Rape Myth Acceptance: Cross-National Comparisons across Four Countries

Background: Across societies women remain the main target of rape-supportive beliefs and stereotypes. Studies that examined beliefs associated with rape suggest that they differ between men and women, are related to sexually aggressive behavior and attribution of blame to female victim (Lonsway & Firzgerald, 1994; McMarhon, 2010; van der Bruggen & Grubb, 2014). Despite the numerous studies on rape-supportive beliefs, available knowledge remains confined to data from individual countries. Cross-cultural knowledge across countries remains sparse, even though recent evidence suggests that differential exposures to patriarchal structures across countries have differential effects on rape-supportive beliefs and stereotypes (Fakunmoju & Bammeke, 2017). The present study therefore examines whether rape myth acceptance differs among respondents from four countries, namely the United States, South Africa, Ghana, and Nigeria.

Methods: A convenience sample of 738 respondents across four countries completed a survey that included 22-item Updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance (IRMA) scale (McMahon & Farmer, 2011). The sample includes the United States (n=105, 14.2%), South Africa (n=107, 14.5%), Ghana (n=333, 45.1%), and Nigeria (n=193, 26.2%): 52% were females (n=379) and 48% were males (n=350). The mean age was 32 years (SD=10.85). IRMA scale comprises beliefs about whether respondents think the female victim of rape “Asked for it” or “She Lied” as well as whether the male perpetrator “Didn’t mean to” rape the female victim or whether the sexual violence “Wasn’t really rape”. Response choices were based on a Likert-type scale ranging from strongly agree =1 to strongly disagree=5. Examples of items include "if a girl goes to a room alone with a guy at a party, it is her own fault if she is raped” and “if a girl doesn’t physically resist sex—even if protesting verbally—it can’t be considered rape.” Lower scores indicate agreement and higher scores indicate disagreement with rape-supportive beliefs. Cronbach’s alpha is as follows: “She asked for it” .87, “He didn’t mean to” .82, “It wasn’t really rape” .84, and “She lied” .82. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to examine whether rape myth acceptance differed by country.

Results:  Results indicated that rape myth acceptance differed by country (p < .0005). Post hoc analyses using Bonferroni for significance indicated that respondents in the United States were significantly less likely to think that the female victim of rape “Asked for it” or “Lied” and were less likely to believe that the male perpetrator “Didn’t mean to” rape the female victim or that the sexual violence “Wasn’t really rape” than respondents in South Africa, Ghana, and Nigeria. Similarly, respondents in Nigeria were more likely to endorse the rape-supportive beliefs than respondents in the United States, South Africa, and Ghana.

Conclusions and implications: Findings highlight the cross-cultural similarities and differences in rape-supportive beliefs and generate knowledge that may be used to address sexual victimization of women in vulnerable regions of the world. Implications of findings for international policies on sexual violence against women, as well as education, training, advocacy, and empowerment efforts on gender-based violence beliefs will be highlighted.