Hostile Sexism and The Acceptance of Rape Myths: The Role of Masculinity Threat in Two Salient Predictors of Sexual Violence

Sammanfattning: This thesis aimed to investigate the association between masculinity threat and two salient predictors of sexual assault: hostile sexism and rape myth acceptance. The thesis comprised two studies. Study 1 focused on the correlational relationships between three measures of masculinity threat (masculine contingency, gender role discrepancy stress, and status threat) and the two predictors of sexual assault. Two moderators, support for feminism and left/right political orientation were considered. Results from the correlational analysis indicated significant positive correlations between masculinity threat and both hostile sexism and rape myth acceptance. Building upon these findings, Study 2 employed an experimental manipulation of masculine status threat. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: masculine status threat induction, masculine status affirmation, or the control group. Contrary to expectations, neither threatening nor affirming masculine status yielded any significant direct effects on hostile sexism or rape myth acceptance. However, exploratory analysis revealed a significant indirect effect of affirming masculine status on both hostile sexism and rape myth acceptance, whereby affirming masculine status led to a decrease in status threat, which in turn led to a decrease in both outcomes. These findings shed light on the role that masculinity threat may play in sexual assault perpetration. The implications of these results for understanding and addressing predictors of sexual assault are discussed, along with suggestions for future research.