Citation

Du Mont J, Miller KL, Myhr TL. Violence Against Women 2003; 9(4): 466-486.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1077801202250960

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Some feminists have argued that rape myths constrain women’s reporting of sexual assault to the police. The authors investigated whether myth-associated characteristics of sexual assaults play a role in police reporting behaviors of women. A sample of 186 sexual assault cases seen at a hospital-based sexual assault care center in 1994 was analyzed using logistic regression. A positive association was found between reporting a sexual assault to the police and two overtly violent components of the “real rape” myth: the use of physical force and the occurrence of physical injury.