Scholarly
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1)
Article title: An exploratory
approach to self-blame and self-derogation by rape victims
Journal title:American-Journal-of-Orthopsychiatry
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Database to look in:Social
Work Abstracts
APA citation:
Libow, J. & Doty, D.
(1979). An exploratory approach to self-blame and self-derogation
by rape victims. American-Journal-of-Orthopsychiatry, 49(4), 670-679.
Quote:
A study was undertaken
to determine whether self-attributed blame or self-derogation
is empirically verifiable for acute rape victims, and whether
belief in a just world and avoidance of
harm or blame are relevant explanatory constructs. Quantitative
and interview data were gathered
from seven rape victims. Results supported self-blaming as an
important aspect of response
to rape, and future avoidance of harm rather than a belief in
a just world was found as
the most relevant motive. The factor of compensation to the victim
appeared important as a
means to reduce the victim's need to derogate herself as a result
of the rape. The phenomenon of
compassion for, or identification with, the rapist also emerged
from the data. Clinical implications
of these findings for the adjustment of victims, the therapeutic
exploration of compensation,
counseling strategies, and the legal system are discussed.
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2)
Article title: Social Perception
of Rape: How Rape Myth Acceptance Modulates the Influence of Situational
Factors
Journal title: Journal-of-Interpersonal-Violence
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Database to look in: Psychinfo
APA citation:
Frese, B., Moya, M., & Megius, J. L. (2004). Social Perception
of Rape: How Rape Myth Acceptance Modulates the Influence of Situational
Factors. Journal-of-Interpersonal-Violence, 19(2), 143-161.
Quote:
"This study assessed
the role of rape myth acceptance (RMA) and situational factors
in the perception of three different rape scenarios (date rape,
marital rape, and stranger rape). One hundred and eighty-two psychology
undergraduates were asked to emit four judgements about each rape
situation: victim responsibility, perpetrator responsibility,
intensity of trauma, and likelihood to report the crime to the
police. It was hypothesized that neither RMA nor situational factors
alone can explain how rape is perceived; it is the interaction
between these two factors that best account for social reactions
to sexual aggression. The results generally supported the authors'
hypothesis: Victim blame, estimation of trauma, and the likelihood
of reporting the crime to the police were best explained by the
interaction between observer characteristics, such as RMA, and
situational clues. That is, the less stereotypic the rape situation
was, the greater was the influence of attitudes toward rape on
attributions.
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3)
Article title: Perceptions
of Stranger and Acquaintance Rape: The Role of Benevolent and
Hostile Sexism in Victim Blame and Rape Proclivity
Journal title: Journal-of-Personality-and-Social-Psychology
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Database to look in: Psychinfo
APA citation:
Abrahms, D., Viky, G., Masser, B., & Gerd, B. (2003). Perceptions
of stranger and acquaintance rape:
The role of benevolent and hostile sexism in victim blame and
rape proclivity. Journal-of-Personality-and-Social-Psychology,
84(1), 111-125.
Quote:
"In Studies 1 and
2, after reading an acquaintance-rape but not a stranger-rape
scenario, higher benevolent sexist but not hostile sexist participants
blamed the victim significantly more.
In Study 2, higher hostile sexist but not benevolent sexist male
participants showed significantly
greater proclivity to commit acquaintance (but not stranger) rape.
Studies 3 and
4 supported the hypothesis that the effects of benevolent sexism
and hostile sexism are
mediated by different perceptions of the victim, as behaving inappropriately
and as really
wanting sex with the rapist. These findings show that benevolent
sexism and hostile sexism
underpin different assumptions about women that generate sexist
reactions towardrape
victims.
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4)
Article title: Blaming
the victim of rape: The culpable control model perspective.
Journal title: Dissertation-Abstracts-International
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Database to look in: PsycINFO
APA citation:
Pauwels, B. (2002). Blaming
the victim of rape: The culpable control model perspective. Dissertation-Abstracts-International:-Section-B:-The-Sciences-and-Engineering,
63(5-B),.
This is a scholarly article
examing why we blame the victim rather than the perpetrator of
rape.
Quote:
"Three vignette-based
studies are presented that represent the first attempt to examine
rape victim
blame within the context of an explicit, comprehensive theory
of blame. Study 1
examined the hypothesis that evaluative information about a victim
of rape would have
a greater effect upon victim blaming when the victim's personal
control over the rape
was portrayed as somewhat elevated, rather than unambiguously
low."
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5)
Article title: High school
and college students' attitudes toward rape.
