Critically Discuss and Evaluate Rape Myths and Their Impact on Victims of Sexual Assault or Rape

This report critically discusses and evaluates the impact of rape myths on victims of sexual assault or rape. It covers the different myths surrounding rape, their origins, and their impact on victims' mental and physical health.

Critically discuss and
evaluate rape myths
and their impact on
victims of sexual
assault or rape

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Discussion...............................................................................................................................1
Evaluation...............................................................................................................................2
Impact on sexual violence and rape........................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
In society, Rape myth refers to the false belief about rape which are held widely and
persistently. This is the one which are caused due to different reason where victim and rape
accused are involved. This is the one which effect the individual life with the false allegation
about the rape, violence and sexual assault. This is the false statement or belief which are about
the sexual assault which is about shift blame from the perpetrator to the survivor. Rape myths
have grown where acceptance of violence, gender roles and having incorrect information which
are concerning to sexual violence which exist within society. In this, report there is discussion
about the rape myths discussion and its evaluation. There is also discussion about the impact of
victims of sexual assaults or rape. There is also some information about the different impact on
the victim and rape accused with are related with rape and rape myths (Cole, (2020)).
Discussion
In this, the myths in the concept of rape generally includes a prejudicial, false beliefs as well
as the stereotyped about the sexual assaults, the rapists as well as the victims of the rape. It can
often serve to excuse the sexual aggression and can create a hostility towards the victims as well
as can bias the prosecution of the criminals. In general, the rape myths generally originate from
the various different cultures like the traditional gender roles, can misunderstand the nature of the
sexual assault as well as the acceptance of the interpersonal violence’s. The myths of the rape
generally become a specific topic of the research in the early 1970s. The myths of the rape are
generally a false belief usually the people can hold about the sexual assaults which generally
shifts the blame from the perpetrator to the survivor. The rape myths are specifically the
attitudes and are particularly a false cognitive approach about the rape which are broadly as well
as persistently held as well as which can serve to deny as well as justify the males, and a sexual
aggression towards the females (Brown, (2019)). In this, the theories of the victimization as well as
the sexual hostility have elevated stressed the role of the myth of rape in specifically perpetuation
of the sexual assault. The acceptance of the such type of rape myths has been assessed with a
number of the measures as well as the investigators who have generally analysed the
relationships with the numerous interventions as well as the variables.
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Evaluation
The evaluation of the rape myths generally involves the sexual violence, rape being the most
extreme forms and can arouse the denial behaviours amongst the general public, reducing as well
as the justification of the facts or even laying the blame on the victims. All the such reactions
express the acceptance of a set of the attitudes, their beliefs as well as the stereotypes which
particularly known as the rape myths. The acceptance of the myth generally endorses the rape,
can deters the victim from reporting it as well as enhances the consequences for the unfortunate
person. In addition to this, the common myths of the rape involve that the females are commonly
lie about the rape, that the victims of the rape generally bear the responsibility for an assaults if
they were generally intoxicated when it happened. It is also a myth about the rape that they were
generally committed by the strangers (Bachman, (2020)). In this, the rape myth generally involves
the male victims as most of the rape myths which are discussed above can deal with the rape of
the females by the male. There has been less research on the perceptions of the rapes of the
victims, it is whether by the females or by the other males. The following has been identified as
the myth of the rape can generally stem, from the media as well as are largely held by the public.
The research in this area generally suggest that a common myth is that can experience a man
with little injury when it is perpetrated by the females. In this, it is being raped by the attacker
males with the loss of masculinity. It is a generally myth that the males who are specifically
assaulted by the males must be gay, also that the males are quite incapable of the functioning
sexually unless they are sexually aroused. In this, it can also involve the male who are not forced
to get intimate against their will. The rape myth can also involve that males are generally less
impacted by the sexual assault than the females. In context with the racial rape myth, the racism
remains a very critical factor of the sexual violence which is discourse among many countries. In
this, the white victims who are generally reported as they were raped by the non-white people are
more likely to be believed than the victims under the non-white category. Not only the non-white
category people seen as not a parable, but the non-white categorised males are generally seen as
a sexually abnormal as well as dangerous. The prevalence of the myth of rape is a major issue for
the rapes, blaming the victims as well as the stigmatizations. The rape myth can generally cause
the victims of the rape so as to blame themselves for the rape as well as not to report such
