Gender, Perpetrator Attractiveness, and Ambivalent Sexism as Predictors of Victim Blaming, Minimization, and Subjective Fear in Stalking Incidents

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine how participant gender affected individuals’ perceptions toward stalking and stalking victims. We also explored how the attractiveness of stalking perpetrators impacted perceptions of stalking along with the role of ambivalent sexism. A total of 120 undergraduate students in the research pool were randomly assigned to read one of two stalking scenarios that either portrayed the perpetrator as attractive or non-attractive. Participants completed related measures of victim blame attribution, stal- king minimization, subjective fear, and ambivalent sexism. We performed a 2 × 2 MANOVA, a follow up ANOVA, and a series of multiple regression analyses to test the hypotheses, which were supported. The results revealed that men were more likely to blame the victim, minimize the stalking incident, and feel less subjective fear for the victim than did women. We found that both hostile sexism and benevolent sexism were significant predictors of blaming the victim. Furthermore, hostile sexism was a significant predictor of minimizing the stalking incident and feeling less subjective fear for the victim. Possible explanations for the results and future research directions are discussed.