Journal title: Adolescence
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Database to look in:Social
Work Abstracts
APA citation:
Blumberg, M. & Lester,
D. (1991). High school and college students' attitudes toward
rape. Adolescence, 26(103), 727-729.
Quote:
This study explores the
relationship between agreement with myths about rape and the tendency
to blame the victim in a sample of high school and college students.
It was found that high school males believed more strongly than
did both high school females and college males in myths about
rape, and they assigned greater blame to the victims of rape.
For both high school males and females, belief in myths about
rape was associated with assigning more blame to the victims.
(Journal abstract.)
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6)
Article title:
Models of Rape Judgment:
attributions concerning event, perpetrator, and victim.
Journal title:
Journal of Offender Rehabilitation
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Database to look in:
PsycInfo
APA citation:
Langley, T., Yost, E.A.,
O'Neal, E.C., Taylor, S.L., et al. (1991). Models of Rape Judgment:
attributions concerning event, perpetrator, and victim. Journal
of Offender Rehabilitation, 17, (1-2), 43-54.
Quote:
"Discusses analytical
models developed to identify perceptions that may serve as cognitive
mediators of rape judgments, including blaming victims, attribution
of rape culpability, date rape attribution, and the influence
of violent behavior. Victim blame appears to play little role
in mediating judgment regarding punishment, restitution, and whether
or not rape occurred. Earlier onset of victim protest increased
recognition of the incident as rape, the likelihood that the offender
would be convicted, and the likelihood that Ss would choose to
award civil damages to the victim. The effects of onset were mediated
by perception of the victim as desiring sexual intercourse. The
degree of force used by the perpetrator yielded similar effects,
mediated by the judges' perception of the incident as violent
but only for male judges."
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7)
Article title: Blaming
the victim of rape: The culpable control
model perspective
Journal title: Dissertation-Abstracts-International:-Section-B:-The-Sciences-and-Engineering
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Database to took in: PsycInfo
APA citation:
Pauwels, B. (2002). Blaming
the victim of rape: The culpable control model
perspective. Dissertation-Abstracts-International:-Section-B:-The-Sciences-and-Engineering,
63(5-B).
This is a scholarly article
examing why we blame the victim rather than the perpetrator of
rape.
Quote:
"Three vignette-based
studies are presented that represent the first attempt to examine
rape victim blame within the context of an explicit, comprehensive
theory of blame. Study 1 examined the hypothesis that evaluative
information about a victim of rape would have a greater effect
upon victim blaming when the victim's personal control over the
rape was portrayed as somewhat elevated, rather than unambiguously
low."
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this journal article
8)
Article title: Attribution
of rape blame as a function of victim gender and sexuality, and
perceived similarity to the victim
Journal title: Journal
of Homosexuality Find
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Database to look in: contemporary
womens issues
APA citation:
Shaver (2002). Attribution
of rape blame as a function of victim gender and sexuality, and
perceived similarity to the victim. Journal of Homosexuality,
43(2).
Quote:
This study examined respondents'
perceived level of blame and responsibility for three victims
of rape, as a function of attitudes toward homosexuals, and perceived
similarity to the victim, as indicative of Shaver's (1970) Defensive
Attribution Hypothesis. Victims were a homosexual and heterosexual
male, and a female. A sample of 168 university students completed
questionnaires, which included three rape scenarios and subsequent
questions, the Index of Attitudes Toward Homosexuals (Hudson &
Ricketts, 1980), and the short-form Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability
Scale (Reynolds, 1982). Results indicated that respondents higher
in homophobia (regardless of gender) blamed the homosexual male
rape victim and the behavior and character of the heterosexual
male rape victim, more than the female rape victim. Male respondents
in general also blamed the heterosexual male rape victim, more
than female respondents.
Shaver's defensive attribution hypothesis was not supported. Results
are discussed
in terms of the possible link between homophobia and male rape
blame.
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9)
Article title: Madcap Misogyny
and Romanticized Victim-Blaming: Discourses of Stalking in There's
Something About Mary
Journal title: Women &
Language Find
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Database to look in: contemporary
womens issues
APA citation:
Anderson , K. J. &
Accomando, C. (1999). Madcap Misogyny and Romanticized Victim-Blaming:
Discourses
of Stalking in There's Something About Mary. Women & Language,
1, 24-28.
