The sexual victimization-perpetration overlap: The role of gender and rape myth acceptance

• In Event: Rape and sexual assault

Abstract

Many scholars have examined the victim-offender overlap, finding that prior victimization often leads to offending and offending can increase victimization risk. Few scholars, however, have examined the overlap of sexual victimization with sexual assault perpetration. Nevertheless, researchers studying sexual violence have identified several factors related to both victimization and perpetration including demographic characteristics like age and gender. Importantly, researchers have also found that endorsing rape myths or rape myth acceptance (RMA) is associated with sexual assault victimization and a propensity to rape. I expected that RMA may be an important, though previously overlooked, attitudinal factor that predicts the overlap between sexual victimization and perpetration. The current study uses data from a large-scale survey of students and community members in the United States (N = 3,360) to assess if various demographic characteristics—including age, gender, sexual orientation, race, education, religious affiliation, and political orientation—and RMA predict the overlap between sexual violence victimization and perpetration. Seventeen percent of the sample reported both sexual victimization and perpetration: 11% of women, 23% of men, and 18% of non-binary individuals reported both victimization and perpetration. A bivariate probit model revealed a statistically significant overlap between victimization and perpetration (Rho > 0). As expected, RMA was statistically significantly related to both outcomes, as were gender, sexual orientation, and race. Results confirmed the expectations that endorsing rape myths makes people vulnerable to sexual assault victimization and increases risk of perpetration. While the current study was unable to untangle the time order of these relationships, results indicate the importance of addressing RMA among sexual assault victims and perpetrators, particularly male victims/perpetrators, as doing so can disrupt the cycle of sexual violence. Furthermore, given evidence that RMA affects individuals’ attitudes and behavior throughout the world, implications likely extend beyond the US-based sample used in this study.

Author

• Suzanne St. George, University of Arkansas at Little Rock