Sexual Violence—“Victim” or “Survivor”: News Images Affect Explicit and Implicit Judgments of Blame

Abstract

A pilot study ( n = 165) showed that images portraying women who have experienced sexual violence as survivors (e.g., at a self-help group) rather than as victims (e.g., in vulnerable positions) led to more positive ratings of the women depicted. In a subsequent experiment ( n = 236), participants viewed either survivor or victim images, read a rape vignette, and completed explicit and implicit measures of blame. Results showed that male (but not female) participants implicitly blamed the woman more after viewing victim images, but explicitly blamed her more after viewing survivor images. Discussion focuses on theoretical and applied implications.