According to recent analyses, Bumby’s RAPE scale of rape-supportive cognitions about women and sexual assault comprises two factors. Excusing rape serves to reduce abusers’ culpability for their ...offending, and ascribing blame to victims, while justifying rape is associated with a sense of sexual entitlement. The distinct effects of these factors on rape judgments have not yet been investigated. We examined whether these belief clusters differentially explained judgments of perpetrator innocence after priming cues related to each of them. We used a cross-sectional design (N = 217) to test our hypotheses. As predicted, we found that excusing rape cognitions contributed to exaggerated innocence judgments when the victim paid the bill on a first date (potentially indicative of romantic or sexual interest). However, contrary to expectations, there was no evidence that participants justified rape when the perpetrator paid the bill. Implications for conceptualizing the functions of rape-supportive cognitions are discussed.
In last decades, a large body of evidence clarified nitrogen isotope composition (delta.sup.15 N) patterns in plant leaves, roots and metabolites, showing isotopic fractionation along N uptake and ...assimilation pathways, in relation to N source and use efficiency, also suggesting .sup.15 N depletion in plant DNA. Here we present a manipulative experiment on Brassica napus var. oleracea, where we monitored delta .sup.15 N of purified, lyophilized DNA and source leaf and root materials, over a 60-days growth period starting at d 60 after germination, in plants initially supplied with a heavy labelled (delta .sup.15 N.sub.Air-N2 = 2100 mUr) ammonium nitrate solution covering nutrient requirements for the whole observation period (470 mg N per plant) and controlling for the labelled N species (#225;#185;H.sub.4, #225;#185;O.sub.3 and both). Dynamics of Isotopic Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) data for the three treatments showed that: (1) leaf and root delta .sup.15 N dynamics strictly depend on the labelled chemical species, with #225;#185;H.sub.4, #225;#185;O.sub.3 and #225;#185;H.sub.4 #225;#185;O.sub.3 plants initially showing higher, lower and intermediate values, respectively, then converging due to the progressive NH.sub.4 .sup.+ depletion from the nutrient solution; (2) in #225;#185;H.sub.4 #225;#185;O.sub.3, where delta.sup.15 N was not affected by the labelled chemical species, we did not observe isotopic fractionation associated to inorganic N uptake; (3) delta.sup.15 N values in roots compared to leaves did not fully support patterns predicted by differences in assimilation rates of NH.sub.4 .sup.+ and NO.sub.3 .sup.- ; (4) DNA is depleted in .sup.15 N compared to the total N pools of roots and leaves, likely due to enzymatic discrimination during purine biosynthesis. In conclusion, while our experimental setup did not allow to assess the fractionation coefficient (epsilon) associated to DNA bases biosynthesis, this is the first study specifically reporting on dynamics of specific plant molecular pools such as nucleic acids over a long observation period with a heavy labelling technique.
Objective: The bystander approach to rape prevention is gaining popularity on college campuses, although research is limited. This study explored bystander attitudes and their relationship with rape ...myths in a sample of college students. Participants: Surveys from 2,338 incoming undergraduate students at a large, northeastern university were analyzed. Methods: Participants completed revised versions of the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale and the Bystander Attitude Scale. Results: A higher acceptance of rape myths was reported by males, those pledging a fraternity/sorority, athletes, those without previous rape education, and those who did not know someone sexually assaulted. A greater willingness to intervene as a bystander was reported by females, those who had previous rape education, and those who knew someone sexually assaulted. Acceptance of rape myths was negatively related to willingness to intervene. Conclusions: Bystander intervention programs should include content on rape myths as well as focus on the role of gender.
The effect of number of perpetrators involved in multiple perpetrator rapes on offense characteristics is underresearched despite beliefs that duos/dyads differ in their interactions and dynamics to ...groups of 3+ members. We analyzed a national sample of 336 allegations of completed and attempted rape of female victims from the United Kingdom. Rapes committed by multiple (duos and groups of 3+ perpetrators) and lone offenders were compared on offense characteristics (incorporating the approach, maintenance, and closure phases of each rape) and victim and offender sociodemographic characteristics. Significant differences between rapes committed by lone, duo, and 3+ group offenders were found for the age and ethnicity of the offenders; the type of approach used; the locations of the initial contact, assault, and release of the victims; the use of a vehicle; the precautions utilized; the verbal themes present; and the sex acts performed. These results have implications for educational prevention programs and interventions with offenders.
