Women's risk perception and sexual victimization: A review of the literature

Abstract

This article reviews empirical and theoretical studies that examined the relationship between risk perception and sexual victimization in women. Studies examining women's general perceptions of risk for sexual assault as well as their ability to identify and respond to threat in specific situations are reviewed. Theoretical discussions of the optimistic bias and cognitive-ecological models of risk recognition are discussed in order to account for findings in the literature. Implications for interventions with women as well as recommendations for future research are provided.

Reactions to Resistance: The Role of Contextual Factors in Sex Offending

“…Some victims of sexual assault do not resist the attacks of their assailants, often because they fear for their lives or are wary of the negative social consequences -such as embarrassment or rejection -that may result from misinterpreting or overreacting to a man's cues (Galliano et al, 1993;Gidycz et al, 2006;Nurius et al, 2000;Rozee & Koss, 2001). Women especially are afraid that resistance will only serve to increase their chances of being injured or killed by their attacker (Rozee & Koss, 2001).…”

“…Congruent with previous research findings, training potential rape victims in situational prevention methods is beginning to be promoted in the literature (Gidycz, McNamara, & Edwards, 2006;Rozee & Koss, 2001;Ullman, 2007b).…”

“…The most substantial differences have been found to lie between stranger-perpetrated versus acquaintance-perpetrated attacks (Weaver et al, 2004;Wilcox et al, 2006). However, sexual assaults between members of an intimate partnership (or courtship rape) have been shown to be among the most common types of sexual assaults (Baumeister, Catanese, & Wallace, 2002;Gidycz et al, 2006;Ullman, 2007b). Despite the obvious agreement that offender-victim relationship is an important dimension to consider in any analysis of sexual assault, the literature has been inconclusive, and even contradictory, in how this relationship affects violence levels.…”

“…Situational variables encompass the hypothesis that 4 Level of offender-victim intimacy was trichotomized from the original four-level categorical variable, because the literature shows that the most substantial differences are those between stranger-perpetrated and acquaintance-perpetrated assaults (for example, Weaver et al, 2004;Wilcox et al, 2006), with level of acquaintance a less important dimension. However, sexual assaults between members of an intimate partnership (courtship rape) have been shown to be among the most common types of sexual assaults (Baumeister et al, 2002;Gidycz et al, 2006;Ullman, 2007b) and, thus, were maintained separate from acquaintance-level relationships.…”

Cognitive processes underlying the self–other perspective in women’s judgments of sexual victimization risk

“…Importantly, optimistic bias refers only to a mean difference between self and other judgments and does not imply a difference in accuracy. This phenomenon is evident for many different types of risk, including being the victim of a crime (Perloff & Fetzer, 1986), getting cancer (Weinstein, 1980), and becoming an alcoholic (Weinstein, 1980), and is resistant to modification (Gidycz, McNamara, & Edwards, 2006;Weinstein & Klein, 1995). The purpose of the current study is to examine the specific cognitive processes underlying the optimistic bias in women's sexual victimization risk judgments.…”