The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

434 Chapter 11

11 different measures of masculine ideology

were linked to sexual aggression (Murnen,

Wright, & Kaluzny, 2002). The strongest re-

lations appeared with measures that reflected

acceptance of violence and dominance over

women.

Perpetrators often hold myths about

women and rape. On average, men are more

likely than women to endorse these rape

myths. However, women also subscribe to

some rape myths, and the extent to which

they endorse these myths influences their

likelihood of admitting to rape. College

women who met the legal definition of rape

but did not define themselves as having been

raped were more likely to endorse rape myths

(Peterson & Muehlenhard, 2004). For ex-

ample, women who did not physically fight

off the person who raped them and who sub-

scribed to the rape myth that “it can’t be rape

if a woman doesn’t fight back” were less likely

to acknowledge that they had been raped.

Characteristics of Victim

In general, victims of rape and sexual assault

span all age ranges and all educational back-

grounds. However, rape and sexual assault

are more likely to occur among younger peo-

ple (i.e., ages 13 to 24), Black people, people

of a lower SES, and people who have been

sexually abused as a child (Elliott et al., 2004;

Ullman, 2010). Victimization also may be

associated with one’s orientation toward re-

lationships. In one study, college women

who were more anxious about their rela-

tionships and feared losing their partners

reported being more willing to engage in

unwanted sex (Impett & Peplau, 2002).

The strategies a victim employs to

resist rape affects how victims are viewed

(Ullman, 1997). Evidence of resistance may

be used as proof of the rape. There is an

victim influences how people perceive the

rape. As shown in Figure 11.14, people who

have traditional gender-role attitudes are

more likely to minimize the severity of rape

when it is committed by an ex-boyfriend or

a current partner compared to a neighbor,

whereas people with egalitarian attitudes do

not make this distinction (Ben-David & Sch-

neider, 2005).

We also perceive rape as involving

physical force, but rape often involves verbal

threats. We have less sympathy for victims

who do not show physical signs of abuse.

To make matters worse, strangers are more

likely to use physical force, and known oth-

ers are more likely to use verbal threats

(Cleveland, Koss, & Lyons, 1999). Thus

the most common occurrence of rape—

committed by a known other who uses ver-

bal threats—evokes the least sympathy from

the community.

Traditional masculine beliefs have

been directly linked to sexual aggression.

In a meta-analytic review of the literature,

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

Minimize Rape Situation

Traditional

Egalitarian

Neighbor Ex-Boyfriend Current

Life-Partner

FIGURE 11.14 College students who held

more traditional gender-role attitudes were more

likely than those with egalitarian attitudes to

minimize the severity of rape when committed by

an ex-boyfriend or a current life-partner than a

neighbor.

Source: Adapted from Ben-David and Schneider

(2005).

M11_HELG0185_04_SE_C11.indd 434 6/21/11 12:43 PM