Acquaintance Rape Research Articles

Resignification of feminist drama: the translation of The Vagina Monologues in China

ABSTRACT This study examines the resignification of the world-famous feminist drama, The Vagina Monologues (TVM), in its translation and adaptation to the Chinese context. Specifically, it explores how TVM, along with its feminist agendas and values, is resignified in China through textual alterations and follow-up activism. The specific alterations in translation primarily revolve around themes including infant abandonment as gender-based violence, the emphasis on acquaintance rape as a form of sexual violence, and the unveiling of victim-blaming as a rape stereotype constructed in the Chinese context. The follow-up activism led by scholars entails different forms of actions that interact with social reality, with the most influential one being the assistance provided to individuals affected by gender injustice. Through the examination of TVM's transnational metamorphosis, this study finds that drama translation not only provides a channel for feminist awareness-raising in contemporary China but promotes the dialogue between local and global feminist activism.

Myths of trauma memory: on the oversimplification of effects of attention narrowing under stress.

The present article addresses claims commonly made by prosecution witnesses in sexual assault trials: that attention narrows under stress, and that these attended aspects of the event are encoded in a way that ensures accuracy and resistance to fading and distortion. We provide evidence to contradict such claims. Given that what is encoded is largely the gist of one's interpretation of experience, we discuss the way in which attention and emotion can bias the interpretation of experience. We illustrate with issues of memory reports in cases of acquaintance rape, where the primary issue is the presence or absence of consent. We provide some specific illustrations concerning effects of emotion on interpretation of sexual consent. Finally, based on what is known regarding priming effects on memory retrieval and judgment, we conclude with discussion of the potential of some "trauma-informed" interviewing strategies to promote false memories (such as FETI: Forensic Experiential Trauma Interview).

Assessing the Impact of Media on Blaming the Victim of Acquaintance Rape

Along with the direct trauma of their experience, many rape victims also suffer secondary victimization due to the tendency of others to blame victims for their assault, particularly in cases of acquaintance rape. We explored the role of news media coverage in promoting victim blaming tendencies. In Study 1, a content analysis of articles reporting sexual assaults from two newspapers revealed a tendency for media to overreport stranger rapes and underreport acquaintance rapes, perpetuating the stranger rape as “real rape” prototype. More victim blaming language was also used in reports of acquaintance rape than stranger rape. Perceivers responded to these differences; a high victim blaming news article resulted in greater victim blaming compared to an article low in victim blame content (Study 2 and 3), and exposure to a high blaming article produced greater victim blaming in a subsequent unrelated case of rape and increased endorsement of rape myths (Study 3). These findings demonstrate the importance of the media in shaping public perception of rape victims, particularly in cases of acquaintance rape, and suggest that news media, legislators, and other visible communicators can change the culture of victimization through intentional efforts to delegitimize rape stereotypes in their reporting and dialogs.

Agents of Socialization, Anxiety, College Women, and Fear of Rape.

This paper examines the impact of messages about sexual danger women receive from parents, peers, media, school officials, and past victimization on fear of stranger and acquaintance rape. Analyzing survey data for 630 undergraduate women, we find that parental warnings, internalized mean world view, university crime alerts, and being more prone to anxiety are significant predictors of fear of rape across models, while effects of media and victimization are limited. When high and low proneness to anxiety subgroups are considered separately, numerous differences emerge. Results suggest the need to include formal measures of anxiety in future fear of crime research.

The Sewing Girl's Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America

The Sewing Girl's Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America

‘Real rape’ and the coverage of sexual violence in Dutch newspapers, 1880 to 1930

ABSTRACT Feminist criminologists have used the concept of ‘real rape’ – the understanding of rape as a violent act by a stranger – to explain the low prosecution of acquaintance rape in contemporary society. It is argued that the media perpetuates this understanding of rape by focusing on violent assaults by strangers. Systematic analyses of such distortions in press coverage in earlier periods are, however, lacking. This article considers the Netherlands in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, an interesting case because Dutch law explicitly criminalised certain forms of acquaintance assault. The article aims to determine and explain newspaper representations of the relationship between the perpetrator and victim in the coverage of sexual assault. The analysis is based on a dataset of all items on the sexual assault of women and girls in four newspapers and five sample years between 1880 and 1930. The results show that assaults by acquaintances made up only a small proportion of the cases reported in the newspapers. Many of the items match the ‘real rape’ concept. The evidence suggests the journalists were overreporting violent stranger rapes both because such stories were more easily available and because they carried a more appealing message for readers.

