Perception of a Perpetrator as a Successful Person Predicts Decreased Moral Judgment of a Rape Case and Labeling it as Rape

Factors Behind Contemporary Rape Myths in Europe: A Systematic Review

Rape myths are social constructs, deeply rooted in European society. They play a role in maintaining false beliefs about sexual violence and are one of the main factors in sexual abuse behavior. In this review article, the authors focused on the factors influencing the perpetuation and spread of false beliefs regarding sexual violence, its victims, and perpetrators. The goal of the study is to achieve a more profound comprehension of the cultural and social dimensions linked to this occurrence. In conducting the systematic literature review, three databases have been used to search for pertinent articles: ProQuest, Scopus, and ERIH Plus. Only peer-reviewed scientific articles in English published between 2013 and 2023 were deemed eligible. Furthermore, inclusion criteria stipulated that articles must present empirical research of European origin, focusing on the keywords: "myths about rape," "myths about sexual violence," and "myths about rape." In total 2,507 articles were initially identified, with 79 ultimately meeting the inclusion criteria. The analysis revealed the presence of several factors influencing the function of rape myths. These were categorized into sociodemographic, individual, and systemic. The general populace of European society commonly holds beliefs in rape myths. Moreover, numerous studies point to large legal and systemic inequalities that lead to social inequalities and, consequently, to the perpetuation of rape culture through victimization and victim blaming. This review demonstrates the need for future research on sex education as a factor in preventing rape myths.

When does "no" mean no? Insights from sex robots

Although sexual assault is widely accepted as morally wrong, not all instances of sexual assault are evaluated in the same way. Here, we ask whether different characteristics of victims affect people's moral evaluations of sexual assault perpetrators, and if so, how. We focus on sex robots (i.e., artificially intelligent humanoid social robots designed for sexual gratification) as victims in the present studies because they serve as a clean canvas onto which we can paint different human-like attributes to probe people's moral intuitions regarding sensitive topics. Across four pre-registered experiments conducted with American adults on Prolific (N = 2104), we asked people to evaluate the wrongness of sexual assault against AI-powered robots. People's moral judgments were influenced by the victim's mental capacities (Studies 1 & 2), the victim's interpersonal function (Study 3), the victim's ontological type (Study 4), and the transactional context of the human-robot relationship (Study 4). Overall, by investigating moral reasoning about transgressions against AI robots, we were able to gain unique insights into how people's moral judgments about sexual transgressions can be influenced by victim attributes.

Himpathy and status: Attitudes to social hierarchy predict reactions to sexual harassment

In three studies, we tested whether hierarchical preferences could explain differences in punishment recommendations for sexual harassment. Building on research that suggests punishment is used to regulate social hierarchies, we argue that individuals who are motivated to maintain existing hierarchies will treat male perpetrators of sexual harassment with greater leniency, especially when judging perpetrators of high social status. Conversely, we predict that egalitarians-who are motivated to reduce group-based hierarchies-will judge male perpetrators more harshly, especially those of high social status. Given competing theories in the existing literature, we make no predictions about how perpetrator status will affect punishment recommendations overall. Supporting our hypotheses, we found that individuals high on gender system justification and social dominance orientation recommended more lenient punishments to perpetrators. Moreover, an integrative data analysis uncovered an interaction between social dominance orientation and perpetrator status. This interaction was primarily driven by egalitarians, who provided more lenient punishment recommendations to low status perpetrators when compared to high status perpetrators. Contrary to our predictions, we did not find strong evidence that individuals high on social dominance orientation provided harsher judgements to low status perpetrators. Nor did we find strong evidence for a main effect of perpetrator status on punishment recommendations. Taken together, these findings suggest that people punish sexual harassment to bolster or attenuate power structures. This is particularly true of egalitarians, whose emphasis on social equality leads them to judge high status perpetrators of sexual harassment with particular severity.

Perception of the Presumption of Innocence in the Context of Media Depictions of Violence: The Role of Participant's Gender, Type of Crime, and Defendant's Socioeconomic Status

The #MeToo movement has provoked a worldwide discussion about sexual violence. Some critics of the movement argue that it violates the presumption of innocence. In the current study, we investigated the determinants of the perception of the presumption of innocence in the context of media depictions of violence. We took into account previous studies that suggest that people view more favorably defendants in rape trials than they do men accused of other crimes and that people view more favorably defendants with a high socioeconomic status than they do those with a low socioeconomic status. The current study investigated whether the perception of the presumption of innocence is related to the type of crime (sexual vs. nonsexual assault) or to the socioeconomic status of the defendant (a famous writer vs. a maintenance worker). We conducted a vignette-based study with a sample of Polish people (N = 158). The type of crime did not influence the perception of the presumption of innocence; however, women who participated in the study endorsed the presumption of innocence to a greater extent when the defendant had a high socioeconomic status. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Beyond Obstacles: Toward Justice for Victims of Sexual Violence in Hungary. A Literature Review

