Abstract
Those involved in the adjudication of sexual assault often communicate as much or more concern for the leveling of an inaccurate accusation against the accused than for the effect of the crime on the victim. Gender roles that influence perceptions of sexual assault responsibility have long been credited for the stalemate in the prevention of and justice for sexual violence. This study directly examines whether linguistic labels of sexual misconduct influence the perception of both criminal wrong-doing and the imposition of sanctions. This project hypothesizes that lexical choices in sexual assault labels can elicit or stifle gender stereotypes and rape myths that ultimately encourage a particular perception of the violation and potential sanction for an offense. Using a sample of 152 college students, this study uses a hypothetical scenario paired with three different linguistic labels (rape, sexual assault, non-consensual sexual intercourse) and found that the terms rape and sexual assault negatively correlated to findings of guilt.
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Raw data were generated by the researchers at their institution. Derived data supporting the findings of this study are available from the lead author on request.
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Berkland, M.K., Ji, Y. & Jain, S.C. Labels and the Adjudication of Rape: Words Matter. Sexuality & Culture 26, 1579–1598 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-022-09959-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-022-09959-5