Abstract
Bisexual women are more likely to be sexually assaulted and to receive negative reactions to disclosures of sexual assault than heterosexual and lesbian women. However, few studies have examined the extent to which victim sexual orientation and related factors influence perceptions of sexual assault victims and perpetrators. To fill this gap, the current study used an experimental manipulation to examine the influence of victim sexual orientation and coercion type on perceptions of sexual assault victims and perpetrators. Participants (N = 826) were randomly assigned to read one of nine vignettes in which the sexual orientation of the female victim (bisexual, lesbian, heterosexual) and the type of coercion (verbal, physical, alcohol incapacitation) were varied. Then, participants were asked a series of questions about the victim and the perpetrator. Results indicated that bisexual and heterosexual female victims were both perceived as having wanted to have sex with the perpetrator more and as having “led the perpetrator on” more than lesbian victims. In contrast, victim sexual orientation was not associated with explicit ratings of victim or perpetrator responsibility or victim suffering. Bisexual female victims were also perceived as more promiscuous than both lesbian and heterosexual female victims. In turn, perceiving the victim as more promiscuous was associated with perceiving the victim as more responsible, having wanted to have sex with the perpetrator more, having “led the perpetrator on” more, and suffering less, and with perceiving the perpetrator as less responsible. In sum, our findings suggest that efforts to reduce sexual violence toward bisexual women should attend to negative attitudes toward bisexual women, especially the perception of bisexual women as promiscuous.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 10793-10816 |
Number of pages | 24 |
Journal | Journal of Interpersonal Violence |
Volume | 36 |
Issue number | 21-22 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 2021 |
Funding
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2802-1949 Dyar Christina PhD 1 Feinstein Brian A. PhD 1 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9938-0717 Anderson RaeAnn E. PhD 2 1 Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA 2 University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, USA Christina Dyar, Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing, Northwestern University, 625 N Michigan Ave. Suite 14 Office 049, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. Email: [email protected] 11 2019 0886260519888209 © The Author(s) 2019 2019 SAGE Publications Bisexual women are more likely to be sexually assaulted and to receive negative reactions to disclosures of sexual assault than heterosexual and lesbian women. However, few studies have examined the extent to which victim sexual orientation and related factors influence perceptions of sexual assault victims and perpetrators. To fill this gap, the current study used an experimental manipulation to examine the influence of victim sexual orientation and coercion type on perceptions of sexual assault victims and perpetrators. Participants ( N = 826) were randomly assigned to read one of nine vignettes in which the sexual orientation of the female victim (bisexual, lesbian, heterosexual) and the type of coercion (verbal, physical, alcohol incapacitation) were varied. Then, participants were asked a series of questions about the victim and the perpetrator. Results indicated that bisexual and heterosexual female victims were both perceived as having wanted to have sex with the perpetrator more and as having “led the perpetrator on” more than lesbian victims. In contrast, victim sexual orientation was not associated with explicit ratings of victim or perpetrator responsibility or victim suffering. Bisexual female victims were also perceived as more promiscuous than both lesbian and heterosexual female victims. In turn, perceiving the victim as more promiscuous was associated with perceiving the victim as more responsible, having wanted to have sex with the perpetrator more, having “led the perpetrator on” more, and suffering less, and with perceiving the perpetrator as less responsible. In sum, our findings suggest that efforts to reduce sexual violence toward bisexual women should attend to negative attitudes toward bisexual women, especially the perception of bisexual women as promiscuous. sexual assault victim blame sexual orientation bisexual lesbian National Institute on Drug Abuse https://doi.org/10.13039/100000026 K01DA046716 National Institute on Drug Abuse https://doi.org/10.13039/100000026 K08DA045575 National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism https://doi.org/10.13039/100000027 K01AA026643 Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues https://doi.org/10.13039/100006076 Grants-in-Aid 2017 American Psychological Association https://doi.org/10.13039/100006324 Society for the Psychology of Women Early Career P edited-state corrected-proof Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Funding The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by grants from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues and the Society for the Psychology of Women (Division 35) of the American Psychological Association. Christina Dyar’s time was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (K01DA046716; PI: Dyar). Brian Feinstein’s time was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (K08DA045575; PI: Feinstein). RaeAnn Anderson’s time was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (K01AA026643; PI: Anderson). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funding agencies. ORCID iDs Christina Dyar https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2802-1949 RaeAnn E. Anderson https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9938-0717 Supplemental Material Supplemental material for this article is available online. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by grants from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues and the Society for the Psychology of Women (Division 35) of the American Psychological Association. Christina Dyar?s time was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (K01DA046716; PI: Dyar). Brian Feinstein?s time was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (K08DA045575; PI: Feinstein). RaeAnn Anderson?s time was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (K01AA026643; PI: Anderson). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funding agencies.
Keywords
- bisexual
- lesbian
- sexual assault
- sexual orientation
- victim blame
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Psychology
- Applied Psychology