Qeirat Values and Victim Blaming in Iran: The Mediating Effect of Culture-Specific Gender Roles

Abstract

Sexual assaults are a social problem in Iran; however, psychological factors that predict perceptions of sexual assault remain largely unexamined. Here, we examine the relationship between moral concerns, culture-specific gender roles and victim blaming in sexual assault scenarios in Iranian culture. Relying on Moral Foundations Theory and recent theoretical developments in moral psychology in Iranian context, we examined the correlations between five moral foundations (Care, Fairness, Loyalty, Authority, Purity), a culture-specific set of values called Qeirat (which includes guarding and (over)protectiveness of female kin, romantic partners, broader family, and country), and victim blaming. In a community sample of Iranians (N = 411), we found Qeirat values to be highly correlated with victim blaming, and that this link was mediated by a number of culture-specific proscriptions about women’s roles and dress code (i.e., Haya). In a regression analysis with all moral foundations, Qeirat values, Haya, and religiosity as predictors of victim blaming, only Haya, religiosity, high Authority values, and low Care values were found to predict how strongly Iranian participants blamed victims of sexual assault scenarios.

The Big Role of Authority, Sanctity, and Modern Myths About Sexual Aggression in Blaming the Rape Victims: A Study on Culture of Honor

“…With over 82 million (1% of the world's population), and rich ancient history, Iran is one of the countries where the problem of victim-blaming and AMMSA have not been studied yet (Baboli & Karimi-Malekabadi, 2020). Despite previous studies in industrialized and WIERD countries, this field's literature in developing, non-WEIRD countries are lacking and inadequate.…”

“…For example, there are no official statistics on the rate and the incidents of rapes in Iran, which can be a sign of lack of support and attention to rape victims (Aghtaie, 2017;Shahali et al, 2016). In addition, cultural-specific values such as Qeirat, Haya, and Namous play essential role in Iranian society, and individuals emphasize on these concepts in their moral decisions (Atari et al, 2020;Baboli & Karimi-Malekabadi, 2020). Qeirat is a culture-specific term that cannot be accurately translated into English (but the closest equivalent is probably "Honor") and is usually used to describe a range of emotions that are triggered in response to threats to Namous (Razavi et al, 2020).…”

“…Therefore, based on these findings, we argue that there will be no difference between men and women in their endorsement of Gheirat. Research shows that people with high levels of Gheirat endorsement are more likely to blame rape victims (Baboli & Karimi-Malekabadi, 2020).…”

“…However, as mentioned before, unlike the WEIRD countries, the subjects of moral psychology and moral judgments in Iran have not been studied extensively. As far as we know, except for a small number of studies on moral psychology in Iran (Atari et al, 2020;Baboli & Karimi-Malekabadi, 2020;Nejat et al, 2015Nejat et al, , 2016, other studies in this field have been mainly based on observation, religious teachings, and lacking empirical studies (Jamalzadeh, 1966;Tabatabai, 1996). Currently, the Most recent studies are at the beginning of forming culture-specific models for the moral judgments of Iranian culture (Atari et al, 2020).…”

“…Authority foundation refers to the value of respect to law and social hierarchies. This value is associated with traditional gender roles and ambivalent sexism, which are associated with blaming the rape victims (Abrams et al, 2003;Baboli & Karimi-Malekabadi, 2020;Vecina & Piñuela, 2017). Harper & Harris (2017) argued that endorsement of this value might predict less punitive opinions toward the acquaintance perpetrators and sexual aggression in families (Harper & Harris, 2017).…”