A Black Feminist Model of Rape Myth Acceptance: Implications for Research and Antirape Advocacy in Black Communities

A Black feminist model was used to investigate rape myth acceptance between African American antirape activists and a comparison group of nonactivists using Cross's (1991) racial identity model and Downing and Roush's (1985) feminist identity model. As predicted, activists rejected rape my...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychology of women quarterly 1998-06, Vol.22 (2), p.157-175
Main Authors: White, Aaronette M., Strube, Michael J., Fisher, Sherri
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acceptance
Activists
African-Americans
Black American people
Black people
Blacks
Crime prevention
Feminism
Feminist perspectives
Feminist psychology
Feminist theory
Gender
Identity
Myth
Myths
Psychology
Race
Rape
Social control
Social values
Womens studies
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Summary:A Black feminist model was used to investigate rape myth acceptance between African American antirape activists and a comparison group of nonactivists using Cross's (1991) racial identity model and Downing and Roush's (1985) feminist identity model. As predicted, activists rejected rape myths more than nonactivists; the earlier stages of both models were associated with rape myth acceptance; the later stages were associated with rape myth rejection; and activists evidenced more sociopolitical maturity (race and gender consciousness) than nonactivists. The findings suggest that researchers may need to investigate to what degree rape myth acceptance serves an overarching system of social domination where racism and sexism overlap.
ISSN:0361-6843
1471-6402
DOI:10.1111/j.1471-6402.1998.tb00148.x