Viewpoint to Rape and Self-esteem in a Turkish Late-Adolescent Population

Abstract

Rape is one of the traumatic factors that has pervasive and devastating consequences. Unlike many other major traumatic situations the concept of “rape” is controversial and prone to various myths and gender-related perceptual biases. On the other hand such obscure cultural norms, when combined with necessary personality features, result in rape myths. 72 subjects (37 female and 35 male) with an average age of 20 were given Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and Attitudes About Rape Victims Scale. Our results indicate that negative attitudes about rape victims and stereotypic thoughts about rape is closely related to issues like self-esteem and self-continuity as well as gender.