Rape Myth Scale: Factor structure and relationship with gender egalitarianism among Japanese professionals

Abstract

Services provided to rape victims by human service professionals are usually helpful but are occasionally very harmful in that the victim ends up feeling 're-victimized'. This may be caused by the attitudes of the professionals towards the victims based on beliefs regarding rape and gender roles. Japanese human service professionals were solicited for responses to the Rape Myth Scale (RMS) and the short form of the Scale of Egalitarian Sex Role Attitudes (SESRA-S). One interpretable factor was extracted according to an exploratory factor analysis. Impact of the participants' age, sex, residential area, and type of profession on rape myth acceptance were examined by four-way layout anova. Nurses had significantly higher rape myth acceptance than any other professional group. Furthermore, a structural equation model showing the contribution of sex role egalitarian attitude to rape myth acceptance was established.Key words human service professionals, rape myth acceptance, sex role egalitarian attitude, women's independence, women's rights.

Attributions of victim blame in stranger and acquaintance rape: A quantitative study

“…Previous research has indicated that nurses and nursing students hold similar beliefs about rape victims as do the general public, such as attributing more blame to the woman if she is assaulted by someone she knows or if she was perceived to be carless at the time of the assault (Alexander, ; Grubb & Harrower, ). Uji, Shono, Shikai, and Kitamura () found that Japanese nurses, as compared to social workers and psychologists, held the highest levels of RMA. In a qualitative study on forensic care for rape victims, McMillan and White () found that English forensic nurses were prone to blaming the victim and exonerating the perpetrator, particularly in cases that did not fit the stereotypical perception of a rape.…”

Attitudes Toward Women, Rape Myths, and Rape Perceptions Among Male Police Officers in South Korea

“…Feminists argue that traditional gender-role attitudes within patriarchal societies that are based on unequal power relations between men and women have led to excusing and justifying rape and other forms of violence against women (Rozee & Koss, 2001;Yllo & Straus, 1990). Such ideas have been supported by a number of studies, suggesting that traditional attitudes toward women or women's roles are associated with stronger endorsement of rape myths (e.g., Anderson & Lyons, 2005;Forbes, Adams-Curtis, & White, 2004;Uji et al, 2007;White & Kurpius, 2002;Xenos & Smith, 2001) and rape perceptions (Abrams, Viki, Masser, & Bohner, 2003;Yamawaki, 2007). Page (2008) sampled 891 police officers in the United States and reported that those who held stereotypical attitudes about social and sexual roles for men and women endorsed more rape myths.…”

“…Scholars have suggested that traditional gender norms and stereotypical attitudes toward women have served to reinforce rape-supportive cultural values by perpetuating the ideas of male dominance and female subordination as well as by normalizing the social control of women (Brownmiller, 1975; Burt, 1980; Lonsway & Fitzgerald, 1994). Furthermore, studies have indicated that attitudes toward women and women’s roles are a significant predictor of perceptions regarding rape and rape survivors (Aosved & Long, 2006; Boakye, 2009; Rebeiz & Harb, 2010; Tang & Tam, 2003; Uji, Shono, Shikai, & Kitamura, 2007).…”

Exploring the Underlying Constructs of Rape Cognition Scales and Their Relationships with Sexual Aggression

“…Last, it is possible that these are true results from the current data. As mentioned previously, although Uji et al (2007) found more than one factor that comprised Burt's (1980) RMAS, they noted that the second factor was not interpretable, and concluded that a 1-factor solution would be more appropriate for their data. Likewise, factor retention methods in the current study indicated that at least two factors existed among the combined rape cognition items, but the differences between the factors were not interpretable; thus, a 1-factor solution seemed more appropriate.…”

“…did not load significantly on any factor. Similarly, Uji, Shono,Shikai, & Kitamura (2007) conducted an EFA on the RMAS and extracted two factors based on the scree plot, where one item (Item 2 "Any female can get raped.") did not load significantly on either factor.…”