The present study explored the influence of survivor weight and participant gender, rape myth acceptance, and antifat attitudes on perceptions of sexual assault. Using an online survey tool, a community sample of 413 adult Canadian residents reviewed a hypothetical sexual assault scenario and completed a series of evaluations and attitudinal…

Two experiments (N = 330) examined conditions that facilitate biasing effects of rape myth acceptance (RMA) on judgments of blame in rape cases. In both experiments, participants read a short vignette depicting a rape case. In Experiment 1, the amount of case-irrelevant information about defendant and plaintiff was varied. As predicted, high-RMA…

The relationship between male rape myth acceptance, female rape myth acceptance, attitudes toward gay men, a series of gender role and sexism measures, victim blame and assault severity were investigated. It was predicted that men would display more negative, stereotypical attitudes than women and that male rape myth endorsement would be related…

Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the authors examined prospective associations of attitudes, norms, and control with sexual aggression (SA) perpetration 1 year later among male college students. Data were collected from 652 males via confidential, self-report surveys at the end of their 1st and 2nd years in college. Results…

The purpose of the current study was to examine factors that influence rape myths among Korean college students. This study was particularly interested in the ways in which attitudes toward women and sexual double standard affect the relationship between gender and rape myths. Although the incidence of rape is a common concern in many current…

This study explores the usefulness of the feminist theory in explaining attitudes toward rape and victims of rape in Ghana. The feminist theory of rape posits, inter alia, that patriarchy and gender inequality are major factors in the aetiology of rape and attitudes toward rape and that underlying patriarchy and gender inequality are gender…

The prediction of false rape-related beliefs (rape myth acceptance [RMA]) was examined using the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (Payne, Lonsway, & Fitzgerald, 1999) among a nonclinical sample of 258 male and female college students. Predictor variables included measures of attitudes toward women, gender role identity (GRI), sexual trauma…

Although male rape is being reported more often than before, the majority of rape victims continue to be women. Rape myths--false beliefs used mainly to shift the blame of rape from perpetrators to victims--are also prevalent in today's society and in many ways contribute toward the pervasiveness of rape. Despite this, there has been limited…

This study explores the roles of benevolent sexism (BS), hostile sexism (HS), and gender-role traditionality (GRT) in minimizing rape, blaming the victim, and excusing the rapist. As predicted, hostile sexists minimize the seriousness of the rape in both stranger and date-rape scenarios. In the victim-blame scale, both BS and GRT significantly…