Gender and Age Related Differences in Attitude towards Rape and Acceptance of Rape Myths

Abstract

India has a long history of patriarchal hierarchy which has lead to deep seated gender biases that effect our day to day perception of events. In cases of rape these biases are known as ‘Rape Myths’ which refer to attitudes and generally false beliefs about rape, rapists and sexual assault victims that are widely and persistently held. Rape myths serve to deny and justify male sexual aggression against women and vice versa. With an increase in cases of rape across India it’s important to understand the rape myths people accept as well as the attitude they hold towards rape. This information can be a useful for reforming laws and educational content. The current study aims to identify the impact that gender and age has on acceptance level of rape myths and overall attitude towards rape. It was hypothesized that older individuals would be more accepting of rape myths and have a more negative attitude towards rape as well as males would be more accepting of rape myths and have a more negative attitude towards rape than females. A sample of 147 individuals (103 females,44 males; 103 young adults, 44 adults) filled the Updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (uIRMA) and the Modified Attitudes toward Rape Scale (ATRS). Bivariate correlation and Independent sample t-test were used for data analysis. Results indicate that uIRMA, its sub-scales and the ATRS are significantly (0.01 level) and positively correlated. It also indicates that age and gender are significantly and negatively correlated with uIRMA whereas only age has a significant correlation with ATRS. Furthermore, there was a significant difference in uIRMA score indicating that males and adults were more accepting of rape myths (lower mean score). The difference in ATRS scores was not statistically significant.