Rape Myth Acceptance to Victim-blaming and Perpetrator-blaming–A Piolet Study of Taiwan Police College Cadets and University Students

Rape Myth Acceptance to Victim-blaming and Perpetrator-blaming–A Piolet Study of Taiwan Police College Cadets and University Students

The acceptance of rape myths is related to gender equality attitudes, and is also an“explanatory predictor of the actual perpetration of sexual violence”(Hinck & Thomas, 1999). This study explores the differences in rape myths acceptance, and levels of victims and perpetrators blaming between students at the Taiwan Police College (TPC) and liberal arts undergraduate students at a private university in Southern Taiwan. This study adopted the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance (IRMA) scale to test the acceptance of rape myths by general undergraduates and police students (N=94; undergraduates N=47 and police students N=47). The subscales of the research showed: ''She asked (SA)'' P<0.034, ''He didn’t mean that (MT)'' P<0.045, ''She wanted (WI)'' P<0.021 and“Sexual assault is a deviant behavior (DE)” P<0.037. There are significant differences in the four aspects of the subscales between police cadets and undergraduates. The study showed that undergraduates have a higher acceptance of rape myths than police cadets, and they tend to blame the victims and adopt a more tolerant attitude or forgive the perpetrators. Police cadets are less affected by rape myths on some subscales.