The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

Relationships and Health 433

Characteristics of Perpetrator

Most of us tend to perceive rape as occur-

ring by a stranger, but in a majority of cases,

the two people know each other. In 2008,

only 32% of women and 0% of men re-

ported being raped or sexually assaulted by

a stranger (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2009).

One reason rape is underreported and not

given more serious attention is that people

have more sympathy for victims who do not

know their attackers. Gender-related atti-

tudes affect whether people make a distinc-

tion between acquaintance rape and stranger

rape. People who score high on benevo-

lent sexism are especially unsympathetic

to victims of acquaintance rape compared

to stranger rape (Abrams et al., 2003; Viki,

Abrams, & Masser, 2004). Benevolent sexism

includes the belief that women should be pro-

tected by men but also the belief that women

should behave in ways to elicit men’s protec-

tion. With acquaintance rape, the closeness

of the relationship between perpetrator and

rape myths. Items from one of the most

widely used scales (Burt, 1980) are shown

in Table 11.4. Rape myths seem to revolve

around several themes, including the victim

is to blame, claims of rape are false or exag-

gerated, perpetrators are responding to an

overactive sex drive, and only certain kinds of

women are raped (Bohner et al., 2009). Not

only does a large proportion of the general

population endorse some of these rape myths

but the victims themselves often endorse

them—in which case they are reluctant to

contact the police. Men are more likely than

women to endorse rape myths, and older

people are more likely than younger people

to endorse rape myths (Ullman, 2010).

Just as there are myths about female

rape victims, there also are myths about male

rape victims (Chapleau, Oswald, & Russell,

2008). Men are more likely than women to

endorse these myths—especially the myth

that male rape victims are responsible for the

rape. In addition, benevolent sexism toward

men is associated with male rape myths. See

how many people today endorse rape myths

with Do Gender 11.4.

TABLE 11.4 SAMPLE ITEMS FROM RAPE MYTH

ACCEPTANCE SCALE

1. Any healthy woman can successfully resist
   a rapist if she really wants to.


2. When women go around braless or wear-
   ing short skirts and tight tops, they are just
   asking for trouble.


3. In the majority of rapes, the victim is
   promiscuous or has a bad reputation.


4. Women who get raped while hitchhiking get
   what they deserve.


5. Many women have an unconscious wish to
   be raped and may then unconsciously set
   up a situation in which they are likely to be
   attacked.
   Source: Burt (1980).

DO GENDER 11.4

Endorsement

of Rape Myths

Administer the items in Table 11.4 to a

group of women and men to establish the

prevalence of female rape myths. Then de-

velop a few items of your own to measure

male rape myths. What variables do you

expect to be associated with female or male

rape myths: traditional attitudes toward

gender roles, gender-related traits (agency,

communion, unmitigated agency, unmiti-

gated communion), socioeconomic sta-

tus? Measure one of these other variables

and see if it is associated with either female

or male rape myths.

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