COVID-19 and Gender-Based Violence: Investigating the "Shadow Pandemic" of Sexual Violence During Crisis Lockdown in Nigeria.

The COVID-19 pandemic created a myriad of problems including an increase in the cases of gender-based violence, prompting the United Nations Women to refer to the trend as a "shadow pandemic." In spite of this trend, research exploring the impact of COVID-19 in Africa have given little consideration to issues bordering on gender. To address this, a qualitative study involving 19 women and girls who experienced sexual violence during the lockdown, and 6 officials of women and child protection services as key informants, was conducted. Findings indicated a variety of sexual violence directed toward participants including marital rape, incest, acquaintance rape, date rape, and stranger rape. The conditions of the COVID-19 lockdown not only created opportunities for motivated offenders, but also increased the vulnerabilities of women to sexual victimization. These findings advance the need to acknowledge the increase in sexual violence, reimagine government's policies, create awareness, and recognize women and child support networks as essential services during a lockdown.

Comment: Loyiso Coko v S (CA&R 219/2020) [2021] ZAECGHC 91 (8 October 2021): Oblique subscription to rape myths as an indication of the urgent need to reform the mens rea test in acquaintance rape cases in South Africa

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Sexual Harassment of Students at Institutions of Higher Education: Variations in Students’ Experiences, Knowledge, and Perceptions Across Institutions

Attention to sexual misconduct has focused on acquaintance rape, leaving a need for research on less highly recognizable forms of harm. We estimated institution of higher education (IHE)-specific prevalence of yellow zone sexual harassment (SH) among students at 27 IHEs. We then examined SH and perceived risk of sexual assault/misconduct, knowledge regarding policies/resources, and perceptions of sexual misconduct response. Between 37.1% and 55.7% of students experienced SH. Harassed students were much more likely than non-harassed students to feel at risk for sexual misconduct and to have negative views of sexual misconduct response. Implications for research, policy, and prevention/response are discussed.

Beliefs on Sexual Violence in the Context of System Justification Theory: The Role of Hostile Sexism and Beliefs in Biological Origins of Gender Differences

Estimates suggest that around 20% of women may have experienced rape. Various misconceptions about rape (i.e., rape myths) are closely related to victim blaming. In our studies we tested the link between system justification, beliefs in biological origins of gender differences, ambivalent sexism and beliefs concerning sexual violence. Study 1 was conducted among 433 Polish students. The sequential mediation analysis suggests that system justification predicts the level of rape myth acceptance through beliefs in biological origins of gender differences and then hostile (but not benevolent) sexism. In Study 2, conducted among 197 Polish students, we tested the relationship between beliefs in biological origins of gender differences and beliefs concerning sexual violence using experimental design. Contrary to our expectations, students who read the text about social origins of gender differences perceived the survivor of a hypothetical acquaintance rape as less credible, and proposed a lower sentence for a stranger rape perpetrator, compared to participants who read about biological origins of gender differences. We suspect that this is due to experiencing reactance when confronted with social explanations of gender differences. We discuss implications for research and policy.

Who Are You to Me? Relational Distance to Victims and Perpetrators Affects Advising to Report Rape.

The victim's decision to report a crime is generally dependent on the advice received from a confidant. The effects of a confidant's relationship to victims and perpetrators on the advice given to report rape were investigated. Indian participants (N = 418) read one of the seven scenarios of acquaintance rape as a confidant; the scenarios depicted different relationships between the victim and perpetrator (family vs. friend vs. stranger). Confidants closer to victims were more likely to advise reporting, whereas confidants closer to the perpetrator were less likely to advise reporting. Rape myth acceptance and victim blaming negatively predicted reporting to agencies.

