Personality, rape myth acceptance and victim-blaming attitudes

The high incidence of rape in Western society has been vastly attributed to the prevalence of rape myth acceptance. Rape myths, as first described by Martha Burt in 1980, are prejudicial stereotyped or false beliefs about rape, rape victims, and rapists that create a climate hostile to rape victims. By blaming the victim and exonerating the perpetrator, rape myth acceptance results in denying or reducing the severity of the crime and blaming the victims for their own victimization, which works to justify certain types of rape and maintain the high rates of rape. After an examination of the existing literature on rape myth acceptance, this work shows the lack of research investigating the role of personality in rape myth acceptance and presents an original study exploring the correlates between the Big Five of personality, rape myth acceptance and victim-blaming attitudes. By revealing the undeniable role of personality in rape myth acceptance, this study aims at elucidating some of the complexities of rape myth acceptance and at urging future research to examine rape myth acceptance through the lens of personality theory in order to find new and better methods of rape prevention.