A brief report on rape myth acceptance: differences between police officers, law students, and psychology students in the United Kingdom (original) (raw)
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The crime of rape, unwanted sexual contact, is a heavily researched topic in the sociological field. The majority of research, however, has revolved around incidences of stranger rape and the typical gender combination of male offender and female victim. The updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale was created to measure the level of participants agree with the typical rape myths of: she asked for it, he didn’t mean to, it wasn’t really rape, and she lied. This research study was designed to test the influence of gender in rape situations and how this affects the acceptance of rape myths. In addition, this acceptance of rape myths was compared with the likeliness to report stranger rape, acquaintance rape, and dating rape; along with the likeliness of having a consistent definition with the official one. Four separate surveys were distributed to 312 participants. Survey A contained situations of male-on female rape, survey B had female-on-male, survey C had female-on-female, and ...
Social Perception of RapeHow Rape Myth Acceptance Modulates the Influence of Situational Factors
Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2004
This study assessed the role of rape myth acceptance (RMA) and situational factors in the perception of three different rape scenarios (date rape, marital rape, and stranger rape). One hundred and eighty-two psychology undergraduates were asked to emit four judgements about each rape situation: victim responsibility, perpetrator responsibility, intensity of trauma, and likelihood to report the crime to the police. It was hypothesized that neither RMA nor situational factors alone can explain how rape is perceived; it is the interaction between these two factors that best account for social reactions to sexual aggression. The results generally supported the authors' hypothesis: Victim blame, estimation of trauma, and the likelihood of reporting the crime to the police were best explained by the interaction between observer characteristics, such as RMA, and situational clues. That is, the less stereotypic the rape situation was, the greater was the influence of attitudes toward rape on attributions.
She asked for it: statistics and predictors of rape myth acceptance
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Where rape exists, there are people who believe in cultural myths about rape causes and victims. Acceptance of these rape myths increases and decreases based on many predictors; the present study investigated how rape myth acceptance varied in different populations on the campus of a small, private, liberal arts university. Although overall rape myth acceptance on campus was relatively low, analyses revealed that female participant sex, knowing a victim, and being able to identify contextual sexual assaults were predictive of lower rape myth acceptance. Additional hypotheses and research questions were tested but showed non-significant results. The findings of this study can be used to advise faculty and staff regarding specific programs aimed at further lowering rape myth acceptance on campus; specific details and suggestions are discussed.
Journal of Research in Personality, 1999
A series of six studies were conducted to explore the structure underlying rape myths and to develop the 45-item Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (''IRMA''). In the first study, 604 participants (mean age 18.8 years, 53% women) rated their level of agreement with 95 pretested rape myth statements. Exploratory and confirmatory multivariate analyses revealed a structure consisting of both a general myth component and seven subcomponents. This structure was replicated in a second study using a new sample and paired comparisons methodology. Study 3 details the development procedures for the IRMA and presents statistics demonstrating its good psychometric properties. Finally, Studies 4-6 support the construct validity of the IRMA. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for theory, measurement, future research, and intervention.
Rape myth acceptance is lower and predicts harsher evaluations of rape among impacted people
Social psychological bulletin, 2022
Public reactions to rape are often distorted by the acceptance of so-called rape myths. The goal of our research was to examine how rape myth acceptance (RMA) is connected to the evaluation of rape cases among survivors, unimpacted people, and those impacted by rape through a close relation, who can potentially be important allies of survivors in bringing about social change. We tested these connections in three online survey studies. In Study 1 (N = 758) we found that those impacted by rape personally or through a close relation accepted rape myths less. In Study 2, using a nationally representative sample in Hungary (N = 1007), we tested whether RMA predicted uncertain rape cases more strongly than certain (i.e., stereotypical) ones, considering that a stereotypical rape scenario is condemned by most members of society, but not all rape is labeled as such. We found that RMA predicted the evaluation of both rape scenarios, but the prediction was stronger when rape was uncertain. In Study 3 (N = 384), in a pre-registered study we examined how RMA predicted the evaluation of rape cases amongst people with different previous experiences (impacted/unimpacted). We found that unimpacted people accepted rape myths more, blamed the victim more and labeled the case less as rape when the case was uncertain. These findings suggest that rape myth acceptance functions as cognitive schema and that rape impacted people could have a key role not only in the life of survivors but as allies for social change as well.
Stop Blaming the Victim: A Meta-Analysis on Rape Myths
Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2010
Although male rape is being reported more often than before, the majority of rape victims continue to be women. Rape myths-false beliefs used mainly to shift the blame of rape from perpetrators to victims-are also prevalent in today's society and in many ways contribute toward the pervasiveness of rape. Despite this, there has been limited consideration as to how rape prevention programs and policies can address this phenomenon, and there is no updated information on the demographic, attitudinal, or behavioral factors currently associated with rape myths. This research aimed to address this gap by examining the correlates of rape-myths acceptance (RMA) in published studies. A total of 37 studies were reviewed, and their results were combined using meta-analytic techniques. Overall, the findings indicated that men displayed a significantly higher endorsement of RMA than women. RMA was also strongly associated with hostile attitudes and behaviors toward women, thus supporting feminist premise that sexism perpetuates RMA. RMA was also found to be correlated with other "isms," such as racism, heterosexism, classism, and ageism. These findings suggest that rape prevention programs and policies must be broadened to incorporate strategies that also address other oppressive beliefs concurrent with RMA. Indeed, a renewed awareness of how RMA shapes societal perceptions of rape victims, including perceptions of service providers, could also reduce victims' re-victimization and enhance their coping mechanisms.