Citation

Gul P, Schuster I. Aggressive Behav. 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Department of Education and Psychology, Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, International Society for Research on Aggression, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/ab.21893

PMID

32350879

Abstract

Previous research has shown that there is higher tolerance of violence against women in cultures with salient gender-specific honor norms, especially when the violence occurs in intimate relationships and in response to threat to male honor. The present cross-cultural study (N = 398) extended these findings to sexual aggression (i.e., marital rape) by comparing participants from a culture that emphasizes honor (Turkey) and participants from cultures without strong honor traditions (Germany and Britain). Turkish participants blamed the victim and exonerated the perpetrator more than did German and British participants. In all cultural groups, participants blamed the victim and exonerated the perpetrator more when the husband's reputation was threatened than in the absence of such threat, and in all cultural groups, men blamed the victim and exonerated the perpetrator more than women. Yet, the effect of masculine reputation threat and this pattern of gender differences were somewhat more pronounced among Turkish than German or British participants.

RESULTS exploring the predictive role of honor norms at the individual level beyond rape myth acceptance and traditional gender role attitudes revealed that honor norms were the primary predictor of rape perceptions and blame attributions in Turkey (an honor culture), but not in Germany and Britain (dignity cultures) where rape myth acceptance was the strongest predictor. These results provide insights into the cultural factors influencing marital rape judgments in ways that may undermine victim's well-being and fair handling of rape cases, and highlight the domains most urgently in need of potential intervention.

© 2020 The Authors. Aggressive Behavior published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Language: en

Keywords

culture of honor; marital rape; rape myths; reputation threat; traditional gender role attitudes; victim and perpetrator blaming