6 ETHICS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE RESEARCH

BOX 10.6 ETHICS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE RESEARCH

The more potential harm that is identified from viewing sexually explicit, especially sexually violent, materials, the more questions are raised about the ethics of doing research by exposing people to such materials (Malamuth, Feshbach, & Heim, 1980). Although we have clearly learned some valuable information, what will be the cost of this knowledge in terms of the lives of the research participants? This issue has been taken seriously by Malamuth, Heim, and Feshbach (1980) and others, who have offered an extensive debriefing, complete with information on the horrible reality of rape and the complete unreality of the victim enjoying it. They even included a discussion of why the myth of enjoying being raped was so prevalent in sexually violent media. Some studies have included evaluations of such debriefing sessions and shown that, compared to a control group not in the experiment, debriefed people showed less acceptance of rape myths (Donnerstein & Berkowitz, 1981; Malamuth & Check, 1980b). It is, of course, unethical to have an ideal control group that views the sexual violence in the experiment but is not debriefed!

Using a different approach, B.J.Wilson, Linz, Donnerstein, and Stipp (1992) measured the effect of seeing a prosocial TV movie about rape. They found that, compared to a control group, people viewing the film generally showed heightened awareness and concern about rape. However, not all

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men over 50 had their preexisting attitudes reinforced and actually blamed women more for rape after seeing the film. This suggests that the attitudes and experiences of the target audience of interventions must be carefully considered.

Although the discussion of sexual violence so far has dealt with effects of fictional portrayals, there is another type of material with this content, namely, news coverage of sexually violent crimes. This too is part of our exposure to sexually violent content.

Press Coverage of Sexually Violent Crimes

The way that the press covers crimes like rape can subtly support the rape myths. For example, even severe violence may sometimes be described in terms of passion or love. When a man kills his ex-wife and her boyfriend, the press calls it a “love triangle,” When a man shoots and kills several coworkers, including a woman that refused to date him, it is called a “tragedy of spurned love.” When a man kidnaps, rapes, and strangles to death his estranged wife, the press reports that he “made love to his wife, and then choked her when he became overcome with jealous passion” (Jones, 1994). Does love really have anything to do with such crimes?

Benedict (1992) identified several problems with the press coverage of sex crimes. To begin with, there is a gender bias of the writers, reporters, and editors covering such crimes. They are two or three times more likely to be male than female, usually crime and police reporters. There is also a gender bias of language, with women always more likely than men to be described in terms of their physical appearance and sexuality. Some rape myths are subtly supported by describing rape as a sex crime due to unfulfilled sexual need. Less often do we encounter rape presented as an act of torture, although that perspective is more likely to be used in reporting of wartime rapes. For example, when mass raping of Bosnian women occurred in the Bosnian civil war of the early 1990s, it was reported as an act of war, as torture, and there was no description of the victims’ attractiveness or dress or flirtatious behavior.

In her content-analysis studies of numerous newspaper reports of several high-profile rape cases, Benedict (1992) identified two common rape narratives, both of which distort and trivialize the crime. The most common is the vamp, a sexy woman who incites the lust of a man, who then cannot control himself and rapes her. A second narrative is the virgin, the pure and innocent woman attacked by a vicious monster, who is often portrayed as crazed and who often has darker skin than the victim. Benedict identifies several factors that increase the likelihood that the press will use the vamp narrative, i.e., blaming the victim. She is more likely to be described with the ramp narrative if (a) she knew the assailant, (b) no weapon was used, (c) she

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was young and pretty, (d) she showed deviation from traditional sex roles, and (e) she was of the same or lower-status race, class, and/or ethnic group as the rapist, The more of these conditions that hold, the more likely it is that the reporting will conform to the vamp narrative; the fewer of them that hold, the more likely it is that the case will be told as a virgin narrative.

Why does such bias occur? Benedict in part blames the habitual pressure of deadlines but also our emphasis on victims of crimes. While this is in part

a well-meaning sympathy, it also taps into a desire of reporters and all of us to reassure ourselves that such acts will not happen to us because we don’t behave like that, Thus, the behaviors and attributes of the victim are highlighted. There is less emphasis on the rapist, especially in the vamp narrative, and not much examination of the societal forces that drive men to behave in such violent ways. Such biases can have consequences. When a Texas grand jury in 1993 refused to indict a man for rape because his quick- thinking victim had convinced him to use a condom, the public outcry forced

a reconsideration.

One particular touchy issue is the question of whether to publish the names of victims of rape and similar crimes. Although some have argued for doing so (e.g., Gartner, 1991), most journalists have continued to respect the privacy of victims. For an eloquent argument for preserving such privacy, see Pollitt (1991).