MALE RAPE MYTHS: ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES

Abstract

The first study was a cross-sectional survey (N=1,183; 503 men) conducted in a local university. The effects of experiencing sexual harassment (SH) and the moderating effects of MRM among men were examined. Higher SH predicted worse life satisfaction. While we expected men who endorse MRM or expect victim-blaming attitudes to be worsened by SH, our results showed that the negative relationship between SH and mental health was only found among men with low MRM. The positive relationship between SH and academic disengagement was only found among men expect less victim-blaming attitudes. These individuals may appraise the victimisation experience to be more frightening, resulting in worse outcomes. In the second study (N=173) involving two questionnaires, we hypothesised and found that beliefs in traditional male role norms (MRN), hostile and benevolent sexism, hostility and benevolence toward men strongly predicted MRM endorsement. We expected atypical gender role primes to reduce MRM and MRN, compared to typical gender role primes and control. The priming was generally ineffective, and instead strengthened MRM and MRN among individuals with high baseline hostile sexism and benevolence toward men. Our findings suggest that people with high sexism will strengthen their beliefs through cognitive dissonance when exposed to counter-attitudinal information.