Weight bias and judgments of sexual assault scenarios: It is not all about weight.

Abstract

Several studies have explored the roles of weight bias attitudes, survivor weight, and degree of assault ambiguity on perceptions of sexual assault scenarios. Although findings have generally been mixed, weight bias has often been shown to be associated with victim-blaming ideologies, such as rape myth acceptance (RMA). It has also been noted that the survivor weight manipulation used in prior research has been relatively subtle. Therefore, the current investigation examined the influences of RMA, weight bias attitudes, survivor weight, and sexual assault scenario ambiguity on participant perceptions of a sexual assault vignette using an enhanced weight manipulation. Participants (N = 631) were recruited from undergraduate courses at a midsized Southeastern University and randomized to one of four vignette conditions, each depicting either an unambiguous or ambiguous sexual assault scenario with the survivor described as heavy or thin. Participants completed measures of weight bias attitudes, RMA, and answered questions regarding their perceptions of the survivor and the perpetrator. Effects for participant weight bias, RMA, and sexual assault ambiguity were evident. Interaction effects of RMA with sexual assault ambiguity, weight bias with sexual assault ambiguity, and weight bias, sexual assault ambiguity, and survivor weight were also evident. These results suggest that as sexual assault scenarios increase in ambiguity, individuals high in weight bias tend to rate survivors more negatively and perpetrators more favorably. Additionally, findings suggest that the association between weight bias and victim blaming likely has less to do with victim weight and more to do with ideological world views that blame victims.