Two Sides of the Same Coin: The Relationship Between Modern Racism and Rape Blaming Attitudes among Swedish Students and Community Members

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between modern racism and rape victim and perpetrator blame, and rape perception. Participants from both a community population ( n = 211) and a student population ( n = 200) read a rape vignette and provided their judgements of blame towards a victim and perpetrator, their perception of the event as rape, and later answered the modern racism scale. Results showed a significant positive relationship between modern racism and rape victim blame ( r = .35, R2 [Formula: see text] 100 = 12.1%), while modern racism had a significant negative relationship with perpetrator blame ( r = −.27, R2 [Formula: see text] 100 = 7.5%) and rape perception ( r = −.29, R2 [Formula: see text] 100 = 8.7%). Implications for the criminal justice system as well as suggestions for future research were discussed.