Judgements Made Towards Male Victims of Sexual Assault: The Effect of Facial Masculinity, Sexual Orientation, Perpetrator Gender, and Respondent Gender

Parkinson, Jodie (2014) Judgements Made Towards Male Victims of Sexual Assault: The Effect of Facial Masculinity, Sexual Orientation, Perpetrator Gender, and Respondent Gender. Masters thesis, University of Central Lancashire.

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Abstract

Despite the well established finding that appearance affects impressions of others; researchers have yet to investigate the impact of facial appearance on judgements made towards male victims of sexual assault. As masculinity appears to have strong implications in terms of how men are judged both in society and as victims, exploring whether this has an effect on blame attributions seems an appropriate step to initiate research on the appearance of male victims of sexual assault. Over two studies, the impact of victim facial masculinity, victim sexuality, perpetrator gender, and respondent gender on judgements made towards a male victim in a hypothetical sexual assault was investigated. A synthesised face created using EvoFit, was either masculinised or feminised and presented to respondents with one of four scenarios manipulating victim sexuality (gay or heterosexual) and perpetrator gender (male or female). In study 1, 356 respondents read a hypothetical sexual assault scenario and then completed a questionnaire exploring the perceived severity of the assault, the level of victim resistance, and the level of victim and perpetrator blame. Victim facial masculinity did not affect attributions made towards the victim. Male respondents were generally more negative than women and blamed the perpetrator less. The male perpetrated assault was considered more severe than the female perpetrated assault and the male perpetrator was attributed more blame. The gay victim was also blamed more than the heterosexual victim. Differences were also found regarding the sexual orientation of the victim and the gender of the perpetrator. The aim of study 2 was to continue to explore whether or not facial masculinity affects blame attributions after making alterations to the presentation of the stimulus. Respondents (n=298) read a scenario depicting a male victim being sexually assaulted on public transport. Consistent with study 1, victim facial masculinity alone did not affect victim blame, the perceived severity of the assault or the perceived level of victim resistance. However, the feminine victim of the female perpetrator was blamed more than the feminine victim of the male perpetrator. Consistent with study 1, male respondents were more negative towards the victim than females and the male perpetrated assault was considered more severe and less resistible than that of the female perpetrator. The victim of the female perpetrated assault was also subject to more blame. In conclusion, this research makes a novel contribution to the existing literature on male victim blaming by exploring the effect of facial appearance. As an effect of facial appearance was found, facial appearance of male victims is one that warrants further research. Implications for those working with victims and for future work are discussed.


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