Rape myth acceptance in Lebanon: The role of sexual assault experience/familiarity, sexism, honor beliefs, and the Dark Triad

Abstract

The acceptance of rape myths persists at varying levels across societies, which creates a hostile environment in which rape is justified and victims are blamed for being assaulted. This study investigated experience and familiarity with sexual assault, the Dark Triad traits, and gender-based beliefs benevolent and hostile sexism, and masculine honor beliefs as predictors of rape myth acceptance in a Lebanese sample consisting of 311 participants (177 women). Men scored significantly higher than women in rape myth acceptance, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, hostile sexism, and masculine honor beliefs. Participants who were victims of sexual assault or knew someone who had been assaulted in the past scored significantly lower on rape myth acceptance than those who did not. In addition, familiarity with sexual assault moderated the relationship between psychopathy and both benevolent sexism and masculine honor beliefs. Results from Structural Equation Modeling demonstrated that both hostile sexism and masculine honor beliefs mediated the relationship between the Dark Triad traits and rape myth acceptance. These findings emphasize the role of specific personality traits, subjective experience and beliefs in shaping rape-enabling attitudes; such a model can be used as the foundation of rape prevention programs in the future.