Book Review: Rape by the Numbers: Producing and Contesting Scientific Knowledge About Sexual Violence by Ethan Czuy Levine

Men's Hostile Sexism Predicts Skepticism of Sexual Assault Science

“…That is, the samples in general rejected hostile sexism tenets and expressed openness to scientific evidence, including on the topic of sexual assault. Nevertheless, given that rape scholarship has been dismissed as overly biased and political (Levine, 2021), it is valuable to identify a specific ideological predictor of such skepticism. This is especially important among men, who are more likely than women to both downplay (Beshers & DiVita, 2021;Byrne et al, 2021) and perpetuate sexual assault (Smith et al, 2017).…”

“…Yet, sexual assault research has faced significant critiques, not just on methodological grounds, but also for political and ideological reasons (Muehlenhard et al, 2017). The field's ties to feminist psychology have made it a target for antifeminist criticism (Levine, 2021). Even academic researchers have been known to dismiss rape scholarship as too political or too biased to be real science (Levine, 2021).…”

“…The field's ties to feminist psychology have made it a target for antifeminist criticism (Levine, 2021). Even academic researchers have been known to dismiss rape scholarship as too political or too biased to be real science (Levine, 2021). Sexual assault, however, is not the only scientific research topic whose evidence is scrutinized and even denied for political reasons (Rekker, 2021).…”

Becoming a Survivor? Identity Creation Post-violence

“…Despite some cultural changes (Hart 2019), in general, the most culturally legitimate type of victim is a cis White woman who physically resists an assault by a cis man, especially one of lower social status. This dominant image of victimhood excludes women of color, victimized people of other genders, and perpetrators of other genders (Harris and Linder 2017;Levine 2021). Social scientists refer to a theoretical victim who meets these requirements as the "ideal victim" (Christie 1986), and she is popularly referred to as the "perfect victim" (Dockterman 2022).…”

“…Social scientists find that people who have experienced sexual violence generally prefer the survivor label, which is associated with more positive outcomes than the victim label. Sexual violence research typically focuses on one type of violence, like sexual assault or intimate partner violence, and focuses disproportionately on White, cisgender women victimized by cisgender men (Levine 2021). This focus limits our ability to understand the experience of sexual violence across different backgrounds and experiences.…”