Sexism and Rape Myth Acceptance: The Impact of Culture, Education, and Religiosity

Abstract

This study explores the influence of education and religiosity on sexist attitudes towards women and rape myth acceptance in two samples totaling 399 participants from the United States and Italy. Both samples completed a demographic questionnaire that assessed age, area of residence, and racial and gender identification. Three questions about religiosity and three about education were included, as well as the Attitudes Towards Women Survey and the Acceptance of Modern Myths about Sexual Aggression. In the Italian pool, 44 held at least a bachelor’s degree, 108 had completed some college, and 29 completed high school at most, while the United States pool consisted of 83, 123, and 12, respectively. Average self-reported levels of religiousness were M = 3.87 (SD = 3.05) in Italy and M = 5.10 (SD = 2.76) in the United States. In both samples, religiosity was a strong predictor of both sexism and rape myth acceptance, while education was only related to rape myth acceptance and with less strength than religiosity. Moreover, country of residence was an important influence for sexist beliefs along with both religiosity and education; however, for rape myth acceptance, country did not have a significant impact.

The Relationship between Purity Culture and Rape Myth Acceptance

“…E. Anderson, 2013; Collins, 2015; Darnall, 2017; Field, 2016; Schell, 2014). In addition, given that religiosity has been found to be related to tendencies to accept rape myths and that intrinsic religiosity has been shown to reduce harmful effects of various constructs, the construct of intrinsic religiosity was also examined as a potential moderator (Barnett et al, 2018; Foong et al, 2018; Hansen & Ryder, 2016; Prina & Schatz-Stevens, 2020; Tavares et al, 2019).…”

“…The current study sought to address the relationship between purity culture and rape myth acceptance, as purity culture has been previously associated with a lack of education on sexual consent and victim-blaming attitudes (D. E. Anderson, 2013;Collins, 2015;Darnall, 2017;Field, 2016;Schell, 2014). In addition, given that religiosity has been found to be related to tendencies to accept rape myths and that intrinsic religiosity has been shown to reduce harmful effects of various constructs, the construct of intrinsic religiosity was also examined as a potential moderator (Barnett et al, 2018;Foong et al, 2018;Hansen & Ryder, 2016;Prina & Schatz-Stevens, 2020;Tavares et al, 2019).…”

“…The authors suggested that such findings can be explained because religious people may be exposed to a greater number of patriarchal teachings than people who do not engage with religious teachings. In addition, Prina and Schatz-Stevens (2020) found that religiosity was a strong predictor of rape myth acceptance in a sample composed primarily of Christians, atheists, and agnostics. Another study found that increased religious intolerance was associated with increased rape myth acceptance (Suarez & Gadalla, 2010).…”

Prevalencia Y Caracterización Del Sexismo en El Contexto Español

“…Es decir, se ha teorizado que los hombres heterosexuales manifiestan actitudes más sexistas que los no heterosexuales (GLICK;FISKE, 1996;LEÓN;AIZPURÚA, 2020). Por otro lado, la investigación también ha sugerido que un mayor nivel educativo se asocia con actitudes menos sexistas, quizá debido a la frecuente exposición a nuevas ideas y la actividad cultural más amplia que eso conlleva (CARBONAR DOS SAN-TOS; DE ANDRADE MAISTRO, 2021;NADEEM;SAHED, 2017;PRINA;SCHATZ-STEVENS, 2020). Por último, cabe comentar que estudios recientes han destacado la persistencia de creencias sexistas y estereotipos de género entre los grupos más jóvenes, aunque se manifiesten de manera más sutil y encubierta (AGUADED, 2017;ESTEBAN;FERNÁNDEZ, 2017).…”

Dating Violence: Idealization of Love and Romantic Myths in Spanish Adolescents

“…People with religious beliefs may also show more traditional lifestyles tending toward a higher normalization of such myths. In Prina and Schatz-Stevens’ study [ 46 ], religiousness was also a strong predictor of sexism both in the U.S. and the Italian populations (β = 0.25, p < 0.001; β = 0.31, p < 0.001, respectively) as well as of the acceptance of the violence myth (β = 0.21, p < 0.05; β = 0.13, p < 0.01). Other studies explored the link between religious affiliation and violence against women [ 47 , 48 , 49 ].…”