Quote:
"One aspect of victim-blaming
is the belief in rape myths. Rape myths serve a patriarchal world
view, in which men possess and deserve greater power and privilege
than women. Such myths include the construction that women cause,
deserve, or even enjoy being raped. Blaming the victim of rape
also shifts causality in interesting ways. On the one hand, in
stereotypical representations, men are depicted are powerful and
active while women are depicted as powerless and passive. On the
other hand, rape myths shift causality to preserve male privilege
(in this case the right of access to women's bodies) by constructing
women as agents of their own rape. Women become temptresses and
men appear at the mercy of women and of their own hormones. A
more general theory to explain victim-blaming is the belief in
a just world. The "just world" hypothesis is the tendency
to believe that the world is
a fair and just place and that good things happen to good people
and bad things happen to
bad people. Thus, to maintain this belief, one must search for
evidence to suggest that victims
instigated their misfortune (see Lonsway & Fitzgerald, 1994,
for a review). Ryan
(1971) explains victim-blaming as a strategy to avoid the hard
work of societal change. He
argues that by blaming victims for their misfortunes, society
can then work to change specific
unfortunate individuals rather than change institutional and widespread
prejudices. Therefore,
instead of examining why some men stalk women and why that is
viewed as normal,
one can examine women for characteristics about them that must
have caused them to be talked."
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10)
Article title: The relationship
of optimism, empathy, internality, interpersonal violence, and
gender to rape blame under
four victim conditions Journal
title: Dissertation-Abstracts-International:-Section-B:-The-Sciences-and-Engineering
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Database to look in: PsycINFO
APA citation:
Moonstarr, M. (2000). The
relationship of optimism, empathy, internality, interpersonal
violence, and gender to rape blame under four victim conditions.
Dissertation-Abstracts-International:-Section-B:-The-Sciences-and-Engineering,
61(3-B ), 1699.
Quote:
"The relationships
of optimism, rape empathy, locus of control, degree of acceptance
of interpersonal
violence, and gender upon attributions of rape blame were examined
in four experimental
conditions. The conditions were four variations on one rape scenario.
These conditions
varied a positive or negative character portrayal and a positive
or negative behavior
portrayal of the victim. Behavioral and characterological assessments
of victim blameworthiness
were obtained. The dependent measures for victim blameworthiness
were an
index for behavioral blame and an index for character blame. Predictor
variables selected
for study were those indicated in the literature as potential
mediators for rape blame
attributions. Participants were 321 undergraduate and graduate
students at Howard University.
A questionnaire
was used to assess type of blame attributed to the victim based
on the scenario
as well as demographic and attitude information. Other blame sources
and victim experiences
were also examined. It was hypothesized that participants would
be expected to blame a rape victim's behavior rather than character,
the higher their optimism, empathy, internal locus of control
and rejection of interpersonal violence. Further, it was hypothesized
that blame type would vary dependent upon participant's gender
and victim descriptions. Hypotheses were partially confirmed.
Attitudes found to be related to victim-blame were primarily interpersonal
violence and secondarily empathy. In the conditions of negative
behavior portrayals for victims, despite character, higher behavioral
blame was attributed. It appeared that a victim's behavior rather
than character influenced attributions of either behavior or character
victim-blame. Finally, regardless of victim description, men blamed
the victim's character significantly more than women did. As another
research interest, age was examined in relation to type of victim-blame.
Students over the age of 25 placed significantly less behavioral
blame on the rape victim. Breaking this analysis up by scenario
did not reveal any differences in this pattern. A final research
inquiry was added by examining change in victim-blame should the
rape victim insist upon condom use. Results indicated an increase
in both victim-blames, which was augmented in the scenarios with
negative character descriptions."
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11)
Article title: The association
between the offender & victim relationship, severity of offence
and attribution of blame in mentally disordered offenders.
Journal title: Psychology,
Crime & Law Find
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Database to look in: PsycINFO
APA citation:
Fox, Simone. (2000). The
association between the offender victim relationship, severity
of offence and attribution of blame in mentally disordered offenders.
Psychology, Crime & Law Sep2005, Vol. 11 Issue 3, p255-264
10p
Quote:
"The aim of this research
was to investigate the association between the offender–victim
relationship, severity of violence and attribution of blame for
a violent act. Data were collected from 65 male psychiatric inpatients
from two secure units. Participants were divided into three groups
according to how well they knew their victim: victim well-known,
victim acquaintance and victim stranger. Violent acts were further
ranked according to offence severity. Participants were administered
the Quick Test (QT) and the Gudjonsson Blame Attribution Inventory
(GBAI). Although there was a trend towards higher guilt attributions
when the victim was well-known to the perpetrator, this relationship
was complicated by the severity of the violent act. The most severe
ranking of offence (i.e. murder/manslaughter) was most common
in the offender group who knew their victim well. Furthermore,
guilt-feeling attributions were highest in the most severe ranking
of offence. The implications of these findings for assessment
and intervention programmes are considered."