Female victims of acquaintance rape in college: Incidence and effects of encounters with perpetrators

Objectives: Acquaintance rape is the most common type of rape perpetrated against college women, but little information exists on later encounters with the perpetrator, lifestyle changes, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Participants: The sample consisted of 463 college-attending females, 16% of which indicated they were raped since attending college. Methods: The current study examines the incidence and effects of acquaintance rape perpetrated against female college students at a large, public university in the southeastern United States. Results: Eighty-four percent of the women who indicated they had experienced a rape since attending college knew their perpetrator, and 65.5% encountered their perpetrator after the attack. Participants who encountered their perpetrator after the attack reported more lifestyle changes and higher PTSD symptom severity on the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). Conclusions: The current research suggests that the effects of acquaintance rape in college is a complicated area needing further research. There is evidence to support negative effects on victims based on interactions with perpetrators.

Wrongful Conviction in Sexual Assault: Stranger Rape, Acquaintance Rape, and Intra-Familial Child Sexual Assaults

This article reviews the recently published book by M. B. Johnson— Wrongful conviction in sexual assault: Stranger rape, acquaintance rape, and intra-familial child sexual assaults. The focus of the book is on the unique combination of factors specifically within sexual crime investigation and legislation that lead to the overrepresentation of this type of crimes within wrongful convictions. The book presents a detailed analysis of social context, and historical backdrop specific to wrongful convictions in sexual crimes. It is a highly informative and well-written book.

Moderating Factors in Culpability Ratings and Rape Proclivity in Stranger and Acquaintance Rape: Validation of Rape Vignettes in a Community Sample.

Rape is a serious concern globally. Past research has identified Ambivalent Sexism (AS), Rape Myth Acceptance (RMA), and the victim–perpetrator relationship as key constructs influencing rape blame attributions and rape proclivity. Limitations with methodologies have, however, limited the practical implications of past research, particularly in the context of underpowered samples and a lack of transparency in vignette development and implementation. In the current research, three studies aimed to validate material to be used in research into rape perceptions and to examine the impact of victim–perpetrator relationship, AS, and RMA on victim and perpetrator culpability, and rape proclivity, using an experimental design. On 563 participants, this research developed and validated six rape vignettes which accounted for methodological limitations of past research (Study One) and were found to be believable and realistic by participants; it further found that aggressively sexist attitudes were associated with increased victim culpability and decreased perpetrator culpability (Study Two), and increased rape proclivity (Study Three). Scenarios of a casual acquaintance produced the highest levels of victim culpability and the lowest levels of perpetrator culpability. Victims were ascribed more control than blame, or responsibility. Men reported the highest levels of rape proclivity in scenarios of casual acquaintance, and intimate partner relationships. Contrary to past research, Benevolent Sexism (BS) did not directly impact attributions in rape cases but may maintain and legitimize the attitudes, which do. As some of our findings contradict past research, we suggest that the need for standardized rape vignettes is evident, along with greater transparency and methodological rigor in sexual assault research, as this will improve the practical implications of findings. Reproducible research practices may be useful for this. While limited in diversity, this research has important implications for policy and research practice, particularly in producing validated material that can be reused by future researchers.

Beyond the Blockbusters: Themes and Trends in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction ed. by Rebekah Fitzsimmons and Casey Alane Wilson

