Guardians: masculine honour beliefs and perceptions of men’s roles in preventing sexual violence

Abstract

ABSTRACT Across two studies, we examined how individual differences in masculine honour beliefs (MHB) related to perceptions of men’s responsibilities in preventing sexual assaults committed against women. Higher levels of MHB were associated with greater perceptions that a male bystander either witnessing a male perpetrator initiate sexually pressuring behaviours (Study 1), or sexual assault (Study 2), should physically intervene. Higher levels of MHB were also associated with greater perceptions that a male bystander should be held responsible for the sexual assault if he failed to prevent it from occurring (Studies 1 and 2). Our research extends the theoretical framework of masculine honour ideology by demonstrating that masculine honour beliefs may inspire both prosocial (e.g. bystander intervention) and antisocial (e.g. vigilantism on behalf of women) in preventing sexual violence against women.