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12)
Article title: The Effect
of Participant Sex, Victim Dress, and Traditional Attitudes on
Causal Judgments for Marital Rape Victims.
Journal title: Journal
of Family Violence Find
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Database to look in: Psychinfo
APA citation:
The
effect of participant sex, victim dress, and traditional attitudes
on causal judgments for marital rape victims. (Author Abstract).
Mark A. Whatley. Journal of Family Violence 20.3 (June 2005):
p191(10). From InfoTrac OneFile.
Quote:
"This study investigated
the effects of participant sex, victim dress, and attitudes influencing
the tendency to blame a marital rape victim. College undergraduates
completed the Attitudes toward Marriage Scale, an intervening
cognitive task, and a read fictitious scenario of a marital rape
incident where the victim was dressed somberly or seductively.
Participants then completed a brief questionnaire. As predicted,
males rated the victim more deserving of the attack than females.
As predicted, the suggestively dressed victim was rated more responsible
and deserving than the somberly dressed victim. As predicted,
participants holding more traditional attitudes toward marriage
were more likely to assign more victim responsibility and deservingness
than participants with more egalitarian attitudes. These findings
are discussed within an attitudinal framework."
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13)
Article title: Victim Derogation
and Victim Enhancement as Alternate Routes to System Justification.
Journal title: Psychological
Science Find
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Database to look in: PsycINFO
APA citation:
Kay, Aaron C., Jost, John
T. & Young, Sean (2005) Victim Derogation and Victim Enhancement
as Alternate Routes to System Justification. Psychological Science
16 (3), 240-246. doi: 10.1111/ j.0956-7976.2005.00810.x
Quote:
"Numerous studies
have documented the potential for victim-blaming attributions
to justify the status quo. Recent work suggests that complementary,
victim-enhancing stereotypes may also increase support for existing
social arrangements. We seek to reconcile these seemingly contradictory
findings by proposing that victim derogation and victim enhancement
are alternate routes to system justification, with the preferred
route depending on the perception of a causal link between trait
and outcome. Derogating "losers" (and lionizing "winners")
on traits (e.g., intelligence) that are causally related to outcomes
(e.g., wealth vs. poverty) serves to increase system justification,
as does compensating "losers" (and downgrading "winners")
on traits (e.g., physical attractiveness) that are causally unrelated
to those outcomes. We provide converging evidence using system-threat
and stereotype-activation paradigms."
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14)
Article title: Belief
in a just world and social perception: evidence for automatic
activation
Journal title: J
Soc Psychol Find
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APA citation:
Murray JD, Spadafore
JA, McIntosh WD. (2005) Belief in a just world and social perception:
evidence for automatic activation. J Soc Psychol. Feb;145(1):35-47.
Database to look
in: PubMed
Quote:
"The authors tested
the hypothesis that beliefs in a just world are automatically
activated and used in social perception. Under the guise of a
perceptual vigilance task, the authors exposed 34 undergraduate
women preconsciously to words that were either rape-related or
neutral. Immediately after the exposure, participants read a date
scenario that was ambiguous with respect to the man's aggressiveness
and the extent to which the woman was responsible for the man's
behavior. Afterwards, all participants evaluated the target man
and woman on an impression task. The primary finding was that
participants holding stronger beliefs in a just world perceived
the target woman more negatively after experiencing the rape-related
prime words than after experiencing the neutral words. This pattern
is consistent with a research literature that shows that believers
in a just world will often "blame the victim" in cases
of rape. The present findings are important because they provide
evidence that general, orienting beliefs are automatically activated
in a manner similar to that shown by stereotype beliefs. The authors
discussed implications for social perception."
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15)
Article title: Broken Spirits:
The Treatment of Traumatized Asylum Seekers, Refugees, and War
and Torture Victims
Journal title: American
Journal of Psychiatry Find
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APA citation:
Broken Spirits: The Treatment
of Traumatized Asylum Seekers, Refugees, and War and Torture Victims.
Waugaman, Richard M.; Waugaman, Adele; American Journal of Psychiatry,
Vol 162(9), Sep 2005. pp. 1768-1769.
Database to look
in: PsycINFO
Quote:
"Reviews the book
"Broken Spirits: The Treatment of Traumatized Asylum Seekers,
Refugees, and War and Torture Victims" edited by John P.
