Item – Theses Canada

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OCLC number
300580544
Link(s) to full text
LAC copy
LAC copy
Author
Sheridan, Peter Michael.
Title
Judgements of responsibility, pleasure, and trauma in sexual assault of gay men and lesbians.
Degree
Ph. D. -- York University, 2005
Publisher
Ottawa : Library and Archives Canada = Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, [2007]
Description
3 microfiches
Notes
Includes bibliographical references.
Abstract
This study investigated the effect of participant homophobia, participant gender, victim gender, victim sexual orientation, and type of relationship on judgements about victims and perpetrators of sexual assault. Participants (209 female and 199 male undergraduate students) read a summary of a sexual assault case that described a male perpetrator with a heterosexual male, heterosexual female, gay male, or lesbian victim. Participants completed the Attitudes Toward Lesbians Scale or the Attitudes Toward Gay Men Scale, in accordance with the gender of the case summary they received. Dependent measures included participants' judgements about victim responsibility, pleasure, and trauma, perpetrator impact and psychological disturbance, and verdict and sentencing recommendations for perpetrators found guilty. Compared to participants who expressed less homophobic attitudes, participants who expressed more homophobic attitudes judged the victim to be more encouraging, compliant, and personally responsible, and believed the victim experienced greater pleasure and had less need for treatment. Compared to women, men judged the gay male and heterosexual female victim to be more encouraging and to have experienced greater pleasure than the heterosexual male or lesbian victim; judged the heterosexual male victim to be less compliant, to have experienced greater trauma, and to have a greater need for treatment than the gay male, heterosexual female, or lesbian victim; and recommended a longer sentence for the perpetrator of the heterosexual male victim than for the perpetrator of the gay male, heterosexual female, or lesbian victim. Women responded in a sensitive manner to the victim regardless of gender or sexual orientation. The results of this study suggest that participant homophobia does not mediate the effect of participant gender on victim judgements and that participant gender, victim gender, and victim sexual orientation impact in different ways on judgements about sexual assault of male and female victims. It is argued that men's judgements about sexual assault occur within a sexual attraction framework in a manner consistent with Weiner's (1995) theoretical model of perceived responsibility and social motivation.
ISBN
9780494198193
0494198192