Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Understanding the antecedents and consequences of rape myths is important for sexual assault prevention programming. We investigated whether general perceptions of media predict rape myth endorsement among community college students, a group with elevated sexual assault risk. Students who perceived greater similarity between people they know and people in media reported higher endorsement of rape myths that blame the victim and exonerate the accused. This relationship did not emerge for perceptions of one’s personal similarity to people in media, with the exception of men’s endorsement of myths exonerating male perpetrators.

Keywords

media rape myths sexual assault

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ambrose

C. E.

Gross

A. M.

(2016). Interpreting sexual dating encounters: Social information processing differences in men and women. Journal of Family Violence, 31(3), 361–370. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-015-9757-z

Austin

E. W.

Johnson

K. K.

(1997). Effects of general and alcohol-specific media literacy training on children’s decision making about school. Journal of Health Communication, 2, 17–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/108107397127897

Austin

E. W.

Meili

H. K.

(1994). Effects of interpretations of televised alcohol portrayals on children’s alcohol beliefs. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 38(4), 417–435. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838159409364276

Banyard

V. L.

Plante

E. G.

Moynihan

M. M.

(2004). Bystander education: Bringing a broader community perspective to sexual violence prevention. Journal of Community Psychology, 32(1), 61–79. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.10078

Baugher

S. N.

Elhai

J. D.

Monroe

J. R.

Gray

M. J.

(2010). Rape myth acceptance, sexual trauma history, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 25, 2036–2053. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260509354506

Beck

V. S.

Boys

Rose

Beck

(2012). Violence against women in video games: A prequel or sequel to rape myth acceptance? Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 27(15), 3016–3031. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260512441078

Benedict

(1992). Virgin or vamp: How the press covers sex crimes. Oxford University Press.

Bohner

Jarvis

C. I.

Eyssel

Siebler

(2005). The causal impact of rape myth acceptance on men’s rape proclivity: Comparing sexually coercive and noncoercive men. European Journal of Social Psychology, 35(6), 819–828. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.284

Breiding

M. J.

Smith

S. G.

Basile

K. C.

Walters

M. L.

Chen

Merrick

M. T.

(2014). Prevalence and characteristics of sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence victimization. Surveillance Summaries (Washington, DC), 63(8), 1–18.

10.

Bridges

A. J.

Wosnitzer

Scharrer

Sun

Liberman

(2010). Aggression and sexual behavior in best-selling pornography videos: A content analysis update. Violence Against Women, 16(10), 1065–1085. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801210382866

11.

Brown

J. D.

(2006). Media literacy has potential to improve adolescents’ health. Journal of Adolescent Health, 39(4), 459–460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2006.07.014

12.

Brownmiller

(1975). Against our will: Men, women, and rape. Simon & Schuster.

13.

Burt

M. R.

(1980). Cultural myths and support for rape. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 38, 217–230. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.38.2.217

14.

Cantor

Fisher

Chibnall

Townsend

Lee

Bruce

Thomas

(2015). Report on the AAU campus climate survey on sexual assault and sexual misconduct. https://www.aau.edu

15.

Clark

M. D.

Carroll

M. H.

(2008). Acquaintance rape scripts of women and men: Similarities and differences. Sex Roles, 58(9–10), 616–625. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9373-3

16.

Codrea-Rado

(2017, October 16). #MeToo floods social media with stories of harassment and assault. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/16/technology/metoo-twitter-facebook.html

17.

Cue

K. L.

George

W. H.

Norris

(1996). Women’s appraisals of sexual-assault risk in dating situations. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 20(4), 487–504. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.1996.tb00318.x

18.

Cuklanz

L. M.

(2000). Rape on prime time: Television, masculinity, and sexual violence. University of Pennsylvania Press.

19.

Cuklanz

L. M.

Moorti

(2006). Television’s “new” feminism: Prime-time representations of women and victimization. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 23, 302–321. https://doi.org/10.1080/07393180600933121

20.

