The Effect of Defendant and Victim Gender on Perceptions of Sexual Assault

• In Event: Perceptions and Portrayals of Sexual Assault, its Victims, and Just Responses

Abstract

Although men commit most adult sexual assaults, women may also be sexual assault perpetrators. Using a mock juror paradigm, we investigated courtroom perceptions of female perpetrators of sexual assault. A community sample was tested using a 2 (victim gender) x 2 (defendant gender) x 2 (participant gender) between-participants design. We hypothesized that negative views toward homosexuality would produce (a) lower pro-victim judgments (e.g., fewer guilty verdicts) and (b) more mention of the perpetrator/victim gender in the same-sex conditions compared to the different-sex conditions. This study fills a gap in current research on perceptions of female perpetrators of sexual assault.

Authors

• Sarah E. Malik, University of Kentucky

• Jonathan Golding, University of Kentucky

• Claire Renzetti, University of Kentucky