Gender role norm conformity and psychological consequences of sexual victimization

Abstract

Background. The possibility of men being perceived as sexual violence victims is constrained by stereotypical masculine gender norms, describing men as dominant and sexual opportunists, and by rape myths. These stereotypical views suggest that men cannot suffer adverse psychological consequences from sexual victimization and are less affected by it compared to women. Nevertheless, research demonstrates that men suffer psychologically from sexual victimization similar to women, and that their victimization might be associated with poorer psychological health outcomes compared to women. Additionally, scholars have argued that stereotypical gender roles and rape myths may worsen the adverse outcomes of sexual victimization. Yet, thus far, empirical research to test these hypotheses was lacking. Method. We examined the psychological consequences of sexual victimization among 696 male (n = 135) and female (n = 561) college students who self-identified as victims of sexual violence. We examined the effect of gender role norm endorsement and rape myth acceptance on the severity of self-reported psychological consequences of sexual victimization. Results. Results showed that, overall, female victims disclose psychological consequences to a greater extent than male victims. Our findings confirmed that higher endorsement of both masculine and feminine gender role norms increase the severity of psychological consequences among both men and women. Rape myth acceptance only influenced the severity of the consequences for female victims but in the opposite direction than hypothesized. Nonetheless, the odds ratio suggest that the influence of rape myth acceptance is negligible. Conclusion. With this study we point out the problematic influence gender role norms have on victims of sexual violence, particularly male victims, and the consequences they may suffer. We argue for a deconstruction of stereotypical masculine role norms in order for men to accept their victimization and talk about their experiences with others.