Davison

W. P.

(1983). The third-person effect in communication. Public Opinion Quarterly, 47(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1086/268763

21.

Edwards

K. M.

Turchik

J. A.

Dardis

C. M.

Reynolds

Gidycz

C. A.

(2011). Rape myths: History, individual and institutional-level presence, and implications for change. Sex Roles, 65(11–12), 761–773. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-011-9943-2

22.

Eisenberg

M. E.

Lechner

K. E.

Frerich

E. A.

Lust

K. A.

Garcia

C. M.

(2012). Characterizing sexual health resources on college campuses. Journal of Community Health, 37(5), 940–948. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-011-9536-6

23.

Foss

(2010). Choice or chance? Gender, victimization, and responsibility in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Journal of Research on Women and Gender, 1. https://journals.tdl.org/jrwg/index.php/jrwg/article/view/43/11

24.

Fox

Potocki

(2016). Lifetime video game consumption, interpersonal aggression, hostile sexism, and rape myth acceptance: A cultivation perspective. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 31(10), 1912–1931. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260515570747

25.

Franiuk

Seefelt

J. L.

Cepress

S. L.

Vandello

J. A.

(2008). Prevalence and effects of rape myths in the media: The Kobe Bryant case. Violence Against Women, 14, 287–309. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801207313971

26.

Franiuk

Seefelt

J. L.

Vandello

J. A.

(2008). Prevalence of rape myths in headlines and their effects on attitudes toward rape. Sex Roles, 58, 790–801. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9372-4

27.

Gerbner

(1969). Toward “cultural indicators”: The analysis of mass mediated public message systems. Educational Technology Research and Development, 17(2), 137–148. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02769102

28.

Gerbner

Gross

Morgan

Signorielli

Shanahan

(2002). Growing up with television: Cultivation processes. Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research, 2, 43–67.

29.

Grubb

Turner

(2012). Attribution of blame in rape cases: A review of the impact of rape myth acceptance, gender role conformity and substance use on victim blaming. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 17(5), 443–452. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2012.06.002

30.

Hald

G. M.

Malamuth

N. M.

Yuen

(2010). Pornography and attitudes supporting violence against women: Revisiting the relationship in nonexperimental studies. Aggressive Behavior, 36(1), 14–20. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.20328

31.

Heppner

M. J.

Good

G. E.

Hillenbrand-Gunn

T. L.

Hawkins

A. K.

Hacquard

L. L.

Nichols

R. K.

, et al. (1995). Examining sex differences in altering attitudes about rape: A test of the Elaboration Likelihood Model. Journal of Counseling & Development, 73(6), 640–647. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.1995.tb01809.x

32.

Heppner

M. J.

Humphrey

C. F.

Hillenbrand-Gunn

T. L.

DeBord

K. A.

(1995). The differential effects of rape prevention programming on attitudes, behavior, and knowledge. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 42(4), 508–518. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.42.4.508

33.

Hoge

(1972). A validated intrinsic religious motivation scale. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 11, 369–376. https://doi.org/10.2307/1384677

34.

Howard

R. M.

Potter

S. J.

Guedj

C. E.

Moynihan

M. M.

(2018). Sexual violence victimization among community college students. Journal of American College Health, 67, 674–687. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2018.1500474

35.

Hust

S. J.

Marett

E. G.

Lei

Ren

Ran

(2015). Law & Order, CSI, and NCIS: The association between exposure to crime drama franchises, rape myth acceptance, and sexual consent negotiation among college students. Journal of Health Communication, 20(12), 1369–1381. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2015.1018615

36.

Hust

S. J.

Rodgers

K. B.

Ebreo

Stefani

(2016). Rape myth acceptance, efficacy, and heterosexual scripts in men’s magazines: Factors associated with intentions to sexually coerce or intervene. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 34, 1703–1733. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260516653752

37.

Johnson

B. E.

Kuck

D. L.

Schander

P. R.

(1997). Rape myth acceptance and sociodemographic characteristics: A multidimensional analysis. Sex Roles, 36(11–12), 693–707. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025671021697

38.

