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Prime Time Television Exposure and Belief in Rape Myths

Explore the correlation between TV exposure and acceptance of rape myths on college campuses, with implications for shaping viewer perceptions and promoting accurate beliefs about sexual violence.

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Prime Time Television Exposure and Belief in Rape Myths

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  1. Prime Time Television Exposure and Belief in Rape Myths Chunbo (Richard) Ren Doctorate Studentand Stacey Hust Assistant Professor

  2. Sexual Assault on College Campuses • The U.S. has the highest rate of rape in the world – 4 times higher than Germany, --13 times higher than England, --20 times higher than Japan • 1 of every 6 adult women in the U.S. has been raped or has experienced an attempted rape • Nearly 1 out of every 4 college women will encounter sexual assault or sexual victimization during college (Fisher et al., 2000).

  3. Rape Myths on Campus • What is a rape myth? • Prejudicial, stereotyped, or false beliefs about rape, rape victims, and rapists” (Burt, 1980) • Common rape myths: • “Bad women” get raped • Women “cry rape” to seek revenge or cover up something • Women “ask for it” with proactive dress, language and behavior • Classic rape is perpetrated by strangers in deserted places and results in injury.

  4. The Danger of Rape Myth Beliefs • Rape myths on college campuses lead to decreased reporting of sexual assaults to the police: • Victims may self-blame if alcohol consumption and/or drug use was involved • Victims mistrust the judicial system and its responses to their needs

  5. Rape Myths and Television Exposure Rape myths are prevalent on television • An analysis of 26 prime time television programs found: Women wanted to be raped: 42% of the programs Women cry for rape: 38% of the programs Women ask for rape with provocative dress or acts: 46% of the programs False sexual beliefs and television exposure • Exposure to sexually oriented TV programs is significantly associated with acceptance of false sexual beliefs • General television viewing is correlated positively with the acceptance of one rape myth –victims lie and rape accusations are false

  6. Gerbner’s cultivation theory: Long term exposure to television will make viewers more likely to believe the TV world is similar to the real world and exposure will affect viewers’ perceptions • First order measurement: • Quantitative estimates of television facts compared to real-world statistics • Heavy viewers are more likely than light viewers to believe messages on TV and even overestimate the prevalence of violence. • Second order measurement: • Assess generalized beliefs about the world • Long term exposure to television leads to belief of certain rape myths

  7. Hypotheses • First order: • H1: The more the audience views prime time television, the more they believe prime time television portrays the sexual violence of the real world • Second order: • H2: The more the audience views prime time television, the more they believe suggestive clothing, body language, and verbal cues signal consent for sex. • H3: The more the audience views prime time television, the more they believe sexual violence is more likely to occur by strangers.

  8. Method Sample: • 1161 college students in an northwestern university. Most were undergraduate students. Measure: • Frequency of watching prime time television • Attitude about television world and reality world (H1) • Attitude about sexual consent communication (H2) • Attitude about Classic Rape (H3)

  9. Results H1: television world portrays reality world • Independent sample T-test: • t (1074) =-4.27, p<.001. The mean of light viewer is 2.67 (SD=1.12), and the mean of the heavy viewer is 2.96 (SD=1.11) • Supported • Light viewers were less likely to believe the prime time television portrays the real reality world than heavy viewers

  10. Results H2: women use their provocative dress andactions to communicate consent • Independent sample T-test: • The mean of light viewer is 3.59 (SD=1.21) , the mean of heavy viewer is 3.66 (SD=1.30) . The difference between the two groups was not significant (p=.364). • Not Supported

  11. Results H3: Sexual violence is more likely to occur by stranger • Independent sample T-test: • t (1088) =-4.65, p<.001. The mean of light viewer group was 3.26 (SD=1.46), and the mean of heavy viewer group was 3.69(SD=1.61). • Supported • Light viewers were less likely than heavy viewers to believe rape occurs by strangers.

  12. Implications • The current study • Confirms the literature that people could get inaccurate information from the media • Disclose that prime time television did exert influence on shaping and forming certain rape myths among viewers • Implications: • The right beliefs and attitudes toward sexual violence can be fostered with more exposure to television programming containing positive and accurate information about sex and sexual violence • Accordingly rape myths may be changed through exposure to prosocial entertainment messages

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