To have and to hold: marital rape perception in Russian women

Background and purpose of the study: Legally marital rape is not acknowledged in Russia. While generally men perceive it as less severe, little is known about factors that influence victim-blaming and perpetrator support amongst women, who despite belonging to the target group of gender discrimination, often endorse sexist beliefs too (Barreto & Ellemers, 2005; Greenwald, & McGhee, 2001). Therefore, we investigate marital rape perceptions of Russian women, in context of ‘perpetrator justification’ and ‘victim resistance’.
Methods: Data was collected online (N = 3566; Meanage = 28.20; SDage = 7.82). Researchers created 9 standardized marital rape scenario vignettes (3x3) manipulating perpetrator justification (no justification, deprivation, jealousy) and victim resistance (passive, verbal, verbal & physical).
After reading one vignette and responding to an attention test, participant was presented with: RapeSupportive Attribution Scale (Monson et al., 2000), Sex-Role Stereotypical Victim Blame Attributions Scale (Monson et al., 2000), and Perceived Seriousness of Violence Measure (Yamawaki et al., 2009). Findings: Three 3x3 Factorial ANOVA were administered. We found significant main effects of justification F(2, 3520) = 5.85, p = .003 and resistance F(2, 3520) = 53.45, p < .001 on rape-support; and main effects of justification F(2, 3519) = 13.17, p < .001 and resistance F(2, 3519) = 48.27, p < .001 on victim-blaming. For justification, rape support was highest in no-justification condition, followed by sexual deprivation and jealousy condition. Victim was blamed most in sexual deprivation scenario, and least in jealousy scenario. Regarding resistance, rape support and victim blaming was highest in passive resistance condition, and lowest when the woman reacted using both verbal & physical resistance. Conclusions and implications: It appears that context of rape scenarios played significant role, where it seems that sexual deprivation in marital relationships downplays rape severity, whereas male jealousy elicits more concerns towards victim and less rape support.