Sexual Preference, Gender, and Blame Essays - Rape, Sexual Abuse

The Journal of Social Psychology, 2011, 151(5), 592607 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Sexual Preference, Gender, and Blame Attributions in Adolescent Sexual Assault MICHELLE DAVIES KERRY AUSTEN PAUL ROGERS University of Central Lancashire ABSTRACT. The study investigated the impact of victim sexual orientation, perpetrator gender, and participant gender on judgements toward a 15-year-old male victim of a depicted sexual assault. One hundred and eight-eight participants (97 male, 91 female) read a hypothetical scenario depicting the sexual assault of a 15-year-old male victim where the victims sexual orientation and the perpetrators gender were varied between subjects. Participants then completed a questionnaire assessing their attributions toward both the victim and the perpetrator. Results revealed that male participants blamed the victim more than female participants when the victim was both gay and attacked by a male perpetrator. All participants, regardless of gender, made more positive judgements toward the female as opposed to male perpetrator. Results are discussed in relation to gender role stereotypes and homophobia. Keywords: gender, homosexuality, sexual assault, sexual preference CHILDREN OF BOTH GENDERS ARE AFFECTED by child sexual abuse (CSA). Fergusson and Mullen (1999) reviewed studies over a period of 20 years and found CSA prevalence rates ranging from 3% to 30% for males and 6% to 62% for females, depending on the definition and type of measure used (see also Bolen, Russell & Scannapieco, 2000). In Britain, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) estimated that around 1.1 million of British girls (21%) and half-a- million British boys (17%) have experienced some form of sexual abuse with around 16% of girls and 7% of boys being victims of contact CSA (that is, CSA where there is direct physical contact between victim and perpetrator, rather than non-contact CSA, which does not involve direct contact, such as forcing a child to watch pornography; Cawson, Wattam, Brooker Nurse, 2006; see Bacon, 2008). Address correspondence to Michelle Davies, University of Central Lancashire, School of Psychology, Preston, Lancashire PR1 2HE, UK; [emailprotected] (e-mail). 592 Davies, Austen, & Rogers 593 More sample-specific rates of the lifetime prevalence of sexual abuse on males have been investigated among gay and bisexual men who had been sexually assaulted both as children and adults. Hickson, Davies, Hunt, Weatherburn, McManus and Coxon (1994) investigated rates of non-consensual sexual activity among 930 gay and bisexual males, living in England and Wales. Of these, 257 (27.6%) had been subjected to non-consensual sexual activity at some point in their lives. In this study 10 of the cases stated the perpetrator was female. Gay and bisexual youths appear to be victimized physically and sexually during childhood and adolescence more so than heterosexual youths (Finkelhor & Dziuba-Leatherman, 1994; see Davies, 2002, for a review of other prevalence studies in relation to male sexual assault). Victims of sexual assaults are sometimes considered partly responsible for their abuse. Howard (1984) found that male victims of (adult) sexual assault were blamed more for their own abuse than were their female counterparts. Moreover, this blaming stemmed from observers negative perceptions of males victims behavior (e.g. looking scared, failing to fight back or escape) during and/or immediately after their ordeal. Such failures to protect oneself during a (sexual) confrontation violate the gender stereotype that men are strong and in control (Thompson & Pleck, 1986) and subsequently increases the amount of responsibility attributed to victims for their own (sexual) assault (Howard, 1984). Perceptions of adult male sexual assault victims also differ in terms of observers endorsement of negative attitudes toward homosexuality. Anderson (2004), for instance, found that expressing high levels of homophobia predicted negative perceptions on male rape victims, more so amongst male than female participants. Additionally, Davies and McCartney (2003) found that whilst heterosexual men blame male rape victims, gay men do not. This gives further support to the notion that holding negative attitudes toward gay men will contribute to the blaming male of sexual assault victims. Finally, several studies have shown that male victims portrayed as gay are blamed more than those portrayed as heterosexual (Burt Davies, Pollard & Archer, 2001, Davies, Pollard Davies, Rogers Davies Ford, Liwag-McLamb Mitchell, Hirschman & Nagayama-Hall, 1999; Wakelin see Davies & Rogers, 2006, for a review), adding further support for the homophobia hypothesis. Another factor to influence attributions toward male sexual assault victims is perpetrator gender. Smith, Pine and Hawley (1988), showed that adult male victims (whose sexual orientation was not specified) were more negatively evaluated when assaulted by a femalerather than maleperpetrator. Davies and colleagues (2006) furthered Smith and colleagues work