Kahlor

Eastin

M. S.

(2011). Television’s role in the culture of violence toward women: A study of television viewing and the cultivation of rape myth acceptance in the United States. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 55(2), 215–231. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2011.566085

39.

Kahlor

Morrison

(2007). Television viewing and rape myth acceptance among college women. Sex Roles, 56(11–12), 729–739. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9232-2

40.

Keller

S. N.

Brown

J. D.

(2002). Media interventions to promote responsible sexual behavior. Journal of Sex Research, 39(1), 67–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490209552123

41.

Kitzinger

(2009). Rape in the media. In Horvath

Brown

(Eds.), Rape: Challenging contemporary thinking (pp. 74–98). Willan.

42.

Krahé

Bieneck

Scheinberger-Olwig

(2007). Adolescents’ sexual scripts: Schematic representations of consensual and nonconsensual heterosexual interactions. Journal of Sex Research, 44(4), 316–327. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490701580923

43.

Lee

M. J.

Hust

Zhang

(2010). Effects of violence against women in popular crime dramas on viewers’ attitudes related to sexual violence. Mass Communication and Society, 14(1), 25–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205430903531440

44.

Lim

M. S.

Carrotte

E. R.

Hellard

M. E.

(2016). The impact of pornography on gender-based violence, sexual health and well-being: What do we know? Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 70(1), 3–5. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2015-205453

45.

Linz

Donnerstein

Penrod

(1988). Effects of long-term exposure to violent and sexually degrading depictions of women. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 758–768. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.55.5.758

46.

V. H.

Wei

(2002). Third-person effect, gender, and pornography on the Internet. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 46(1), 13–33. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15506878jobem4601_2

47.

Locke

Lawthom

Lyons

(2018). Social media platforms as complex and contradictory spaces for feminisms: Visibility, opportunity, power, resistance and activism. Feminism & Psychology, 28(1), 3–10. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353517753973

48.

Loh

Gidycz

C. A.

Lobo

T. R.

Luthra

(2005). A prospective analysis of sexual assault perpetration: Risk factors related to perpetrator characteristics. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 20, 1325–1348. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260505278528

49.

Malamuth

N. M.

Hald

G. M.

Koss

(2012). Pornography, individual differences in risk and men’s acceptance of violence against women in a representative sample. Sex Roles, 66(7–8), 427–439. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-011-0082-6

50.

McMahon

(2010). Rape myth beliefs and bystander attitudes among incoming college students. Journal of American College Health, 59, 3–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2010.483715

51.

McMahon

Banyard

V. L.

(2012). When can I help? A conceptual framework for the prevention of sexual violence through bystander intervention. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 13, 3–14. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838011426015

52.

McMahon

Farmer

G. L.

(2011). An updated measure for assessing subtle rape myths. Social Work Research, 35(2), 71–81. https://doi.org/10.1093/swr/35.2.71

53.

Norris

Nurius

P. S.

Dimeff

L. A.

(1996). Through her eyes: Factors affecting women’s perception of and resistance to acquaintance sexual aggression threat. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 20(1), 123–145. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.1996.tb00668.x

54.

Norris

Nurius

P. S.

Graham

T. L.

(1999). When a date changes from fun to dangerous: Factors affecting women’s ability to distinguish. Violence Against Women, 5(3), 230–250. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778019922181202

55.

Payne

D. L.

Lonsway

K. A.

Fitzgerald

L. F.

(1999). Rape myth acceptance: Exploration of its structure and its measurement using the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale. Journal of Research in Personality, 33(1), 27–68. https://doi.org/10.1006/jrpe.1998.2238

56.

Peterson

Z. D.

Muehlenhard

C. L.

(2004). Was it rape? The function of women’s rape myth acceptance and definitions of sex in labeling their own experiences. Sex Roles, 51(3–4), 129–144. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:SERS.0000037758.95376.00

57.

