Critical discussion about ‘rape myths’ and their impact on victims of sexual assault/rape

This essay discusses the impact of rape myths on victims of sexual assault/rape and how victim blaming affects their mental and emotional health. It also highlights the need for changes in the attitude and thinking about rape in society.

Victims and Victimology

Table of Contents
Essay................................................................................................................................................3
Critical discussion about ‘rape myths’ and their impact on victims of sexual assault/rape .....3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

Essay
Critical discussion about ‘rape myths’ and their impact on victims of sexual assault/rape
Law is defined as the set of rules and regulations that is enforceable by the court of law.
These rules and regulations are enacted by the Parliament and citizens of the country is bound
comply with the rules and regulations. With the increase in the crimes rates , laws have been
made more strict and heavy penalties are imposed on the offender. The United Kingdom is
comprised of four legal systems and each is derived from particular geographical region. There
are three legal jurisdictions in United Kingdom that s England and Wales, Northern Ireland and
Scotland. The essay is based on the criminology and the topic is critical discussion about the
'rape myths' and its impact on the victims of sexual assault.
Rape myths
According to the Anderson, & Overby, (2021) Sexual offences is considered as the
most serious offences and issues across the world. There has been increase in rate of sexual
offences against women and children which is having negative impact on the society. On the
contrary the Gray, & Horvath, (2018) stated that with the increasing rate of the crimes against
women and children , government is regularly monitoring the situation and making various
amendments in their laws for the protection of the society form the criminals. In order to protect
the society, Sexual Offence act 2003 was enacted by the UK Parliament that states the provisions
related to the sexual offences and also heavy penalties for the offender. There are various range
of the crimes which falls in the category of sexual offences that is rape, sexual assault , crimes
against children that include sexual child abuse or grooming. Santos, et.al, (2021) states that
crimes can occur anywhere between friends, relative or family members. The offences that are
covered under the sexual offences are treated and prosecuted as part of CPS Violence Against
Women and Girls(VAWG) strategy.
This framework is developed to identify the crimes that have been committed primarily
but not by men against the women. The crimes that are addressed under CPS includes domestic
abuse, rape , sexual offences , harassment , child abuse , human trafficking etc. According to the
Maes, et.al, (2019), rape myths is considered as prejudicial , stereotyped and false beliefs
about the sexual assaults , victims and rapists. On the contrary it is observed by the Leverick,
(2020) that the rape myths influence the perspectives the jurors, investigators , judges and
victims. The DeJong, Morgan, & Cox, (2020) states that many people have false views and

opinions about the victims of rape which results into victim blaming , shaming and questioning
on the victim's honesty and behaviour which leads to damaging the reputation of victim in the
society and also related problems. The concept of the rape myths was originated by various
cultural stereotype that includes the traditional gender roles , interpersonal violence and also
misunderstanding the nature of the sexual offences by the people. As per the author rape is such
a matter of crime in which the accusation can be made on any person very easily but it is very
difficult to prove and also defended in order to provide justice.
Rape myths is defined by different authors and according to the Spruin, & Reilly, (2018)
the racism remains the major component of the sexual violence in the country. It has been
observed that if the white victims who report the rape cases by the non white offenders are likely
to believe and on the other hand if the non- white blames the white offenders are not
believed .On the contrary the Wilson, & Newins, (2022) states due to the rape myths that is
developed in the society force the victim to blame themselves for the offence that is committed
against the victim which gives the right to the offender t rescue from this situation and prove
themselves innocent. As per the Walfield, (2021) that victims have to go through various
disrespectful behaviour by the female police officers and results into ill treatments by the police
departments during the investigation. It is also observed that in UK 19% of the complaints
reported in the Criminal Investigation Department make the statements regarding the statements
that is given by the rape victims and portray as a fake statements and blame the victims for the
wrongful act that is committed against them .
As per the Peterson, (2018), various myths on rape includes that the women commonly
lie about the rape and play the role of the victim, most of the rape cases are committed by the
strangers , friends , family. On the contrary, it is believed that the young women that are
attractive is likely to get raped more. The Wilson, et.al, (2018) states that many people have the
myth that rape is committed to certain types of women but is the fact that any female of any
gender, caste, colour , class and religion can be raped. The offender don not choose any women
before committing the crime. According to the Sacks, Ackerman, & Shlosberg, (2018) rape is
usually violent and is committed by the stranger but according to the studies conducted it has
been observed that 90% of the offences related to the sexual offences are committed by the
victim who they know. Many offensive acts include forced rape and many a time sit is observed
that rape is committed by the offender when the victim is under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

