The role of alcohol and victim sexual interest in Spanish students' perceptions of sexual assault

Just One Shot? The Contextual Effects of Matched and Unmatched Intoxication on Perceptions of Consent in Ambiguous Alcohol-fueled Sexual Encounters

The current research examined how contextual factors-the quantity of alcohol consumed by each partner, and whether this quantity matched-influenced how alcohol-fueled sexual encounters were perceived with regard to consent, coercion, sexual assault, and perceived responsibility of the focal partner for the outcome of the encounter. Across four studies (Ntotal = 535), participants read vignettes in which one person described a sexual encounter they had following a night out drinking. These scenarios differed within studies as a function of quantified alcohol consumed (1 shot; 15 shots) and whether both people in the vignettes consumed the same amount of alcohol (matched; unmatched). They also differed between studies as a function of whether the couples described were mixed gender or same gender. Across all four studies, scenarios in which both people in the scenario consumed different quantities of alcohol (i.e., 15 vs. 1 shot) were seen as less consensual, more coercive, and more likely to be an assault compared to scenarios where consumption was matched, especially at lower levels of intoxication (i.e., 1 shot each vs. 15 shots each). However, focal partners were also seen as less responsible for the outcome of the interaction when levels of intoxication were unmatched compared to matched. This pattern replicated across scenarios depicting same-gender and mixed-gender couples. These findings suggest that people prioritize information regarding whether sexual partners are "matched" or "unmatched" in terms of their intoxication when evaluating whether ambiguous sexual encounters are consensual and perceived individual responsibility.

Perceptions of a Hypothetical Sexual Assault: The Impact of the Interrelationships Between Eight Situational Factors

The current research examined the interactions between various factors that contribute to perceptions of a woman's sexual assault. Participants read a vignette about an assault in which we varied eight factors. We assessed the impact of these factors and their interactions on participants' perceptions of the assault. Participants' perceptions were more driven by the characteristics of the victim rather than the perpetrator. The factor that had the most overall impact on perceptions of the sexual assault was whether the victim explicitly agreed to go to the perpetrator's home. Implications of our results are discussed in various contexts.

Sexist Humor and Sexual Aggression Against Women: When Sexist Men Act According to Their Own Values or Social Pressures

Exposure to sexist humor creates a context in which some men feel comfortable expressing aggressive tendencies toward women (i.e., self-reported rape proclivity). This is in part because this type of humor makes it easier for men who have antagonistic attitudes toward women to express their prejudice without fear of social reprisal. Besides, previous research has demonstrated the influence of motivational variables such as autonomy (initiation or regulation of intentional behavior based on free choice) and control (acting under external pressure) on aggression. We conducted two experiments to explore the hypothetical influence of priming autonomy and control motivations on the relation between sexist humor and the expression of sexually aggressive tendencies toward women. Study 1 (N = 108) revealed that control-primed men with high (vs. low) scores in hostile sexism reported a higher rape proclivity when exposed to sexist (vs. neutral) humor. These results were partially replicated in Study 2 (N = 132), assessing the accessibility of aggressive sexual thoughts. This research contributes to our understanding of the influence of sexist humor and motivational orientations in sexist men on the expression of aggressive sexual behaviors directed against women.

Blame Attributions in Multiple Perpetrator Rape Cases: The Impact of Sympathy, Consent, Force, and Beliefs

Victims of multiple perpetrator rape (MPR) have been found to be an especially vulnerable group. This study examined effects of MPR and perpetrators' use of force on attributions of victim and perpetrator blame. In two large experiments (total N = 2,928), Swedish community members read scenarios depicting an MPR and subsequently made several ratings of blame, rape myth acceptance (RMA), just world beliefs, sympathy for the victim, perception of consent, and trust in the legal system. Data were analyzed with a multianalytical approach using both analyses of variance as well as exploratory analyses. In Experiment 1, more blame was attributed to a victim of MPR than a victim of a lone perpetrator rape (LPR). In Experiment 2, no effect of used force was found on levels of attributed blame. In both experiments, hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that four components, identified through principal components analyses, explained substantial shares of the variance in both victim and perpetrator blame. The best individual predictors were participants' perception of consent, sympathy for the victim, and RMA. The study shows the importance of studying participants' beliefs and attitudes about rape and that victim-blaming research needs both theory development and greater methodological awareness. Implications for victim support services are also discussed.

The Effect of Prescription Drugs and Alcohol Consumption on Intimate Partner Violence Victim Blaming

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a public health problem with harsh consequences for women's well-being. Social attitudes towards victims of IPV have a big impact on the perpetuation of this phenomenon. Moreover, specific problems such as the abuse of alcohol and drugs by IPV victims could have an effect on blame attributions towards them. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the external perception (Study 1) and self-perception (Study 2) of blame were influenced by the victims' use and abuse of alcohol or by the victims' use of psychotropic prescription drugs. Results of the first study (N = 136 participants) showed a significantly higher blame attribution towards female victims with alcohol abuse compared to those without it. No significant differences were found on blame attributed to those with psychotropic prescription drugs abuse and the control group. Results of the second study (N = 195 female victims of interpersonal violence) showed that alcohol consumption is associated with higher self-blame and self-blame cognitions among IPV victims. However, results did not show significant differences on self-blame associated to the victims' use of psychotropic prescription drugs. Our findings indicate that alcohol consumption, but not prescription drugs use, plays a relevant role in the attribution of blame by general population and self-blame by victims of IPV.