Reviewed by: Beyond the Blockbusters: Themes and Trends in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction ed. by Rebekah Fitzsimmons and Casey Alane Wilson Katy Lewis (bio) Beyond the Blockbusters: Themes and Trends in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction, edited by Rebekah Fitzsimmons and Casey Alane Wilson. UP of Mississippi, 2020. Rebekah Fitzsimmons and Casey Alane Wilson's edited collection, Beyond the Blockbusters: Themes and Trends in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction, is an excellent addition to the study of Young Adult (YA) literature, providing key insights into the roles that understudied and underrecognized texts play in literary discourse about adolescence. In "Introduction. Boom! Goes the Hypercanon: On the Importance of the Overlooked and Understudied in Young Adult Literature," Fitzsimmons and Wilson establish two goals for this collection of essays: their first goal is "to move away from analysis focused only on singular popular texts and toward a broader framework of common themes, character arcs, and genre conventions present in the contemporary YA field" (x). This clearly stated goal helps set the tone of the volume, which takes a more "macrolevel approach," Fitzsimmons and Wilson point out, favoring broader understandings of what these genres are doing rather [End Page 283] than in-depth, close reading analyses (x). Connected to this is their second goal, "to expand the corpus of materials with which children's literature scholarship regularly engages and examines" (x). With this context, the editors establish how this volume of scholarly work does not seek to cover every area of YA literature; instead, the work here opens outward, inviting readers and students, "scholars and teachers alike to engage with a broader range of texts by a more extensive list of authors" (x). This thematic "opening outward" becomes the central strength for the collection as it inherently invites its readers to participate in this scholarly study. Situating their edited collection within the long-established literary theory and criticism of young adult literature, Fitzsimmons and Wilson provide an overview of how power, adolescence, and growing up are central themes of YA literature and how this collection of essays explicitly pushes back on the "hypercanon" (ix) of popularized YA novels and series to envision new ways of understanding those themes in YA literature. "It is this overall impression of homogeneity" in YA literature, Fitsimmons and Wilson note, "that this book seeks to correct by highlighting the vast array of genres, developmental patterns, and tropes that are regularly published under the umbrella of YA literature" (xv). Fitzsimmons and Wilson designate "a blockbuster book … as a bestselling book that exceeds conventional or expected boundaries such as genre or marketing categories," that is, "books that become so recognizable they can be comfortably featured in multiple sections of a bookstore" (xiii). In this collection, authors engage with YA novels about dystopias, road trips, YouTube memoirs, paranormal powers and serial killers, mermaid coming-of-age stories, police violence against Black youth, masculinity, disability, romance and marriage plots, acquaintance rape and sexual violence, and contemporary ballet. With this breadth of focus, the collection excellently surveys different trends in YA literature while still leaving room for other scholars to develop further analyses about additional understudied texts. The fourteen chapters in the collection are split into three sections: Defining Boundaries "groups together essays that collectively work to provide insights into the conventions of existing subgenres within the YA category" (xvi). Next, Expanding Boundaries "brings together essays that explore collisions of subject, theme, and character in ways that challenge the limits of long-established genres." Fitzsimmons and Wilson also note that "[w]hile the essays in the previous section provide insight into the rules that define (emerging) genres, the essays in this [End Page 284] section look at texts that question the rules as we know them" (xviii). Last, Revealing Boundaries "works to critique existing categories by tracing often unspoken genre norms and pushing back against expectations," and the authors in this section "work to illuminate boundaries that previously may have been hidden or overlooked by previous analyses" (xix). The section divides are one thing that I think the volume could improve on. While I wholeheartedly agree that these divides help balance the work of the essays, I would have found it more helpful to include...

Z-drugs for drug facilitated sexual assaults

Drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) is a type of sexual savagery against an individual debilitated by a psychealtering substance, such as alcohol or “date rape drugs”. It is estimated that 75% of all acquaintance rapes involve alcohol or drugs. When used with alcohol, drugs can result in a loss of consciousness and a loss of the ability to consent to sexual intercourse. Most DFSA victims are women, and the culprits are men, although men can also be victims. The psychoactive substance most commonly relatedto DFSA is alcohol. However, recreational drug use levels are rising, and drug markets expand, providing faster and cheaper ways to incapacitate a victim. Using drugs for non-consensual sexual activity has led to the introduction of terms such as “date rape drugs” and “drink spiking.”

The Relationship between Purity Culture and Rape Myth Acceptance

The current study investigated the relationship between purity culture, rape myth acceptance, and intrinsic religiosity in the Christian population. Specifically, this study explored if purity culture endorsement would be associated with increased rape myth acceptance and increased likelihood of incorrectly labeling rape. It was also examined whether intrinsic religiosity would ameliorate the relationship between purity culture and rape myth acceptance. Ninety-nine Christian men and women participated in this study. Results demonstrated that endorsement of purity culture was related to increased endorsement of rape myths and increased likelihood of labeling marital rape and acquaintance rape as consensual sex. Intrinsic religiosity was also found to be a significant moderator of the relationship between purity culture and rape myth acceptance. Overall, these findings have important implications for how purity culture is taught and understood, and how these teachings relate to the Christian population’s involvement in the cultural dialogue surrounding sexual assault.