If You Find Me Palka, Judith
School librarian,
10/2013, Volume:
61, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Living in the woods with her little sister in a camper van Carey has only been to a town twice and never eaten in a restaurant or lived in a real house, but her musical, drug-addicted mother taught ...her to play the violin beautifully.
Recent activist, policy, and government efforts to engage in campus rape prevention education (RPE), culminating in the 2014 White House Task Force recommendations to combat campus sexual assault, ...prompt a need to examine the concept of “prevention” in the context of sexual assault on U.S. college campuses and their surrounding community service agencies. This article reviews previous research on effective resistance to sexual assault, showing that self-defense is a well-established protective factor in a public health model of sexual assault prevention. The article goes on to show, through an examination of campus rape prevention efforts framed as “primary prevention,” that self-defense is routinely excluded. This creates a hidden curriculum that preserves a gender status quo even while it strives for change. The article concludes with recommendations for how administrators, educators, facilitators, funding agencies, and others can incorporate self-defense into campus RPE for a more effective, data-driven set of sexual assault prevention efforts.
In this article, we argue that social media platforms like Tumblr and Twitter have facilitated an emergence of “digitized narratives” of sexual violence. These narratives are rooted in historical ...ways in which feminists have discursively articulated sexual violence, yet are shaped by distinctive “platform vernacular” or the conventions, affordances, and restrictions of the platforms in which they appear. Drawing on a qualitative content and critical discourse analysis of 450 texts from the Tumblr site Who Needs Feminism? and the hashtag #BeenRapedNeverReported, we argue that digital platforms such as Tumblr and Twitter produce new vernacular practices which shape how “digitized narratives” of sexual violence are not only disclosed and known, but felt and experienced across digital networks.
Before effective prevention interventions can be developed, it is necessary to identify the mechanisms that contribute to the targeted negative outcomes. A review of the literature on women's ...substance use and sexual victimization points to women's heavy episodic drinking as a proximal risk factor, particularly among college samples. At least half of sexual victimization incidents involve alcohol use and the majority of rapes of college women occur when the victim is too intoxicated to resist ("incapacitated rape"). Despite the importance of women's heavy episodic drinking as being a risk factor, existing rape prevention programs have rarely addressed women's alcohol use and have shown little success in reducing rates of sexual victimization. We argue that given the strength of the association between heavy episodic drinking and sexual victimization among young women, prevention programs targeting drinking may prove more efficacious than programs targeting sexual vulnerability. Applications of existing drinking prevention strategies to reducing women's sexual victimization are discussed.
Sexual assault is a major cause of injury, unplanned pregnancy, HIV infection, and mental health problems worldwide. In parts of sub-Saharan Africa, sexual assault has reached epidemic proportions. ...This study evaluated the efficacy of an empowerment and self-defense intervention for adolescent girls to decrease the incidence of sexual assault and harassment in Nairobi's large informal settlements.
A prospective cohort of 1978 adolescents from 4 neighborhoods near Nairobi were taught empowerment, deescalation, and self-defense skills in six 2-hour sessions. The standard-of-care (SOC) group (n = 428) received a life skills class. Self-reported, anonymous survey data were collected at baseline and 10.5 months after intervention.
Annual sexual assault rates decreased from 17.9/100 person-years at baseline to 11.1 at follow-up (rate ratio = 1.61; 95% confidence interval CI, 1.26-1.86; P < .001); there was no significant change in the SOC group (14.3 to 14.0, rate ratio = 1.02; 95% CI, 0.67-1.57, P = .92). Sexual assault disclosure in the intervention group increased from 56% to 75% (P = .006), compared with a constant incidence of disclosure (53%) in the SOC group. The majority (52.3%) of adolescents in the intervention group reported using skills learned to stop an assault.
This intervention decreased sexual assault rates among adolescent girls in Kenya. The intervention was also associated with an increase in the disclosure of assaults, thereby enabling survivors to seek care and support and possibly leading to the identification and prosecution of perpetrators. This model should be adaptable to other settings both in Africa and globally.
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