Participants. 213 undergraduate students made up the total participants (including the reporter): gender. ethnicity. single/dating/married.

Transcription

1 Rape Blame

2 Rape Defined Interpretations of rape o being motivated by a need for power, control or dominance and sexual fulfillment on the part of the perpetrator (Muehlenhard and Linton, 1987) Date rape o forced intercourse that happens on a date or between acquainted or romantically involved individuals (Jenkins & Dambrot, 1987) Ambiguous definitions

3 Aims of Experiment Investigate how women and men attribute blame in an ambiguous sexual situation Investigate whether there are differences in how men and women view token resistance o one of the first studies to investigate females perceptions on female sexual assault victims, and the victim s responsibility within the situation Investigate how personal variables interact with perceptions of sexual assault when alcohol is involved

4 Hypotheses 1. The presence of alcohol within a date rape scenario will be predictive of increased blame placed on the female victim rather than the male perpetrator by both male and female participants 1. Low level resistance against sexual advances would place increased blame on the female victim regardless of participant s sex, and oppositely, high level resistance against sexual advances would decrease blame placed on the female victim by both male/female participants 1. Higher endorsement of sex / power and aggression subscales (AEQ-3) will predict increased female victim blame due to recent research findings detailing that the influence of alcohol increases sexuality and sexual aggression thus relieving male perpetrators of responsibility 1. Males who highly endorsed traditional sex role stereotypes for females on the Attitude Towards Women scale (AWS) were more likely to engage in victim blaming

5 Participants 213 undergraduate students made up the total participants (including the reporter): gender o 70 male, 143 female ethnicity o 184 Caucasian, 9 african american, 20 other single/dating/married o 98 single, 84 steadily dating, 24 dating casually, 7 married

6 Methods Procedure 4 month data collection o study on social judgement o questioned about alcohol consumption the Alcohol Expectancies Questionnaire 3 o sexual enhancement & power, aggression the Quantity-Frequency-Variety Index o 90 day drinking summary o identifies preferred alcoholic beverage and typical drinking patterns

7 Methods Attitude Towards Women Scale o consists of 25 items testing whether participants had more traditional or liberal views of women Written Vignettes o 3 written scenarios (2 distractors, 1 of interest) o Scenario of interest broken down into 4 different manipulations, assigned at random Alcohol present, alcohol absent, high resistance and low resistance participants were then asked to make judgments about responsibility

8 Vignettes - Manipulations *Random assignment determined condition Alcohol present, The woman appears to be intoxicated Alcohol absent, You do not notice any apparent signs of alcohol High resistance, the woman states that she tried to forcefully push her assailant away, Low resistance, they (the man and woman) were mutually kissing

9 Methods- Dependent Measures

10 Results - Manipulation Check Full completion amongst participants Participants were unable to distinguish the focus scenario (2) from the distractor scenarios (1,3) No significant difference in assumed realism between scenarios No significant difference between participants responses on the 5th dependent measure question o Should Larry have continued to try to have sex with Emily, even if force was used? o Helped verify the participant's acknowledgement of the use of force

11 Preliminary Analysis Twice as many female than male participants were used within the four experimental conditions o High alcohol/low resistance (M=13/F=27) o Low alcohol/low resistance (M=17/F=39) o Low alcohol/high resistance (M=22/F=29) o High alcohol/high resistance (M=18/F=48)

12 Results - Hypothesis Testing Hypothesis #1- The presence of alcohol within a date rape scenario will be predictive of increased blame placed on the female victim rather than the male perpetrator by both male and female observers 2(participant gender) x 2(resistance type) x 2(alcohol presence) analysis of variance was used to reveal a significant main effect of alcohol Between subjects ANOVA test on responses on the 8th dependent measure question o To what extent is this Emily's responsibility? o Alcohol condition (M=2.931, SD=.196) vs alcohol absent condition (M=2.256, SD=1.82) o Females were given more responsibility when alcohol was present than when it was not 9th dependent measure question - To what extent is this Larry s responsibility o Alcohol condition (M=5.794, SD=.121) vs alcohol absent condition (M=6.216, SD=.113) o Males were given less responsibility when alcohol was present than when it was not

13 Results - Hypothesis Testing Hypothesis #2- Low level resistance against sexual advances would place increased blame on the female victim regardless of participant s sex and vice versa Inconclusive since there was no main effect or interaction between level of resistance and participant s sex

14 Results - Hypothesis Testing Hypothesis #3- higher endorsement of sex / power and aggression subscales (AEQ-3) will predict increased female victim blame due to recent research findings detailing that the influence of alcohol increases sexuality and sexual aggression thus relieving male perpetrators of responsibility Inconclusive since there was no significant correlation between the responsibility placed on the female victim (Emily) and the AEQ-3 subscales

15 Results - Hypothesis Testing Hypothesis #4- Males who highly endorsed traditional sex role stereotypes for females on the Attitude Towards Women scale (AWS) were more likely to engage in victim blaming There was a significant correlation between AWS scores and the attributions placed on the female victim (Emily) Higher endorsement of traditional attitudes about women's social role in society increase the likelihood of engaging in victim blame

16 Discussion: Supported Hypotheses Hypothesis in question: Participants will assign more blame to the female for the date rape if she is intoxicated Woman will seem more sexually available. Men can also be perceived in a more sexual manner under the influence Participants may have associated the women s alcohol consumption with desire for sex Males in particular may be more likely to accept forced sexual intercourse with that association

17 Discussion: Supported Hypotheses Ctd Hypothesis in Question: The AWS correlated with ratings of responsibility for the female target If endorse more traditional beliefs, more likely to blame the victim Regardless of participant gender, the more conservative = the more harshly judgmental Issue: Perhaps women who step out of traditional roles sexually may be seen in a more unfavorable light

18 Discussion: Unsupported Hypotheses Hypothesis in question: An interaction between resistance type used by the female and the participant gender was predicted such that: If high resistance, both M and F would assign less blame to her Findings: No Interaction found Main Effects: Participant gender had no significant effect on assignment of responsibility Resistance type had no significant effect on assignment of responsibility

19 Discussion: Unsupported Hypotheses Ctd. Hypothesis in Question: Higher endorsement of the two AEQ--3 subscales should be related to higher ratings of responsibility Findings: Scores on the AEQ-3 Subscales not related Possibly unsupported because of the disproportionate # of women to men Little experimental alcohol expectancy research done with females

20 Discussion: Limitations Hard to define & operationalize token resistance Adequately reflected participant s ideas of token resistance? Vignettes blurred lines between low level and token resistance?

21 Future Research Develop a current and empirically supported definition of token resistance o An operational definition will allow greater success in determining the extent of belief this concept has amongst males o Help understand and reduce risky sexual situations which may place females in danger of sexual assault Further research on the interaction between female refusal styles and her success in stopping a perpetrator o Help females identify potential male perpetrators as well as better educate men in listening and respecting female refusal at sexual advances