Wilson and Boris Drozdek (2004). Wilson and Drozdek have put together
a superb collection of chapters by 44 contributors, nearly all
of whom work outside the United States. We all need to become
better informed about the tragic stories told in this book. Mental
health professionals will benefit from this overview of effective
treatment interventions that are specially adapted to victims
of war, political oppression, and torture. We may sometimes turn
a blind eye to these victims, partly because of our survivor guilt
in relationship to fellow human beings who have suffered from
unspeakable horrors. Several other themes recur throughout the
book. It is reassuring to see that all authors emphasize the initial
and essential goal of establishing safety for survivors of trauma.
Cultural variables receive the attention they deserve. Refugees
experience cultural dislocation. The book's final two chapters
address legal and political issues. Relevant international laws
and treaties offer some protection for displaced persons, but
draconian policies and unresponsive bureaucracies all too often
interfere with effective and compassionate approaches to traumatized
refugees." Find
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16)
Article title: Victims
as pariahs
Journal title: Christian
Century Find
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APA citation:
Kern, Kathleen (2006).
Victims as pariahs. Christian Century. 123 (2), p9-9, 3/4p.
Database to look in: Student
research center by ebscohost
Quote:
The article focuses on
the efforts of the UWAKI Catholic organization to provide counselling,
medical care and housing for raped and rejected women in Congo.
Militia members rape women in front of their husbands and children
as a form of military weapon, which has led to an increase in
sexual assaults among civilians. The Congolese government has
neglected the needs of women and children. Hundreds of thousands
of women have been raped since 1998 according to the estimate
of the United Nations and human rights groups who assist the victims.
"One of their weapons
is systematic rape. Militia members rape women in front of their
husbands and children. Afterward, the husbands or the husbands'
families drive the "contaminated" women and their children
from the village. Even when the women are not forced to leave,
the husbands may demand that children born from the rapes be killed;
caring for these children is considered acquiescing to the assault.
The children of rape who survive become pariahs. Many end up as
street children in the cities--a phenomenon unknown before 1996,
according to several Congolese who spoke to our delegation from
Christian Peacemaker Teams."
17)
Article title: Rape
myth beliefs and prejudiced instructions: Effects on decisions
of guilt in a case of date rape
Journal title: Legal
& Criminological Psychology Find
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APA citation:
Gray, Jacqueline M. (2006).
Rape myth beliefs and prejudiced instructions: Effects on decisions
of guilt in a case of date rape. Legal & Criminological Psychology,
11 (1), p75-80, 6p; DOI: 10.
Quote:
"The purpose of this
study was to investigate the potential effects of pro and anti
rape myth bias in judges' summing up statements on verdicts given
by individuals. Method. A convenience sample of 90 male and 90
female students from a British university completed the Rape myth
acceptance (RMA) scale (Burt, 1980). A scenario depicting a date
rape was read, ending with guidance that was either pro or anti
rape myth, or neutral. Results. Rape myth supporting guidance
was associated with innocent verdicts, and anti rape myth guidance
with guilty verdicts, regardless of degree of rape myth acceptance.
Level of rapemyth acceptance and gender were also found to predict
verdict. Conclusion. Rape myth biased guidance may influence verdicts
in a rape scenario in which the attribution of blame to the man
and woman depicted could be perceived as being ambiguous."
18)
Article title: Silent and
silenced: The disclosure and non-disclosure of sexual assault.
Journal title: The Sciences
and Engineering Find
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Database to look in: PsycINFO
APA citation:
Ahrens, Courtney Elizabeth
(2002). Silent and silenced: The disclosure and non-disclosure
of sexual assault. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section
B: The Sciences and Engineering, Vol 63(3-B), Sep 2002. pp. 1553.