Pinkleton

B. E.

Austin

E. W.

Cohen

Chen

Y. C. Y.

Fitzgerald

(2008). Effects of a peer-led media literacy curriculum on adolescents’ knowledge and attitudes toward sexual behavior and media portrayals of sex. Health Communication, 23(5), 462–472. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410230802342135

58.

Pinkleton

B. E.

Austin

E. W.

Chen

Y. C. Y.

Cohen

. (2012). The role of media literacy in shaping adolescents’ understanding of and responses to sexual portrayals in mass media. Journal of Health Communication, 17(4), 460-476. https://doi.org/10.1080/‌10810730.2011.635770

59.

Potter

W. J.

Chang

I. C.

(1990). Television exposure measures and the cultivation hypothesis. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 34(3), 313–333. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838159009386745

60.

Projansky

(2001). Watching rape: Film and television in postfeminist culture. New York University Press.

61.

Reling

T. T.

Barton

M. S.

Becker

Valasik

M. A.

(2017). Rape myths and hookup culture: An exploratory study of U.S. college students’ perceptions. Sex Roles, 78, 501–514. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-017-0813-4

62.

Rinehart

J. K.

Yeater

E. A.

Treat

T. A.

Viken

R. J.

(2017). Cognitive processes underlying the self–other perspective in women’s judgments of sexual victimization risk. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 35, 1381–1399. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407517713365

63.

Sabina

Wolak

Finkelhor

(2008). The nature and dynamics of Internet pornography exposure for youth. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 11(6), 691–693. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2007.0179

64.

Schwendinger

J. R.

Schwendinger

(1974). Rape myths: In legal, theoretical, and everyday practice. Crime and Social Justice, 1, 18–26.

65.

Scull

T. M.

Keefe

E. M.

Kafka

J. M.

Malik

C. V.

Kupersmidt

J. B.

(2019). The understudied half of undergraduates: Risky sexual behaviors among community college students. Journal of American College Health, 68(3), 302–312.

66.

Scull

T. M.

Kupersmidt

J. B.

Malik

C. V.

Keefe

E. M.

(2017). Examining the efficacy of an mHealth media literacy education program for sexual health promotion in older adolescents attending community college. Journal of American College Health, 66, 165–177. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2017.1393822

67.

Scull

T. M.

Malik

C. V.

Kupersmidt

J. B.

(2014). A media literacy education approach to teaching adolescents comprehensive sexual health education. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 6(1), 1–14.

68.

Untied

A. S.

Dulaney

C. L.

(2015). College students’ perceived risk of sexual victimization and the role of optimistic bias. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 30(8), 1417–1431. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260514540326

69.

Voth Schrag

R. J.

Edmond

T. E

. (2018). Intimate partner violence, trauma, and mental health need among female community college students. Journal of American College Health, 66(7), 702–711. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2018.1456443

70.

Weinstein

N. D.

(1980). Unrealistic optimism about future life events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 806–820. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.39.5.806

71.

Weinstein

N. D.

(1987). Unrealistic optimism about susceptibility to health problems: Conclusions from a community wide-sample. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 10, 481–500. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00846146

72.

Weisz

M. G.

Earls

C. M.

(1995). The effects of exposure to filmed sexual violence on attitudes toward rape. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 10, 71–84. https://doi.org/10.1177/088626095010001005

73.

Yeater

E. A.

Treat

T. A.

Viken

R. J.

McFall

R. M.

(2010). Cognitive processes underlying women’s risk judgments: Associations with sexual victimization history and rape myth acceptance. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78(3), 375–386. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019297

74.

Yeater

E. A.

Viken

R. J.

Hoyt

Dolan

J. L.

(2009). Self-other perspective and sexual attitudes affect estimates of sexual risk. Sex Roles, 61(1–2), 110–119. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-009-9618-4

75.

Zaleski

K. L.

Gundersen

K. K.

Baes

Estupinian

Vergara

(2016). Exploring rape culture in social media forums. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 922–927. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.036

Rape Myth Acceptance Reflects Perceptions of Media Portrayals as Similar to Others,but Not the Self

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References