Rape Myths in Rapists and Other Offenders

Abstract

Rape is a commonly occurring International phenomenon which has no cultural boundaries. Rape is a pervasive crime (Grubb, 2008; Harrower, 2009) and is significant due to its huge social and personal cost to the victims, their families and eventually society as a whole (Polaschek, Ward & Hudson, 1997). Rape in India has been described as one of India’s most common crimes against women. The objective of this study was to determine whether there is a significant difference between rapists and other-offenders with respect to rape myths and its 7 dimensions (viz., ‘she asked for it’, ‘it wasn’t really rape’, ‘he didn’t mean to’, ‘she wanted it’, ‘she lied’, ‘rape is a trivial event’ and ‘rape is a deviant event’). A non-probability purposive sampling method was employed to select a sample of 60 male prisoners who were convicted and sentenced. Among them, 30 were rapists and 30 were other-offenders. The Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (IRMA) (Payne, Lonsway & Fitzgerald, 1999) was used to measure the rape myths prevalent among rapists and other-offenders. The results revealed that there is a significant difference between rapists and other-offender with respect to rape myths and its 7 dimensions. Studies such as this draw attention to how we as a society responsible for introducing such appalling levels of violence against women, which is being endured, tolerated and even regularised. More laws or pleas for death sentences are not the answer to this deep-rooted societal problem. What is required today is not more protection and security, but education about rape and the motive behind such a monstrous crime and its implications.