Blaming the Victim of Acquaintance Rape: Individual, Situational, and Sociocultural Factors

Victims of rape are uniquely vulnerable for being blamed for their assault relative to victims of other interpersonal crimes and thus much research has been conducted to understand why this is the case. But the study of victim blaming in acquaintance rape cases is hindered by contradictory empirical results. Early investigations in victim blaming often treated acquaintance rapes and stranger rapes as synonymous and thus much of these data are suspect for drawing conclusions particular to acquaintance rape. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the research literature on victim blame in acquaintance rape cases, highlighting inconsistencies and drawing particular attention to areas of research in need of further exploration. Specifically, we review the commonly studied individual (perceiver) factors that influence victim blaming, as well as common situational (target) factors included or manipulated within sexual assault scenarios. Our review reveals many inconsistent findings and interactions between perceiver and scenario factors. In an effort to make sense of these complex interactions and inconsistent findings, we suggest a need for more transparency in describing the scenarios used in research on victim blaming in sexual assault cases and greater empirical attention to sociocultural factors that may influence blaming tendencies.

Bros Will Be Bros? The Effect of Fraternity Membership on Perceived Culpability for Sexual Assault

To examine the link between fraternity membership and sexual assault perpetration, we used an experimental design to assess the role of perceptions in an ambiguous sexual assault scenario. Undergraduates ( N = 408) were randomly assigned to either an experimental group where the perpetrator is a fraternity member or a control group where no fraternity information is given. Males rated perpetrators as less guilty and victims as more culpable when the perpetrator was a fraternity member, suggesting that sexual violence may be reinforced among fraternity members as they are both more likely to perpetrate sexual assault and less likely to be blamed.

Alcohol-Related Victim Behavior and Rape Myth Acceptance as Predictors of Victim Blame in Sexual Assault Cases

Two studies analyzed the influence of victim behavior, drink type, and observer rape myth acceptance (RMA) on attributions of blame to victims of sexual assault. In Study 1, people higher in RMA blamed the victim more when she accepted rather than rejected the aggressor's invitation to buy her a drink. In Study 2, we analyzed if the effects depended on who offered the invitation for a drink (a friend or aggressor). RMA was more closely related to victim blame when she accepted (vs. rejected) the offer of a drink from the aggressor. In both studies, drink type (alcoholic vs. nonalcoholic) did not interact with the other variables.

More Than a Magazine: Exploring the Links Between Lads' Mags, Rape Myth Acceptance, and Rape Proclivity

Exposure to some magazines aimed at young male readers- lads' mags-has recently been associated with behaviors and attitudes that are derogatory toward women, including sexual violence. In the present study, a group of Spanish adult men was exposed to the covers of a lads' mag while a second group was exposed to the covers of a neutral magazine. Results showed that, compared with participants in the second group, participants who were exposed to covers of lads' mags who also showed high rape myth acceptance and legitimized the consumption of such magazines reported higher rape proclivity in a hypothetical situation. These findings suggest the need to further explore the possible detrimental effects of some sexualized media that are widely accepted in many Western countries.

Sexist Humor and Rape Proclivity: The Moderating Role of Joke Teller Gender and Severity of Sexual Assault

Three experiments examined the effect of sexist humor on men's self-reported rape proclivity (RP). Pilot study demonstrated that people differentiate the five rape scenarios of Bohner et al.'s. RP Scale based on the degree of physical violence perpetrated against the victim. Experiment 1 demonstrated that men higher in hostile sexism report greater RP upon exposure to sexist jokes when a woman (vs. a man) delivers them, and that this effect is limited to rape scenarios depicting a moderate versus a high level of physical violence. Experiment 2 further demonstrated that the relationship between hostile sexism and rape proclivity in response to a moderately violent rape scenario after exposure to sexist humor generalizes beyond women in the immediate humor context to women as a whole.

Perceptions of Incapacitated Heterosexual Sexual Assault: Influences of Relationship Status, Perpetrator Intoxication, and Post-Assault Sleeping Arrangements

This investigation explored college students' victim-blaming behaviors in perceptions of incapacitated rape. Participants received a vignette about a man who had sexual intercourse with a woman who had lost consciousness due to alcohol, with the conditions varied across the vignettes: the relationship between the parties, the alcohol use of the man, and the post-assault sleeping arrangements. Results revealed that when the man was a stranger, participants attributed less responsibility for the incident to him, but were more likely to label the incident as "rape." Neither the alcohol use of the man nor the post-assault sleeping arrangements significantly influenced participants' perceptions.