Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of film manipulation on men’s and women’s attitudes toward women and film editing. One hundred and seventy-four participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups. Three groups viewed a particular manipulation of the treatment film (i.e., uncut, mosaic-ed, or edited) The Accused, a movie about gang rape that was based on a true story. The fourth group served as a control. As predicted, men reported significantly higher levels of traditionalism and rape myth acceptance-related attitudes at the onset of the study, whereas women reported higher levels of empathic attitudes. Following the study, and as expected, women experienced significantly more attitude change as a result of viewing the treatment film; men’s rape myth-related attitudes nonetheless continued to exceed those of women. Finally, men’s positive attitudes toward favoring editing decreased as sexual violence increased, whereas women’s pro-editing attitudes increased as sexual violence increased. The theoretical implications of the study, as well as the impact of viewing sexual violence in a more reality-based, versus a more entertaining, forum are discussed.
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An earlier version of this manuscript was presented at the 2003 National Communication Association Conference, Miami, FL.
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Emmers-Sommer, T.M., Triplett, L., Pauley, P. et al. The Impact of Film Manipulation on Men’s and Women’s Attitudes Toward Women and Film Editing. Sex Roles 52, 683–695 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-005-3735-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-005-3735-5