A Quasiexperimental Study of the Bystander Plus Program for Changing Rape Culture Beliefs

Abstract

Sexual violence is considered a public health crisis and is particularly a problem on college campuses. Efforts for rape prevention at the collegiate level have included decreasing rape myth acceptance and increasing prosocial bystander behaviors. Although bystander models vary in regard to format and target population (e.g., male, female, or combined programs), they hold the same goals and underlying principles: to teach individuals how to effectively, and safely, intervene before, during, and after potential rape scenarios. In line with this research, the current study examined the efficacy of a bystander plus program, that goes beyond single session bystander focused programs to include a stronger focus on culture change and consciousness-raising across two sessions. The program was offered to undergraduate students ( n = 23), the intervention group, over two sequential weeks. The first session was based on a modified version of Bringing in the Bystander, called Empowering the Bystander (ETB). ETB is a 60-min interactive session in which presenters provide information and lead discussions and activities aimed to address rape myths, to increase sexual assault survivor empathy, to learn prosocial bystander behaviors, and to increase awareness of rape culture at large. We followed this with a consciousness-raising group called Define It! that asked participants to define and operationalize concepts such as sexual assault and rape culture in their own lives. Students in an introductory psychology course served as a control group ( n = 58) and did not receive the intervention. Both students within the intervention and control groups completed demographics and the Rape Culture Inventory (RCI) at pre-, post-, and 1-month postintervention. Results revealed a decrease in personal and perceived college endorsement of rape culture beliefs among intervention versus control participants. We discuss the implications of these results with concern to bystander programming and future directions for bystander plus program development.

Perceptions of Sexual Assault: Effects of Victim Physiological Arousal and Victim Gender on Jurors’ Decisions

“…This may be due to the generally accepted notions held by many of those within our legal system (jurors, judges, and law enforcement officers) and their propensity to perceive victims of sexual assault in negative terms (Schuller et al, 2010). Sexual assault victims tend to be judged on factors that are outside the scope of the determination of consent and these judgements are often influenced by rape myths, which are defined as "prejudicial, stereotyped or false beliefs about rape, rape victims, and rapists" (Burt, 1980;Cadaret, Johnson, & Devencenzi, 2019), that bias the juror (Abbey, Clinton, McAuslan, Zawacki, & Buck, 2002;Abrams, Viki, Masser, & Bohner, 2003;Conroy & Cotter, 2017;Schuller et al, 2010).…”

How Do You Define Sexual Harassment?: Why Context Matters

“…Thus, in addition to teaching about effective bystander strategies within bystander intervention training (e.g., Banyard et al, 2004, 2007; Burn, 2009; Coker et al, 2015; Evans et al, 2019; Krebs et al, 2016), we need to teach people about what behaviors constitute sexual violence, increase their feelings of confidence in their ability to intervene, and increase their willingness to intervene. For instance, adding information explaining the types or forms sexual violence can take and why it is important to end sexual violence for everyone can help promote a cultural change away from sexual violence (e.g., Cadaret et al, 2019). By understanding why sexual violence is harmful to our society, people may be more willing to make a cultural change (Johnson-Quay, 2015).…”