TY - JOUR

T1 - Rape Myth Acceptance in Contemporary Times

T2 - A Comparative Study of University Students in India and the United Kingdom

AU - Barn, Ravinder

AU - Powers, Ráchael A.

PY - 2018/5/22

Y1 - 2018/5/22

N2 - Much of the literature on rape, victim blaming, and rape myth acceptance is focused on the United States, and there is a general dearth of such scholarly activity in other countries. This article offers insights on university students’ perspectives in two new country contexts—India and the United Kingdom. A total of 693 students contributed to the data collection for this study. Rape myth acceptance was fairly low for both countries, however, students in India were more likely to endorse rape myths. Several demographic characteristics were significant for rape myth acceptance in each country. This study makes an important contribution to the extant literature to address paucity of knowledge and promote understandings to help develop country-specific and appropriate policy, practice, and education and awareness programs. In particular, the study provides novel comparative findings on rape myth acceptance in new country contexts to help advance academic thinking in this area of work.

AB - Much of the literature on rape, victim blaming, and rape myth acceptance is focused on the United States, and there is a general dearth of such scholarly activity in other countries. This article offers insights on university students’ perspectives in two new country contexts—India and the United Kingdom. A total of 693 students contributed to the data collection for this study. Rape myth acceptance was fairly low for both countries, however, students in India were more likely to endorse rape myths. Several demographic characteristics were significant for rape myth acceptance in each country. This study makes an important contribution to the extant literature to address paucity of knowledge and promote understandings to help develop country-specific and appropriate policy, practice, and education and awareness programs. In particular, the study provides novel comparative findings on rape myth acceptance in new country contexts to help advance academic thinking in this area of work.

KW - rape myths, sexual aggression, gender roles, victim blaming, cross-national comparison

U2 - 10.1177/0886260518775750

DO - 10.1177/0886260518775750

M3 - Article

SP - 1

EP - 22

JO - Journal of Interpersonal Violence

JF - Journal of Interpersonal Violence

ER -