Analysis of victim and perpetrator blame in incident reports depicting sexual assault

• Main Author: Kobes, Shannon K.
• Other Authors: Dello Stritto, Mary Ellen
• Format: Others
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Rape victims > Public opinion.; Rapists > Public opinion.
• Online Access: http://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/handle/handle/188039; http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1318619

The relationship between blame attribution, characterological and behavioral blame, and rape and prostitution myth acceptance was investigated. After reviewing an incident report of a sexual assault in which the victim was portrayed as either a prostitute, bank teller, or nun, 291 college-aged participants rated their level of agreement with rape myths and prostitution myths. They also assigned blame to the victim and/or perpetrator of the sexual assault. Results indicated that as rape and prostitution myth acceptance increased, victim blame increased and perpetrator blame decreased. Participants tended to blame the victimized prostitute more for the assault than the victimized bank teller and nun; similarly, participants tended to blame the perpetrator of the nun and bank teller more than the perpetrator of the prostitute. Gender differences in rape and prostitution myth acceptance and blaming attributions were also investigated. The findings are congruent with previous research on rape myth acceptance and blame. === Department of Psychological Science