2. Sexual violence
For children abused outside family, most common
perpetrator is a boyfriend (Cawson et al, 2000)
9.7% of UK women report sexual victimisation
aged 16+, 4.9% raped (Home Office, 2002: Findings
159)
Age biggest risk factor (16-24 years)
3. Sexual violence
Mori Poll, 2006
31% UK women had sex to which they felt they had
not fully consented
Main factors influencing sense of consent
Under influence of drink/ drugs
Physical coercion
Wish/ fear not to upset partner
Peer group pressure
4. Sexual violence
ICMpoll (2006)
524 16-18 year olds in UK
40% know girls whose boyfriends have coerced/
pressured
them into sex
‘Sugar’ magazine/NSPCC (2005)
2000 UK girls, mean age 15 years, online survey
6% had experienced forced sex with boyfriend
33% forgave and stayed in relationship
5. Sexual attitudes and sexual
violence
Malamuth et al, 1991; 1993a,b
‘Hostile masculinity’
Hostility toward women
Dominance in sexual relations
Attitudes accepting of violence toward women
6. Rape myth acceptance
Rape myths as ‘releasers’ or‘neutralizers’
(Burt, 1980)
Frese et al, 2004
Victim blame highest in acquaintance rape
Responsibility attribution for perpetrator lowest in
acquaintance rape
Lower estimated trauma for acquaintance rape
7. Rape myth acceptance
Frese et al, 2004 (cont)
Situational factors: alcohol/ provocative dress
Situational factors relevant for individuals with low
RMA
also (victim blame/ estimation of trauma/
recommendation
to report)
Implies focus for prevention programmes on
‘ambiguous’
situations
Target specific misconceptions
8. Rape myth acceptance
Amnesty International, 2005
34% UK respondents believe women have partial or
total
responsibility for being raped if they had behaved
‘flirtatiously’
26% believed women had some responsibility if
wearing
‘revealing clothing’
30% believed women had some responsibility if they
were
drunk
9. Genderand rape attribution
No gender difference found in several studies -
RMA rather than gender (Check & Malamuth, 1983;
Freese et al, 2004)
Hostility toward women much more significant to
RMA score for men (Lonsway & Fitzgerald, 1995)
Differential function of RMA across gender
Men: justify male sexual dominance
Women: mitigate fear and sense of vulnerability
[‘Just world’ (Lerner and Miller, 1978)]
10. Sexual attitude survey of 13/ 14 year old school
children in South Wales
Sample size 131-202
(Moultrie, 2006)
11. Questionnaires
Items mainly drawn from existing tests
Themes: rape attitudes, boys as not in control of
sexual
feelings, girls as ‘overly’ sexually available/
interested,
consent, girls as untrustworthy
5 point scoring scale
Anonymous and with parental consent
Interval between tests - 12 weeks
12. Responses to initial
questionnaire
n=131-202
Boys get such strong sexual feelings that they can’t
always control themselves
very true/ mostly true
60% of boys
70% of girls
You can’t always blame a boy forgoing too far
very true/ mostly true
60% of boys
70% of girls
13. Sometimes a boy has to force a girl to have sex if
she won’t agree
very true/ mostly true
20% of boys
40% of girls
Girls who flirt a lot will probably have sex with
anyone
very true/ mostly true
47% of boys
32% of girls
14. Girls who party and get drunkjust have to accept
what happens
very true/ mostly true
48% of boys
66% of girls
Some girls agree to sex but then say afterwards
they were raped
very true/ mostly true
56% of boys
28% of girls
15. The reason that some girls get raped is that they
lead boys on too much
very true/ mostly true
54% of boys
49% of girls
The best way fora boy to find out if a girl wants
sex is to keep going until she pushes him off
very true/ mostly true
60% of boys
70% of girls
18. ‘Offside!’
Tells the story of a group of teenagers, their attempts to
date and a sexual assault that occurs in the context of a
party. We look at the impact on the boy and girl
involved.
Enhance dating knowledge
Challenge rape myths
Enhance victim empathy/ understanding
Identify negative outcomes
19. Workbook
Relationships - reciprocity, perspective taking and
forming
relationships
Power differences in relationships
Discrimination and sexuality - challenging of
oppressive
attitudes
Consent
Victim empathy
Consequences of sexually harmful behaviour
21. Benefits
Dynamic and credible resource
For universal or targeted use
Indirect method of exploring behaviour - less
threatening
and good for ‘deniers’
Ease and consistency of delivery
22. Process of evaluation
Quantitative
‘Offside!’ programme run with 202 students
No significant gender differences in responses
Significant reduction in total score pre/ post the
‘Offside!’
programme (but also reduction in control group)
23. Feedbackfromyoung
people
Focus groups and feedbackforms
Liked the info on romantic and sexual relationships
(rather
than biological info)
Recalled key themes of consent, age differences in
relationships, how to ask girls out, rejection, victim
impact
(minority)
Assault scene stimulated discussion as to
responsibility
Recalled more by girls as most significant