{"id":306089,"date":"2020-08-25T15:52:10","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T19:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/?p=306089"},"modified":"2020-08-25T21:52:57","modified_gmt":"2020-08-26T01:52:57","slug":"how-rape-culture-shapes-whether-a-survivor-is-believed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/08\/how-rape-culture-shapes-whether-a-survivor-is-believed\/","title":{"rendered":"How rape culture shapes whether a survivor is believed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tNation & World\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t

\n\t\tHow rape culture shapes whether a survivor is believed\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\tSurvivors' and suspects\u2019 gender and familiarity can inform respondent bias, study says\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\n\t

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\n\t\tChristina Pazzanese\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\"Illustration

Illustration by Leigh Wells<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n

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A hallmark of the #MeToo movement has been to make plain the ubiquity of sexual violence against women and the impunity with which some perpetrators get away with it again and again. Rape is the nation\u2019s most underreported violent crime, according to U.S. Justice Department statistics<\/a>, as survivors fear that juries will believe the perpetrators, not them, and if they pursue justice, they may suffer further physical, economic, or social harm.<\/p>\n

This stacked deck, known as \u201crape culture,\u201d is the set of social attitudes about sexual assault that leads to survivors being treated with skepticism and even hostility, while perpetrators are shown empathy and imbued with credibility not conferred on people accused of other serious crimes, like armed robbery.<\/p>\n

New research from the Harvard Kennedy School\u2019s Dara Kay Cohen<\/a>, Ford Foundation Associate Professor of Public Policy, Matthew Baum<\/a>, Marvin Kalb Professor of Global Communications, and Susanne Schwarz, M.P.P. \u201915, finds that rape culture bias is not only real, but it shapes how people determine what a believable rape case looks like, who is most likely a rape victim, and in which circumstances rape is less likely to take place.<\/p>\n

In a series of experiments, respondents were given certain details about rape cases, like the survivors and perpetrators\u2019 race, a survivor\u2019s sex and sexual history, a perpetrator\u2019s socioeconomic status and relationship to the survivor, where the crime took place, and what clothing the victim wore \u2014 all details known to have the potential to trigger four key elements of rape bias: victim blaming, empathizing with perpetrators, assuming the victim\u2019s consent, and questioning the victim\u2019s credibility. The respondents were asked to determine which cases should be reported to police and how severely perpetrators should be punished, and briefly explain why, according to a paper published in Political Behavior<\/a>.<\/p>\n\r\n

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