The Impact of Past Sexual Experiences on Attributions of Responsibility for Rape

Abstract

Two factors potentially affect observers'attributions of responsibility to a rape survivor: how closely they identify with the survivor and how much they adhere to rape myths. To assess the impact of these factors, 157 female college students categorized by their sexual assault history and by their acceptance of rape myths, evaluated a sexual assault scenario. It was hypothesized that previously victimized participants would attribute less blame, and that those participants who self-identify as rape survivors would view the assault as rape more often than other participants. Neither hypothesis was supported. As expected, those who scored higher on the Rape Myths Acceptance Scale(RMAS) blamed the victim more and were less likely to believe rape had occurred. Only one subscale of the RMAS, Adversarial Sexual Beliefs, was consistently associated with participants'evaluation of the scenario, suggesting that this dimension may be especially important to understanding an observer's assessment of rape.

Rape Crimes Reviewed: The Role of Observer Variables in Female Victim Blaming

“…Rape victim empathy has also been shown to be negatively related to rape myth acceptance (Forbes, Adams-Curtis, Pakalka, & White, 2006;Gerger et al, 2007;Jimenez & Abreu, 2003;Mason et al, 2004;Miller et al, 2011). Likewise, people with rape experience were proven to be more empathetic towards a victim than those without personal victimization (Osman, 2011(Osman, , 2014Smith & Frieze, 2003).…”

“…Higher rape myth endorsement was also shown to predict increased female victim blaming (e.g., Basow & Minieri, 2011;Bendixen et al, 2014;Cohn et al, 2009;Earnshaw, Pitpitan, & Chaudoir, 2011;Frese et al, 2004;Gerger et al, 2007;Grubb & Tarn, 2012;Hammond et al, 2011;Mason, Riger, & Foley, 2004;Newcombe et al, 2008;Paul et al, 2014). Men are thought to accept rape myths so as to justify sexual violence, whilst women endorse them to reject personal vulnerability to rape (Johnson, Kuck, & Schander, 1997).…”

A review of the literature relating to rape victim blaming: An analysis of the impact of observer and victim characteristics on attribution of blame in rape cases

“…It has been hypothesized that observers holding stronger rape myth beliefs will blame victims more than people without such strong beliefs and research has consistently provided evidence for this correlation. Rape myth acceptance is found to be a significant predictor of rape victim blaming (Mason, Riger, & Foley, 2004;Yamawaki, 2009), and rape perpetrator blaming (Kopper, 1996;Sleath & Bull, 2010), with observers scoring high on rape myth acceptance tending to blame the victim more and the perpetrator less. Furthermore, observers with high levels of rape myth endorsement generally minimize the rape to a greater extent (Newcombe et al, 2008), and are less likely to believe that a rape has actually occurred (Mason et al, 2004), than people who endorse rape myths to a lesser extent.…”

The Role of Rape Myth Acceptance and Belief in a Just World on Victim Blame Attribution: A Study in Japan

“…Lonsway and Fitzgerald (1994) further argue that such beliefs about rape serve to deny and justify male sexual aggression against women. Social psychologists have found a significant correlation between rape myth acceptance and victim blame attribution (Bohner, 2004;Bridges, 1991;Burt, 1980;Check & Malamuth, 1983;Frese, Moya, & Megías, 2004;Mason, Riger, & Foley, 2004). Specifically, individuals who accept these prejudicial and false beliefs about rape are likely to blame the rape victim for being raped.…”