Male and Female Differences in Rape Acknowledgment and Sexual Assault Labeling

• In Event: 477 - Section on Crime, Law, and Deviance Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 13. Discussions Regarding Sexual Violence

Abstract

Though a large part of the literature concerning sexual assault investigates male on female sexual assault, men too can become victims of sexual violence. The current study focuses on how both men and women label prior unwanted sexual experiences. Focusing on gender differences, we test five hypotheses and find support for four of them. Particularly, we find that men and women’s sexual assault experiences are different in terms of selected assault characteristics, men are less likely to acknowledge as a victim of rape, men are more likely to minimize or excuse perpetrators’ behavior, and lastly, that sex differences in acknowledgement and assault labeling are mediated by assault characteristics. Our aim is to begin building a theoretical framework for predicting victims’ acknowledgement as well as pursue undiscovered avenues of scholarly inquiry.

Authors

• Jordan Sannito, University of North Carolina-Charlotte

• Kaitlin Mary Boyle, University of Georgia