Factors affecting bystanders' blame of a sex-crime victim and assessment of psychological damage: Reputation of victims and prejudice about women's desire for violent sex

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the possibility that the reputation of a rape victim and the prejudice that women desire violent sex interactively influence third party bystanders' blame of the victim and assessment of psychological damage suffered by the victim. College students (n=399; 177 men, 222 women) responded to a questionnaire. Respectability was defined as follows: less respectable victims were part-time cabaret hostesses and the average respectable victims were average female students. Results indicated that less respectable victims were blamed more and assessed as having suffered less damage in comparison to the average student victims. In addition, there was an interaction between respectability and respondents' prejudices about the sexual desires of women, such that the effect of respectability on blaming the victim was limited to respondents with fewer prejudices about the sexual desires of women.