Perceived Safety,Trust,and Dialog Formation Between Sexually Victimized Women and Police

Abstract

Many young women in Iran experience sexual disturbance and molestation in urban public spaces, but they usually do not refer to police to report the abuse or ask for help willingly, even in critical cases like acute sexual attacks. This research was conducted among 47 young women sexually victimized in Tehran. Semistructured interviews were conducted to explore victims' experiences and postvictimization actions. Results show that, although all women are aware of legal penalties for sexual disturbances and are emotionally affected by the incidents, 8.5% of interviewees have contacted the police after experiencing serious disturbances such as sexual molestation and rape. Women are highly unwilling to contact the police because they believe that dialog channels with police forces are closed. Three main explanations for reluctance to communicate with authorities are as follows: (1) perceived inculpation threat—most women believe that they might be held responsible for the disturbances because of their appearances or merely their gender; (2) distrust in male police officers—it is a common belief that male officers do not approach sexual disturbance as a serious matter or they will reabuse the victims; and (3) fear of being accused reversal of the truth—women are afraid that they would not be able to prove their claims, and if criminals are arrested, the suspects would deny their guilt and reverse the truth by condemning women for misleading behavior. Dialog is not being formed between victimized women and police forces because of the lack of three main prerequisites of communication: perceived safety, trust, and credibility.

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