Literature Review #5

1. Image of Janice Du Mont

2. Du Mont, Janice, Karen-Lee Miller, and Terri L. Myhr. "The Role of “Real Rape” and “Real Victim” Stereotypes in the Police Reporting Practices of Sexually Assaulted Women." SAGE Journals. Violence Against Women, Apr. 2003. Web. 17 Dec. 2016.

3. Abstract: Some feminists have argued that rape myths constrain women’s reporting of sexual assault to the police. The authors investigated whether myth-associated characteristics of sexual assaults play a role in police reporting behaviors of women. A sample of 186 sexual assault cases seen at a hospital-based sexual assault care center in 1994 was analyzed using logistic regression. A positive association was found between reporting a sexual assault to the police and two overtly violent components of the “real rape” myth: the use of physical force and the occurrence of physical injury.

4. Janice Du Mont worked at the University of Toronto. She has published many articles regarding sexual assault.

Karen-Lee Miller works at the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

Terri L. Myhr worked at the University of Toronto.

5. Real Rape = a term which defines what constitutes a legitimate sexual assault based on false rape myths.

Real Victim = a term which defines what constitutes a legitimate victim based on false rape myths

6. "Rape mythology characterizes rape as an act of violent, forceful penetration committed by a stranger during a blitz attack in a public, deserted place. The victim is portrayed as a morally upright White woman who is physically injured while resisting." (469)

"Stewart et al. (1996) suggested that the decision to report to the police is related to a woman’s concurrent assessment of the assault vis-à-vis the “real rape” and “real victim” myths: A woman must believe that she is a real victim before she can view the assault itself as a real rape." (480)

"We also found that women who were physically coerced, that is, had their clothes torn and/or were slapped, kicked, hit, or choked, were approximately three times more likely to contact the police than those who were not." (479)

7. Though this study focused on women, it helped me to form the frame for my paper: the "real victim" or "perfect victim". It helped demonstrate that these rape myths do in fact influence victim reporting.