A Religious Paradox: Can Priming Ideas of God Reduce Rape Victim Blame?

Rape victim blame contributes to unreported incidents of sexual assault and failure to support victims (Ahrens in American Journal of Community Psychology, 38(3-4), 263-274, 2006). The present study investigated the relationship between religiosity, religious priming, and rape victim blame. Using an online Qualtrics panel, 247 U.S. participants were randomly assigned to either a neutral prime or a religious prime. They then read a short vignette of an acquaintance rape scenario and answered questions regarding perceptions of victim blame, victim credibility, benevolent and hostile sexism, religiosity, religious fundamentalism, and Rape Myth Acceptance (RMA). Results revealed that the religious prime reduced victim blame for highly religious participants but not among participants scoring lower in religiosity. The results confirmed that religiosity was positively correlated with both victim blame and RMA. The data also confirmed previous findings that men scored higher on blame than women and that higher religiosity correlated with higher victim blame. Additionally, RMA mediated the relationship between religiosity and rape victim blame. The results of this study could prove valuable in settings where sexual assault demands action from specifically religious individuals or institutions (e.g., jurors on a rape case in a highly-religious region or religious universities trying to confront the high prevalence of sexual assault on campus).

Corrigendum.

Journal of Clinical NursingVolume 29, Issue 13-14 p. 2730-2730 CORRIGENDUMFree Access Corrigendum This article corrects the following: Attributions of victim blame in stranger and acquaintance rape: A quantitative study Sofia Persson MSc, PhD, Katie Dhingra PhD, Sarah Grogan PhD, Volume 27Issue 13-14Journal of Clinical Nursing pages: 2640-2649 First Published online: April 17, 2018 First published: 05 May 2020 https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15241AboutSectionsPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL In “Attributions of victim blame in stranger and acquaintance rape: A quantitative study” by Persson, Dhingra, and Grogan (2018) which was published in volume 27, issue 13–14 in July 2018, the original Table 1 (descriptive results) contained some incorrect numbers. The correction has revised this. While the results of the paper are the same, the revised version below now provides a more accurate descriptive overview of the findings. TABLE 1. Means and standard deviations for each key variable N M SD Stranger victim blame 48 1.76 0.89 Acquaintance victim blame 33 2.59 1.01 Ambivalent Sexism Inventory 78 1.42 0.62 Benevolent Sexism 77 1.53 6.78 Hostile Sexism 78 1.31 0.74 AMMSA 78 2.30 0.97 REFERENCE Persson, S., Dhingra, K., & Grogan, S. (2018). Attributions of victim blame in stranger and acquaintance rape: A quantitative study. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27, 2640– 2649. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.14351 Volume29, Issue13-14July 2020Pages 2730-2730 ReferencesRelatedInformation

Narrative approach to understand people’s comprehension of acquaintance rape: The role of Sex Role Stereotyping

ABSTRACTOne of the most unreported crimes is acquaintance rape. This may be the result of people’s understanding of what rape is because of their rape script and their stereotypes of victim characteristics. These judgements may be moderated by sex-role stereotyping (SRS). We utilised a narrative approach to understand low and high SRS participants’ rape scripts. Young-adult participants described what they believed a typical rape was, followed by describing an acquaintance rape and then what they believed the stereotypical victim of each crime would be. A narrative analysis was conducted on the data. We found that the blitz script is still held by 44% of low SRS and 47% of high SRS people despite 90% of rapes being committed by an acquaintance. While acquaintance rape scripts existed, the emotional imagery and content of these depended on participants level of SRS. Stereotypical victim characteristics also depended on SRS: those with high SRS were more likely to endorse rape myth ideals in describing victims than those with low SRS. These results have implications for educating people about what rape is so that victims might feel more confident in reporting rape.