Blaming the Victim: Attributions Concerning Sexual Harassment Based on Clothing, Just-World Belief, and Sex of Subject

Abstract

Belief in a just world is associated with an expectation that individuals can determine their own rewards and punishments rather than being at the mercy of external forces (Rotter, 1966). Believers in a just world are likely to view victims as responsible for their fates. An experimental design was used to test the effect of victim clothing, just-world belief, and sex of subject on attributions concerning sexual harassment. A convenience sample of 200 subjects (97 males, 102females, 1 information missing) was used in a 2 (provocative vs. nonprovocative clothing) × 2 (believers vs. nonbelievers) × 2 (sex of subject) between-subjects factorial design. The subjects read a vignette that described a claim of sexual harassment, viewed a photograph of the victim, and made attributions reflecting blame by responding to four items. Subjects also indicated the likelihood that a male supervisor would engage in each of eight sexually harassing behaviors. Multivariate analyses of variance, analyses of variance, and the Newman-Keuls test were used to analyze the data. Subjects indicated that the victim appearing in provocative clothing, as opposed to the victim in nonprovocative clothing, could have prevented the incident, provoked the advances, and brought about the advances. Female subjects indicated that a male supervisor was more likely to engage in sexually harassing behaviors than did male subjects. Subjects also indicated a female appearing in provocative clothing was more likely to be the recipient of sexually harassing behavior than a female in nonprovocative clothing.