The myths that is created by the society can have negative impact on the victim as the image of
the victim changes after the crime is committed against that person which can cause mental and
emotional stress which can damage their whole lie not only the victim , the family also faces
various negative consequences which can be very difficult to handle .
The behaviour of the society changes completely towards the victims and their family.
According to the Romero-Sánchez, et.al, (2018), the rape offences has increased rapidly in
England since 2012 and 2013. According to the study , it has been observed that the rape
offences was highest in the year 2018 and 2019 but due to various new reforms in the provisions
of laws which has been made more strict regarding the protection of women and girl child from
these offences and a result of which there decline in the rape offences in 2020.
Impact on victims of sexual assault/rape
According to the Kim, & Santiago, (2020) the most immediate person that is affected by
these myths that is spreader by the society is the victim. It not only affect the victim but impacts
the related relationships, communities and society as a whole. Rape is considered as the
traumatic experience that affects the victim in physical, psychological and sociological way. On
the contrary the Ryan, (2019) believes that the victim from many emotional reactions such as
depression. The myths regarding the rape that results in blaming the victim by the society can
result into deliberately self- harming which includes committing suicide under mental pressure
that is caused due to the blame and accusations on the victim. According to the Angelone, et.al,
(2021) it creates a feeling of fear in the victim which has been conducted during the assault or
having the fear to report regarding the crime that is committed against the victim. As per the
O'Connor, et.al, (2018) it is also observed that many victims try to hide regarding the act that is
committed due to the fear of reputation of family which results into mental stress in the victim
and can have negative consequences on their health. On the contrary it also happens sometime
that the person acts like a victim in order to ruin the reputation of the person accused by the
victim. It is said that during the investigation conducted in order to find the relevant evidence ,
medical examination is being conducted and various questions is asked by the police
investigating in order to get the statement of the victim which can be embarrassing for the
victim. As per the Lichty, & Gowen, (2021) , after the crime that is committed against the
victim , they undergo various investigations by the police and also mistreatment. In earlier times
during the investigation ,the identity of the victim was revealed which resulted into various

negative consequences suffered by the victim. But with the reforms in the laws it has been made
mandatory that the rape victim identity will not be revealed and in certain serious situations it
can be done so but with the prior permission of the court. On the contrary, the society sees this in
different way and blame the victim is responsible for the crime. According to the Persson, et.al,
(2018), the victim develops having trust issues as they have the thought process that most of the
crimes are committed by the friends or near relatives. From the studies conducted , the
government has made amendments in the provision of the laws regarding the protection of the
women. Not only women but girl child who is also rape victim faces much more difficulties than
women as they have the fear to go out and communicate with other people. From the studies , the
Walker, et.al, (2021) observed that the girl child faced more mental trauma as they have a
growing age. They fear and avoid going out and they restrict themselves to interact with the
other people. It can be said that blaming the victim will not result into any positive outcome but
impacts the family and reputation in the society of the victim It can also result into mental and
physical stress that can have negative impact on their health.
From the above discussion it can be concluded that victim blaming is greatly influenced
by the rape myths which can have negative impact on the victim and their family and also their
image in the society. Their is a need to change the attitude and thinking abut the rape in the
society and educate people to support the victim and focus on punishing the accused by imposing
heavy penalties. Rape is the nature of offence that requires in depth reach and investigation
which is difficult of the victim as they have t ask various questions and also ill-treatment by the
police officers. As per the Berger, et.al, (2018) it is necessary that government should lay
emphasis on making modification and create provisions in order to protect the women and
children from the abuse and sexual violence that they are committed against them and focus on
supporting the victims. The support will give the victims the courage to fight and get the justice
which helps in educating people the power of unity which will helps in reducing the act of such
crimes in the future .