conflict. They can generally also reshape the responses of the Justice system which specifically
causes a negative impact the rape victim (Anderson, (2021)).
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Impact on sexual violence and rape
There are various impact of sexual violence and rape on the victim which have impacted
their life and have different negative impact which should be maintained with difficulty. In this,
there are some of the impact on the victim of sexual assault and rape are going to be discussed
further.
Sexual violence has emotional, psychological and physical effect on the survivor of
victim of sexual violence or rape. This is not easy to deal with some correct help and support it
can be deal with better effect and help the survivor or victim to get better life and some relief
form the mental pain which has been delivery through the societal perception and the accused.
Depression- This is the one which have high negative impact on the victim which create
the difficulty in living and getting some confidence about their life. This is effective and have the
negative response in order to live better and effective life. There is psychological impact on the
delivery of effective and quality of life. There is also emotional impact on the victim which
create difficulty in managing the stress and help to get better interacting with other. Depression is
one of the negative impact on the victim of rape or sexual assaults. There is less confidence
within victim and are not able to confidently communicate with others. This impact individual’s
lifestyle and needed for proper medication and better care (Beck, (2021)).
Hunting thought- Victim of rape of sexual abuse face difficulty and have randomly
through of their past or flashbacks which have high impact on their life. This create high impact
on the lifestyle where individual face difficulty in delivery of various negative impact.
Sometime, victim get remembered the situation of getting abused or raped due to different
reasons which can there due to different factors of cause. This create the impact of haunting on
victim which have negative impact on through process which includes the lifestyle and various
difficulty. Fear of getting HIV and other different cause which can impact their health and
mental state regarding living life normal.
Psychological and emotional impact- There is also negative impact on the victim of
sexual violence and rape. There is various type of emotion which are faced by the victim and due
to this, they are not to feel like before. There is difficulty in dealing with their daily lifestyle
which have negative impact on their mental status. They feel that they are not enough required in
this society and should leave the place for peace. This face anxiety along with intense fear of
getting accepted in the society and their loved once (Wangamati, (2020)). This is a short time
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impact which create various impact on the individual that can lead to create difficulty for getting
better lifestyle.
There is post-traumatic stress disorder, nightmares, flashbacks, uncontrollable through and
different things which happens and run in mind which impact victim indirectly and for long term.
There is also suicidal thought comes in the mind to get relief from the pain and stress which are
unbearable. There is some common emotional effect which caused in the victim of sexual assault
and rape like anger and blame, shock, changes in trusting others, loss of control, helplessness,
disorientation, sense of vulnerability, fear and others (Jaeger, (2020)).
Physical health- There is some impact on their physical health which includes the
shortness of breath, chronic fatigue, muscle tension, sexual dysfunction, changes in eating and
sleeping pattern and involuntary shaking. There is high impact on individual health which can
lead to create difficulty for the better health. In this, due to mental stress and other, there are
various difficulty which causes due to impact on victim health (Bows, (2018)).
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it can be concluding that there is different perspective to think
about the rape and sexual violence victim. In this, there are different rape myths are there which
cause different impact on victim and accused. In this, there is discussion about the rape myths.
There is also discussion about the different impact of rape myths on victim of sexual violence
and rape. In this, there is discussion about different things and impact which are there with the
victim of sexual violence and rape that have been face by them have life changing thoughts that
changes life and its perspective.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Anderson, (2021). The impact of rape myths and current events on the well-being of sexual violence
survivors. Violence against women, 27(9), 1379-1401.
Bachman, (2020). A Contemporary Look at the Effects of Rape Law Reform: How Far Have we Really
Come?. In The American Court System (pp. 68-88). Routledge.
Beck, (2021). Is sexual objectification and victimization of females in video games associated with victim
blaming or victim empathy?. Journal of interpersonal violence, 36(5-6), NP3196-NP3221.
Bows, (2018). The ‘ideal’rape victim and the elderly woman: a contradiction in terms?. In Revisiting the
“Ideal Victim” (pp. 229-242). Policy Press.
Brown, (2019). The effects of exposure to negative social reactions and participant gender on attitudes
and behavior toward a rape victim. Violence against women, 25(2), 208-222.
Cole, (2020). Predicting men’s acceptance of sexual violence myths through conformity to masculine
norms, sexism, and “locker room talk”. Psychology of Men & Masculinities, 21(4), 508.
Jaeger, (2020). Descriptive versus Injunctive Norms in Reducing Rape Myths: A survey study (Doctoral
dissertation, University of Wyoming. Libraries).
Wangamati, (2020). Post rape care provision to minors in Kenya: an assessment of health providers’
knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Journal of interpersonal violence, 35(5-6), 1415-1441.
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