Alarmed by research that reveals Hungary as having one of the lowest reporting rates in cases of sexual violence in Europe, this article provides an overview of the research that explains why, historically, sexual violence has been and continues to be underreported all over the globe, from law enforcement and criminal justice perspective. Furthermore, we describe the unique circumstances that might influence Hungarian victims of sexual violence to make formal reports. Among other possible factors, we discuss rape myth acceptance, victim blaming, feminist activism, institutional betrayal, and media representations of rape. In an effort to provide insight into Hungarian gender politics, this article raises salient theoretical works on gender ideology and gender policy in contemporary Hungary. This article concludes with a discussion on what implications such research in Hungary may have on a global understanding of sexual violence reporting.

Rape myth acceptance is lower and predicts harsher evaluations of rape among impacted people

Public reactions to rape are often distorted by the acceptance of so-called rape myths. The goal of our research was to examine how rape myth acceptance (RMA) is connected to the evaluation of rape cases among survivors, unimpacted people, and those impacted by rape through a close relation, who can potentially be important allies of survivors in bringing about social change. We tested these connections in three online survey studies. In Study 1 (N = 758) we found that those impacted by rape personally or through a close relation accepted rape myths less. In Study 2, using a nationally representative sample in Hungary (N = 1007), we tested whether RMA predicted uncertain rape cases more strongly than certain (i.e., stereotypical) ones, considering that a stereotypical rape scenario is condemned by most members of society, but not all rape is labeled as such. We found that RMA predicted the evaluation of both rape scenarios, but the prediction was stronger when rape was uncertain. In Study 3 (N = 384), in a pre-registered study we examined how RMA predicted the evaluation of rape cases amongst people with different previous experiences (impacted/unimpacted). We found that unimpacted people accepted rape myths more, blamed the victim more and labeled the case less as rape when the case was uncertain. These findings suggest that rape myth acceptance functions as cognitive schema and that rape impacted people could have a key role not only in the life of survivors but as allies for social change as well.

Rape myth acceptance as a relevant psychological construct in a gender-unequal context: The Hungarian adaptation of the updated Illinois rape myths acceptance scale

The Updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (UIRMAS) has been widely used for measuring rape myth acceptance. The scale was created in the United States, however studies have shown that rape myth is a culturally and socially embedded phenomenon. Therefore, in order to measure rape myth acceptance in other parts of the world, the scale needs to be validated. Victim blaming and rape myths are both widespread in public reactions to rape in Hungary (i.e., in media reports and public opinion). Furthermore, Hungary can be characterized by a weak feminist movement and scoring low on gender equality measures. Nevertheless, we expected and found the reliability and validity of the Hungarian version of the Updated Illinois Rape myth acceptance Scale (UIRMAS). In Study 1 we conducted a confirmative factor analysis to assess the structural validity of the scale and identified the original factors of UIRMAS on a large convenience sample (N = 758, 25.4% men 74.6% women). In line with previous empirical evidence we also found that men, people with stronger just-world beliefs and higher sexism accepted rape myths more. In Study 2 we again found support for the original factor structure and construct validity of UIRMAS on a nationally representative sample (N = 1007, 49.2% men 50.8% women), and also tested its convergent and discriminant validity. The results suggest that UIRMAS is a valid and reliable scale in the Hungarian context that can, for example, be used for measuring impact assessment of interventions.

A Needs-Based Support for #MeToo: Power and Morality Needs Shape Women's and Men's Support of the Campaign

The #MeToo campaign mobilized millions of women around the world to draw attention to the pervasiveness of sexual harassment. We conducted an online survey in Hungary (N = 10,293) immediately at the campaign’s onset, and two subsequent studies in Israel and Germany (Ns = 356, 413) after it peaked, to reveal the motivations underlying people’s support for, or criticism of the campaign. Integrating the assumptions of the needs-based model of reconciliation and system justification theory, we predicted and found that, in all three samples, lower gender system justification was associated with (a) women’s perception of the campaign as empowering, and men’s (b) higher perception of the campaign as an opportunity for moral improvement, and (c) lower perception of the campaign as wrongfully staining men’s reputation. As expected, in all three samples, (a) perceptions of the campaign as empowering among women, and an opportunity for moral improvement among men, were associated with greater campaign support, whereas (b) men’s perceptions of the campaign as wrongfully staining their moral reputation were associated with lower campaign support. Thus, the link between system justification and campaign support was mediated by women’s empowerment needs, and men’s morality-related needs. In addition, perceptions of the campaign as disempowering their ingroup (i.e., presenting a status threat) predicted reduced campaign support among men in the Hungarian and Israeli samples, but not the German sample. We discuss the practical implications of these results for gender equality movements in general, and sexual harassment in particular, by identifying the psychological obstacles and catalysts of women’s and men’s support for social change.