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Anderson, G. D., & Overby, R. (2021). The impact of rape myths and current events on the well-
being of sexual violence survivors. Violence against women. 27(9). 1379-1401.
Angelone, et.al, (2021). Does sexism mediate the gender and rape myth acceptance
relationship?. Violence against women. 27(6-7). 748-765.
Berger, et.al, (2018). Rape-law reform: Its nature, origins, and impact. In Rape and society (pp.
223-232). Routledge.
DeJong, C., Morgan, S. J., & Cox, A. (2020). Male rape in context: measures of intolerance and
support for male rape myths (MRMs). Criminal Justice Studies. 33(3). 195-212.
Gray, J. M., & Horvath, M. A. H. (2018). Rape myths in the criminal justice system. In Women
and the criminal justice system (pp. 15-41). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Kim, B., & Santiago, H. (2020). Rape myth acceptance among prospective criminal justice
professionals. Women & Criminal Justice. 30(6). 462-479.
Leverick, F. (2020). What do we know about rape myths and juror decision making?. The
International Journal of Evidence & Proo. 24(3). 255-279.
Lichty, L. F., & Gowen, L. K. (2021). Youth response to rape: Rape myths and social
support. Journal of interpersonal violence. 36(11-12), 5530-5557.
Maes, et.al, (2019). #(Me) too much? The role of sexualizing online media in adolescents’
resistance towards the metoo-movement and acceptance of rape myths. Journal of
adolescence. 77. 59-69.
O'Connor, et.al, (2018). Students' articulation of subtle rape myths surrounding campus sexual
assault. Journal of College Student Development. 59(4). 439-455.
Persson, et.al, (2018). Attributions of victim blame in stranger and acquaintance rape: A
quantitative study. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(13-14), 2640-2649.
Peterson, K. (2018). Victim Or Villain: The Effects of Rape Culture and Rape Myths on Justice
for Rape Victims. Val. UL Rev.. 53. 467.

Romero-Sánchez, et.al, (2018). Alcohol-related victim behavior and rape myth acceptance as
predictors of victim blame in sexual assault cases. Violence Against Women.24(9).
1052-1069.
Ryan, K. M. (2019). Rape mythology and victim blaming as a social construct. In Handbook of
sexual assault and sexual assault prevention (pp. 151-174). Springer, Cham.
Sacks, M., Ackerman, A. R., & Shlosberg, A. (2018). Rape myths in the media: A content
analysis of local newspaper reporting in the United States. Deviant Behavior. 39(9).
1237-1246.
Santos, et.al, (2021). A space to resist rape myths? Journalism, patriarchy and sexual
violence. European Journal of Women's Studies, 13505068211048465.
Spruin, L., & Reilly, L. (2018). An exploration into the acceptance of male rape myths within the
UK. Journal of Forensic Sciences and Criminal Investigation. 9(3).
Walfield, S. M. (2021). “Men cannot be raped”: Correlates of male rape myth
acceptance. Journal of interpersonal violence. 36(13-14), 6391-6417.
Walker, et.al, (2021). Rape, inequality and the criminal justice response in England: The
importance of age and gender. Criminology & criminal justice. 21(3). 297-315.
Wilson, et.al, (2018). The impact of rape acknowledgment on survivor outcomes: The
moderating effects of rape myth acceptance. Journal of clinical psychology. 74(6). 926-
939.
Wilson, L. C., & Newins, A. R. (2022). Attitudes toward men and rejection of rape myths: The
impact on survivor rape acknowledgment. Journal of interpersonal violence. 37(3-4).
NP1686-NP1703.