Percepción social de las agresiones sexuales hacia mujeresel papel del alcohol y los mitos sobre la violación

Resumen

Of the different types of violence exerted by men against women, sexual violence is one of the most devastating and humiliating forms. This type of violence affects many women regardless of their social status, level of education and origin. Sexual violence has physical and psychological consequences that can be personal (Ullman, Starzynski, Long, Mason & Long, 2008) and social (United Nations Development Fund for Women, 2011), fracturing communities and paralyzing development. Sexual violence can manifest itself in different ways, from verbal abuse, harassment and sexual coercion to sexual assault and rape. It usually takes place in the context of relationships between people who know each other (friends, partners or ex-partners) (Abbey, McAuslan & Ross, 1998). It is difficult to obtain exact figures on the occurrence of sexual violence, among other reasons, because it is one of the least reported crimes. Yet, its global prevalence is estimated to range between 10% and 33% (Organización Mundial de la Salud, 2002; Watts & Zimmerman, 2002); in fact, it is estimated that one in every four women will experience sexual violence in her lifetime (e.g., Hakimi, Hayati, Marlinawati, Winkvist & Ellsberg, 2001; United Nations Development Fund for Women, 2011). Despite the high prevalence of sexual violence and the growing number of cases reported in the last few years, there is a strong gap between cases reported by victims and resulting sentences. This phenomenon is known in the literature as the ¿justice gap¿ (Temkin & Krahé, 2008). The justice gap has been studied in Social Psychology, which has shown the existence of an underlying attitudinal problem. People¿s perceptions and judgments on episodes of rape and sexual assault are influenced by stereotypical beliefs and attitudes about victims, perpetrators and the sexual incident itself. This leads to the attribution of blame to the victim, the exoneration of the perpetrator and a decrease in the estimated importance and seriousness of the event (Horvath & Brown, 2009; Jordan 2004; Koss, 2000; Ullman, 1996). Perceivers¿ acceptance of ¿rape myths¿ has been identified as a key factor in their perception of incidents of sexual assault (see Bohner, Eyssel, Pina, Siebler & Viki, 2009; Littleton & Axsom, 2003; Temkin & Krahé, 2008; Pollard, 1992, for a review). In addition, other factors related to the situation (e.g., the victim-perpetrator relationship), the victim (e.g., alcohol use, sexual past, respectability) and the perpetrator (e.g., alcohol use, social status) also influence people¿s assessments and judgments (Abbey, 2011a; Ben-David & Schneider, 2005; Girard & Senn, 2008; Horvath & Brown, 2009). The main objective of the present doctoral dissertation was to contribute from a psychosocial approach to a better understanding of the factors that influence people¿s judgments on episodes of sexual violence. The research particularly focused on studying two of these variables: alcohol and rape myths, since both have shown to be key in such assessments (Abbey, 2011b; Bohner et al., 2009; Finch & Munro, 2005; Temkin & Krahé, 2008). We explored how the presence of alcohol, both when it is consumed by the victim and when it is strategically used by the perpetrator, influence the attribution of blame to the victim and the estimated seriousness of the incident. We also explored the influence of the perceiver¿s acceptance of rape myths on such assessments. All these effects were explored in the context of the sexual assaults that occur in the context of sporadic relationships among youth. In addition, given that most cases of sexual assault are perpetrated by men against women, the present study focused on analyzing this categorization of victim and perpetrator (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2006). The present doctoral dissertation is structured into four sections or chapters. The first section approaches the existing literature on sexual violence against women from a psychosocial point of view, highlighting the context of sexual assault. There is a special focus on the factors related to the occurrence and perception of sexual assault, particularly the role of alcohol and the perceiver¿s ideology ¿ rape myths, in this case. Chapter 2 includes the main objectives and hypotheses that form the basis of the studies performed. Chapter 3 presents seven studies that form the empirical part of the doctoral dissertation. Finally, Chapter 4 presents the main conclusions and theoretical and practical implications derived from the findings.