A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

“It’s Just ‘Locker Room’ Talk”: The Impact of Gender and Political Partisanship on Agreement with Rape Myths Among US University Students




AuthorsHansen, Michael A.; Navarro, John C.

PublisherTaylor & Francis Group

Publication year2025

JournalVictims and Offenders

Journal name in sourceVictims & Offenders

ISSN1556-4886

eISSN1556-4991

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2024.2445288

Web address https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2024.2445288

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/484773640


Abstract

Allegations of sexual assault against prominent politicians have led to highly partisan debates. Studies demonstrate that alongside gender, partisanship has become a powerful predictor of views on the #MeToo movement and sexual assault, but this empirical inquiry has not yet been assessed across the attitudes of rape myths among university students. The main research question in this study is, “To what extent is rape myth acceptance among university students a product of gender and political partisanship?” We surveyed around 1,000 university students and asked their level of agreement with two constructs of rape myths: that women are to blame for rape and that women lie about rape. Several findings stand out. First, Democratic and Republican men express statistically the same level of rape myth acceptance. Second, there exists a sizable partisan gap among women in levels of rape myth acceptance, with Democratic women conveying stronger disagreement with rape myths than Republican women. Third, the partisan gap in rape myth acceptance is driven by the difference between Democratic and Republican women, with Democratic women driving the gender gap.


Downloadable publication

This is an electronic reprint of the original article.
This reprint may differ from the original in pagination and typographic detail. Please cite the original version.




Funding information in the publication
This work was supported by funding from the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at Sam Houston State University.


Last updated on 2025-06-03 at 13:10