School of Social and Political Sciences - Theses

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Assessing the seriousness of rape: the effect of prior victim-perpetrator relationship, alcohol, and injuries on perceptions of severity, responsibility, and harm

Saw, Anna Christine ( 2005-12)

The prevalence of partner and acquaintance rape has given rise to an increasing amount of research into the effects on the victims from the 1970s and 80s onwards. Around the same time, researchers in the area of sexual assault began to investigate whether individuals perceive these types of rape as equally serious as stranger rapes. Substantial research has suggested that this is not the case, however the prevalence of rape supportive attitudes in current society is not definitively known. The current study aimed to isolate the factors of prior relationship, alcohol, and injuries within the context of rape, and investigate how these factors influenced perceived incident severity, perpetrator responsibility, and harm done to the victim. The methodology utilised extended from previous research which made use of text-based vignettes. Participants from two Victorian universities were asked to rate 12 descriptions of hypothetical incidents of sexual assault in terms of severity, responsibility, and harm. A subsample of participants responded to 6 descriptions of hypothetical incidents of sexual assault, and were asked to respond to a number of scales which assessed factors related to victim precipitation and perpetrator premeditation.