Judgements about victims and attackers in depicted rapes: A review

Abstract

This paper reviews the effects on subjects' judgements of a variety of factors that have been included in experimental depictions of rape. The focus is on attribution of responsibility or fault to the victim or attacker and related judgements, particularly regarding guilt and sanctions. Generally, females make more pro-victim judgements than do males, and people with non-traditional sex-role attitudes make more pro-victim judgements than do holders of more traditional views. Other factors covered are various victim characteristics, victim-attacker acquaintance, resistance, and victim attire and a range of behaviours prior to the attack. These are limits to generalization due to populations studied and methods used, and the observed effects of several factors are either minimal or inconsistent. However, some factors have reliable effects on judgements, which it is argued are explainable in terms of their link with traditional beliefs about women's rights and roles. Males have often been found to be more susceptible to these effects. In particular, it appears that if a female engages in any behaviour deemed to be 'incautious' that results in victimization then she may be perceived to be at fault, even though these behaviours would be 'legitimate' for males, and that prior romantic involvement with the attacker mitigates the perceived seriousness of, and may even be seen as supplying justification for, a sexual attack. The existence of these attitudes implies that rape may be tacitly condoned in many situations.

Gender differences in medical students' attitudes towards male and female rape victims

“…Research has found many factors that contribute to these judgements. One of the most frequently replicated findings is that men exhibit more punitive attitudes toward female rape victims than women (Pollard, 1992;Jiminez & Abreu, 2003;Joohee, Pomeory, Seo-Koo, Y. & Rheinboldt, 2005;Nagel, Matsuo, McIntyre & Morrison, 2005).…”

Predictors of PTSD symptom severity and social reactions in sexual assault victims

“…More research is needed on correlates of the actual reactions of support providers to real rape victims. It was hypothesized that younger, unmarried, ethnic minority victims with less education and income would report more negative social reactions from others upon disclosing their assaults (Ullman, 1999;Pollard, 1992;Ward, 1995), but the same number of positive social reactions from others. These hypotheses were based on the premise that women belonging to vulnerable social statuses would be more likely to be treated poorly after sexual assault, because of society's stereotypes that these women are more deserving of their victimization (Campbell, 1998).…”

A Self-Regulation Hypothesis of Coping with an Unjust World: Ego-Depletion and Self-Affirmation as Underlying Aspects of Blaming of Innocent Victims

“…The secondary victimization of being blamed by others may have many negative consequences for a victim (e.g. Campbell & Raja, 1999Campbell, Sefl, Barnes, Ahrens, Wasco, Zaracgoza-Diesfeld, 1999;Pollard, 1992). The generally low report level of rape suggests that victims indeed seem to avoid secondary victimization, which indicates that blaming reactions constitute a serious societal problem (e.g.…”