observers. However, the current study sought to further understand the nuances of rape myth acceptance among social work students.…”

“…Eighty-five to ninety percent of sexual assault victims know their offender (National Institute of Justice, 2008). Date rape is considered less distressing (Heath et al, 2013), and observers are less likely to label forced sex with an acquaintance or date as rape (Bridges, 1991). Victims tend to be blamed more in incidents of date rape (Bridges, 1991;Hinck & Thomas, 1999) with women being held responsible for not maintaining control of the situation and the man's behavior being mislabeled as a simple miscommunication or misunderstanding of sexual cues (Bridges, 1991).…”