No Less of a Man: Inducing Empathy to Reduce Male Rape Myth Acceptance

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Sociology
• Criminology

Background:

• Male sexual assault is an understudied area within sexual violence research.
• Limited interventions exist to address negative attitudes toward male survivors.
• Male rape myth acceptance (MRMA) may contribute to the lack of attention and data on male survivors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the effect of a hypothetical male sexual assault survivor story and empathy writing task on MRMA.
• To investigate differences between men and women in MRMA change and emotional empathy.
• To determine if emotional empathy predicts MRMA reduction and if participant sex predicts emotional empathy.

Main Methods:

• Participants (N = 95 U.S. men and women) completed a hypothetical male sexual assault survivor story and empathy writing task.
• Male rape myth acceptance (MRMA) and state emotional empathy were measured before and after the intervention.
• Statistical analyses examined changes in MRMA, differences between sexes, and predictive relationships.

Main Results:

• Both men and women showed significant decreases in MRMA after the empathy induction task.
• The magnitude of MRMA reduction was similar for men and women.
• State emotional empathy and pre-intervention MRMA were significant predictors of MRMA reduction.

Conclusions:

• Reading male survivor stories and engaging in empathy writing can effectively reduce male rape myth acceptance.
• These interventions show promise for addressing harmful attitudes toward male sexual assault survivors.
• Further research can explore these methods to fill gaps in sexual violence literature concerning male survivors.