Blame and fault attributions in sexual violence: are these distinct?

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/17596591111187747
Date10 October 2011
Pages222-229
Published date10 October 2011
AuthorIrina Anderson,Helena Bissell
Subject MatterHealth & social care,Sociology
Blame and fault attributions in sexual
violence: are these distinct?
Irina Anderson and Helena Bissell
Abstract
Purpose – This study seeks to examine whether blame and fault assigned to victims and perpetrators in
a hypothetical sexual violence case are distinct conceptually, and whether they are affected by gender
of participant, perpetrator and victim.
Design/methodology/approach – Participants read an incident of either female or male rape,
perpetrated by either a female or a male, and assigned attributions of blame and fault to both victims
and perpetrators. Participants also completed Burt’s Rape Myth Acceptance Scale.
Findings Findingsshowed that none of the independentvariableshad any effect on victim attributionsof
blame and fault,only affecting blame and fault assignedto perpetrators. Perpetratorsof male victim rape
were assigned more blame than perpetrators of female victim rape. In terms of fault: male participants
reduced the amountof fault that they attributed to female perpetrators relative to male perpetrators; and
femaleparticipants increasedthe amount of fault that they attributedto female perpetratorsrelative to male
perpetrators. In addition, greater endorsement of traditional sex-role attitudes and rape myths was
associatedwith higher rape victim blame.
Originality/value – Findings are discussed in relation to social norms, social categorisation theory and
differential focus of specific rape victim vs rape victims in general.
Keywords Rape, Sexual behaviour, Violence, Blame, Fault, Gender
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Although researchers have long attempted to change negative perceptions of rape victims,
these judgements continue to pervade both individual and institutional settings (Anderson
and Doherty, 2007; Ward, 1995; Pollard, 1992). The ‘‘rape perception’’ programme of
research has examined a number of factors that appear to impact on negative victim
attributions. Factors extraneous to the incident, such as degree of resistance (van Wie and
Gross, 1995; Yescavage,1999), dress at the time of the rape (Workman and Freeburg, 1999),
perceived social support that the victim receives from family members in the aftermath of the
rape (Anderson and Lyons, 2005; Pollard, 1992; Ward, 1995 and Anderson and Doherty,
2007 for reviews of this literature) have been found to significantly impact on people’s
rape-related judgements. One aspect of this research, which, after brief interest in the 1980s,
has been largely neglected is the focus on the dependent variables and their conceptual
standing relative to one another.Specifically, many researchers use the dependent variables
of ‘‘blame’’, ‘‘fault’ ’ ‘‘responsibility’’, ‘‘guilt’’ and ‘‘cause’’ not only interchangeably, but also
inequitably in relation to perpetrator and victim perception, for example, using blame to
assess victim perception, but not perpetrator perception or responsibility for perpetrator but
not victim perception. Krulewitz and Nash (1979) first drew attention to the notion of
conceptual asimilarity of these concepts. Although clearly related, they found that under
certain conditions, men and women attributed different degrees of fault and responsibility to
rape victims and perpetrators (for example, women attributed more responsibility to the
PAGE 222
j
JOURNALOF AGGRESSION,CONFLICTAND PEACERESEARCH
j
VOL.3 NO. 4 2011, pp.222-229, QEmerald Group Publishing Limit ed, ISSN 1759-6599 DOI 10.1108/1759659111118774 7
Irina Anderson is based at
the School of Psychology,
University of East London,
London, UK. Helena Bissell
is based at the School of
Psychology, University of
Birmingham, Birmingham,
UK.

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