White Male Privilege in the Perpetration of Sexual Violence: An Exploratory Study of Young Adults

Authors

Emily Elizabeth Camp, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

First Advisor

Katie Edwards

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Department

Counseling Psychology

Date of this Version

9-2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Citation

A dissertation presented to the faculty of the Graduate College of the University of Nebraska in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Major: Psychology

Under the supervision of Professor Katie M. Edwards

Lincoln, Nebraska, September 2022

Comments

Copyright 2024, Emily Elizabeth Camp. Used by permission

Abstract

This exploratory study examined how racism and sexism among privileged White men intersect and vary to influence factors associated with sexual violence (SV) perpetration. Specifically, this study examined the interconnection of racism and sexism via latent profile analysis (LPA), how profile groups differentially predict attitudinal responses to a victim in an acquaintance rape SV vignette regarding victim blame and rape minimization (e.g., rape myth acceptance), rape proclivity, and bystander intentions to help, and whether or not these attitudes change based on the victim’s race (i.e., White or Black). The sample included 628 young adult, White, heterosexual, cis-gender men currently living in the United States. Results indicated that three profiles of racist and sexist attitudes (e.g., ambivalent, low racism/sexism, and high racism/sexism groups) emerged for the sample and differentially predicted responses to the acquaintance rape vignette regarding victim blame, rape minimization, rape proclivity, and bystander intentions. Individuals with profiles high in racism and sexism were more likely to endorse higher victim blame, rape minimization, rape proclivity, and lower bystander intentions than individuals with profiles low in racism and sexism. Individuals in the ambivalent group reported similar levels of rape minimization as the high racism/sexism group, though they reported lower levels of rape proclivity, victim blame, and bystander intentions to help. These relationships between profiles and outcomes were not moderated by the victim race. In other words, participants did not respond to Black victims with more victim blame, rape minimization, rape proclivity and less bystander intentions than White victims. Implications for advancing our understanding of how to better prevent sexual violence and intervene in its effects are discussed as it relates to future research, theory, practice and policy.

Advisor: Katie M. Edwards

Recommended Citation

Camp, Emily Elizabeth, "White Male Privilege in the Perpetration of Sexual Violence: An Exploratory Study of Young Adults" (2022). Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–. 58.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissunl/58