Rape myth acceptance, victim blame attribution and Just World Beliefs: A rapid evidence assessment.
By K. Russell, Christopher J. Hand. 2017
89 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Abstract Background Rape is underreported, potentially because individuals self-blame and/or are blamed by others. Research predominantly illustrates male-perpetrated stranger-rape of females; thus, there may be a perception that rape myth acceptance (RMA) and victim-blaming are most prevalent in males. The purpose of this rapid evidence assessment was to investigate the availability of high-quality research into the effects of Just World Beliefs, perpetrator/victim gender, and stranger- and acquaintance/marital-rape scenarios on victim-blaming and RMA. Methods Several electronic databases were searched for empirical papers using terms including: ‘ victim blame ’, ‘ rape myth acceptance ’, ‘ Just World Beliefs ’, ‘ type of rape ’ and ‘ gender ’. Gough's (2007) weight of evidence framework was used to assess quality prior to inclusion. Findings Studies retained after filtering and quality assessment suggested that RMA was predictive of victim-blaming with both male and female ‘victims’. Rape myth acceptance is more prevalent in males even in male ‘victim’ scenarios, and Just World Belief was positively associated with RMA. Greater victim-blaming was attributed in stranger- vs. acquaintance-rape scenarios. Discussion There are no absolute conclusions regarding the role of gender or situational factors and rape-supportive/victim-blaming attitudes. Further empirical research is required to understand the prevalence of RMA in perceptions of marital rape and, particularly, homosexual marital rape.
Subfields: Gender Studies, Health, Sociology and Political Science
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c5b9d7f344fd8defc6185df9e8eb286a87f91621
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In Gender Studies
In Health
In Sociology and Political Science
Citations in the corpus
- What do we know about rape myths and juror decision making? (2020, background): “It is the latter of these two concepts (measured by a section of the just world belief scale called ‘JWB-other’) that is especially closely related to holding rape myth beliefs (Hayes et al., 2013; Russell and Hand, 2017).”