Quote:
"Nearly one quarter
of all women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, but
prevalent myths and stereotypes prevent many victims from disclosing
the assault to their friends, families, law enforcement officials,
medical professionals, or social service providers. Although previous
research has identified common reasons for non-disclosure, little
is known about why some victims may initially disclose the assault,
but then cease to talk about the assault for prolonged periods
of time. For many victims, negative reactions from support providers
may silence them, halting disclosure for a significant period
of time. To address this limitation in the literature, the current
study examined periods of silence among rape victims who initially
disclosed but then stopped disclosing for an average of seven
years. Qualitative narratives from eight rape survivors who initially
disclosed the assault within the first three days, received at
least one negative social reaction, and stopped disclosing for
at least nine months were selected from a larger sample of 102
rape survivors for further analysis. Qualitative analyses revealed
three pathways to silence. Three survivors were silenced by blaming
and insensitive reactions from formal support providers that heightened
concerns about the effectiveness of disclosure and increased fears
of negative reactions. Three survivors were silenced by inappropriate
and ineffective support attempts by informal support providers
that increased feelings of guilt and shame and led them to question
the efficacy of disclosure. The remaining two survivors were silenced
by both formal and informal support providers whose adherence
to rape myths led these survivors to question whether their experiences
qualified as rape. Further analysis suggested that negative reactions
from support providers related to rape myths and stereotypes about
"credible" assaults, "deserving" victims,
and "appropriate" behavior. No matter how many stereotypical
characteristics were met in a particular case, the violation of
a single stereotype was sufficient for casting doubt on the legitimacy
of victims' claims. When more than one stereotype was violated,
the mismatch between victims' characters and stereotypes about
"deserving" victims was the primary mechanism for discrediting
victims."
19)
Article title: Coping With
Threats to Just-World Beliefs: Derogate, Blame, or Help?
Journal title: Journal
of Applied Social Psychology Find
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Database to look in: Academic
Search Premier
APA citation:
HAYNES, G. & OLSON,
J. (2006). Coping With Threats to Just-World Beliefs: Derogate,
Blame, or Help? Journal of Applied Social Psychology,36 (3), p664-682,
19p, 1 chart, 1 graph; DOI: 10.1111/j.0021-9029.2006.00023.x;
(AN 20274147)
Quote:
"The present research
investigated Lerner's (1970, 1980) just-world theory by manipulating
victim-related factors in a scenario and measuring several possible
strategies for dealing with the threat to participants' just-world
beliefs created by the victim's intense suffering. Participants
read a story about a victim who varied in terms of his character
(likeable vs. unlikeable) and behavioral responsibility for causing
his accident (high vs. low). The general pattern of results showed
that for the unlikeable low-responsibility victim, the primary
response to protect justice beliefs appeared to be character derogation;
for the likeable high-responsibility victim, the primary protective
strategy appeared to be blame; and for the likeable low-responsibility
victim, the primary protective strategy appeared to be compensation."
20)
Article title: Victim characteristics
and attribution of rape blame in Australia and South Africa.
Journal title: Journal-of-Social-Psychology
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Database to look in: Social
Work Abstracts
APA citation:
Heaven, P-C-L, Connors,
J., & Pretorius, A. (1998). Victim characteristics and attribution
of rape blame in Australia and South Africa. Journal-of-Social-Psychology,
138(1): 131-33.
Quote:
"Several researchers
from the United States and Britain have suggested that attributions
of rape blame depend on the characteristics of the victim..The
study results suggest that victim blame was not a function of
victim characteristics but rather of the cultural group of the
respondents."
Additional articles:
Bibliography
of a victim blame article
McCaul, K. D., Veltum,
L. G., Boyechko, V., & Crawford, J. J. (1990). Understanding
attributions of victim blame for
rape: Sex, violence, and forseeability. Journal of Applied Social
Psychology, 20, 1-26.
Hirschberger, G. (2006).
Terror Management and Attributions of Blame to Innocent Victims:
Reconciling Compassionate and Defensive Responses. Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology v. 91 no. 5 (November
2006) p. 832-44
This article discusses the logic of the just world theory and
how it makes suffering make sense to people within the framework
of their world.
Rye, B. J., et. al., (2006). The Case of the Guilty Victim: The
Effects of Gender of Victim and Gender of Perpetrator on Attributions
of Blame and Responsibility. Sex Roles v. 54 no. 9/10
(May 2006) p. 639-49
"There was an interaction of gender of perpetrator and gender
of victim such that female victims were held less responsible
and their perpetrators were judged more harshly, especially when
the perpetrator was male. Male victims were held the most responsible,
especially when the perpetrator was male."
Haynes, G. A., et. al., (2006). Coping With Threats to Just-World
Beliefs: Derogate, Blame, or Help?. Journal of Applied Social
Psychology v. 36 no. 3 ( p. 664-82
"The general pattern of results showed that for the unlikeable
low-responsibility victim, the primary response to protect justice
beliefs appeared to be character derogation; for the likeable
high-responsibility victim, the primary protective strategy appeared
to be blame; and for the likeable low-responsibility victim, the
primary protective strategy appeared to be compensation. Implications
for just-world theory are discussed."
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