The Role of Sexual Provocativeness, Rape History, and Observer Gender in Perceptions of Blame in Sexual Assault

To assess joint influence of sexual provocativeness and prior sexual assault on perceptions of rape victims, males and females read rape reports presented in a factorial design that completely crossed levels of these variables. Multivariate analysis of variance indicated main effects for the independent variables but no interactions. Observers attributed more blame to victims whose preassault behavior was more provocative and who had a prior rape history. Relative to males, females were generally more empathic toward victims. Observers' perceptions were discussed in terms of attributions of causal and moral responsibility for assault.

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