Comparing Rape Victim and Perpetrator Blaming in a Police Officer Sample: Differences Between Police Officers With and Without Special Training

Male rape research is still considered to be approximately twenty years behind that of female rape.

“however it is still considered to be approximately twenty years behind that of female rape (Rogers, 1998;Sleath & Bull, 2012).”

The IRMAS consists of 40 rape myth items, including five filler items designed to reduce the effects of response set.

“the IRMAS (Payne et al., 1999) was one of the most implemented measures within these documents, and consists of 40 rape myth items, including five filler items designed to reduce the effects of response set (Sleath & Bull, 2012).”

Acquaintance rape perpetrators were blamed less than stranger rape perpetrators.

“Acquaintance rape victims were blamed more (Sleath, 2011;Sleath & Bull, 2012), and acquaintance rape perpetrators were blamed less (Sleath & Bull, 2012) than those involved in stranger rape.”

Acquaintance rape victims were blamed more than stranger rape victims.

“Acquaintance rape victims were blamed more (Sleath, 2011;Sleath & Bull, 2012), and acquaintance rape perpetrators were blamed less (Sleath & Bull, 2012) than those involved in stranger rape.”

No significant effect was found for specialist rape victim training regarding levels of victim blaming.

“No significant effect was found for specialist rape victim training regarding levels of victim blaming.”

Male police officers blamed the rape victim significantly more when there was a higher level of rape myths present in the scenario compared to when there was a lower level.

“Male police officers blamed the rape victim significantly more when there was a higher level of rape myths present in the scenario compared to when there was a lower level.”

Androgynous gender role blamed perpetrator more than undifferentiated gender role.

“Androgynous gender role blamed perpetrator more than undifferentiated gender role.”

Rape myth acceptance significantly predicted victim blame but not perpetrator blaming.

“Rape myth acceptance significantly predicted victim blame but not perpetrator blaming.”

There was no significant effect for victim blaming by gender role.

“No significant effect for victim blaming.”

Female officers blamed the female victim more when there were low rape myths in the scenario than male police officers.

“Female officers blamed the female victim more when there were low rape myths in the scenario than male police officers.”

Police officers who were not specially trained blamed the stranger rape perpetrator more than the acquaintance rape perpetrator.

“Police officers who were not specially trained blamed the stranger rape perpetrator more than the acquaintance rape perpetrator.”