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I den här fallstudien undersöks fenomenet representation i nyhetsmedier genom att analysera hur kvinnliga våldtäktsoffer framställs i tryckt kvällspress i Sverige, ur ett kritiskt diskursanalytiskt perspektiv. Norman Faircloughs tredimensionella modell används för att genomföra analysen för att slutligen kunna besvara fallstudiens frågeställningar: Med hjälp av vilka lexikala val konstrueras kvinnliga våldtäktsoffer i Aftonbladet? samt, På vilket sätt utmanas eller reproduceras så kallade våldtäktsmyter i Aftonbladets rapportering om våldtäkter? Analysen lutar sig mot ett ramverk för att förstå de underliggande meningarna i texten. Ramverket består av gestaltningsteorin, genusforskning och våldtäktsmyter. Analysen genomförs på tre analysnivåer utifrån Faircloughs modell, med hjälp av två analysverktyg: lexikala val och aktörens konstruktion. Fallstudien analyserar de lingvistiska valen som gjorts, ur ett kritiskt synsätt, för att se de implicita betydelserna i texten. I analysen av fallstudiens första frågeställning identifierades ett antal kategorier som delas in i tre olika teman: förövarens narrativ, svag och beskyllande. Resultatet visar att det kvinnliga våldtäktsoffret benämns minimalt i många av artiklarna och är snarare en del av förövarens historia. Det empiriska materialet visar hur olika stereotypa könsroller upprätthålls genom Aftonbladets framställningar av det kvinnliga våldtäktsoffret som rädd, hjälplös och som faller offer för den överordnade mannen. Genom rapporteringen skuldbeläggs hon till viss del för våldtäkten, både explicit och implicit. Fallstudiens andra frågeställning besvaras med hjälp av resultatet från den första frågeställning tillsammans med en djupare analys på en tredje analysnivå. Resultatet visar att Aftonbladets representation av våldtäkter och kvinnliga våldtäktsoffer har möjlighet att reproducera våldtäktsmyter genom deras rapportering. Fallstudien lyfter mediernas potentiella inflytande över den samhälleliga förståelsen för, This case study examines the phenomenon of representation in the news media by analyzing how female rape victims are represented in the printed evening press in Sweden, from a critical discourse analysis perspective. Norman Fairclough's three-dimensional model is used to conduct the analysis in order to answer the case study's questions: “What lexical choices are used to construct female rape victims in Aftonbladet?” and “In what way are so-called rape myths challenged or reproduced in Aftonbladet's reporting on rape?” The analysis uses a framework to understand the underlying meanings of the text. The framework consists of framing theory, gender research and rape myths. The analysis is conducted on three levels of analysis based on Fairclough's model, using two analytical tools: use of lexical choices and the construction of the actor. The case study analyzes the linguistic choices made from a critical point of view to see the implicit meanings in the text. When analyzing the first question of the case study, a number of categories were identified and then divided into three different themes: perpetrator's narrative, weak and blaming. In many articles, the female rape victim is minimally referred to and she is rather part of the perpetrator's story. The empirical material shows how the stereotypical gender roles are maintained through Aftonbladet's portrayal of the female rape victim as afraid, helpless and a victim of the superior man. Through the reporting, the woman is to some extent blamed for the rape, both explicitly and implicitly. The second question of the case study is answered using the results from the first question together with a deeper analysis on a third level. The results show that Aftonbladet's representation of rape and female rape victims has the potential to reproduce rape myths through their reporting. The case study highlights the potential influence the media has on the societal understanding of the phenomenon. Furthermore, it discuss

The MeToo movement has played a huge role in the society and the issue around gender equality around the world. 2017 the movement spread in USA due to women in the movie- and entertainment business speaking up about sexual harassements made by the Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. The hashtag #MeToo spread quickly around the world and came to Sweden in the fall the same year which contributed to the debate about women’s equal rights in society. The aim of this qualitative study is, with a cirital discourse analysis (CDA), to see how the rape victims and their perpetrators constructs in Sweden’s biggest evening news media, Aftonbladet, before (2013) and after the movement's upturn (2021). This study only tends to see how the female rape victims and the male pertpetrators are constructed, this due to statistics showing that woman are most often falling victims of rape and that their perpetrators are most often men (Brottsförebygganderådet [BRÅ], 2020). The study has found several discourses, for instance that the rape victims often are constructed as ideal victims or gets blamed for the rape. The victim blaming often constructes with rapemyths, which can be connected with an ideology of rapeculture. In one specific case there has been found an ideology of feminism, where the text explicitly and implicitly speaks about the womens right and the patrialchal structure in the society. The perpetrators on the other hand are often constructed as either regretful, sympathetic or as a beast. There has been found unequal power relations where the perpetrator is most likely to be constructed as the most powerful actor. On the other hand no differences in the construction of the victim or the perpetrator have been found during the two years, before and after the movement.

As required by § 11-1008(e) of the Criminal Procedure Article, please find an enclosed copy ofthe Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention, Youth, and Victim Services’ report titled, Report on the Operation and Results of the Program for Preventing HIV Infection for Rape Victims. This report includes information on the program and efforts to ensure victims of sexual assault are served in the most efficient and effective manner possible.

A country must protect its citizens, including the rape victims. Unfortunately, the protection is not clearly regulated in the form of restitution and compensation in the Criminal Code (KUHP) and Law Procedures Code (KUHAP). The issuance of Qanun Number 6 the Year 2014 about Jinayah Law has contributed significant changes and progress to the protection of rape victims. The study focused on how the politics of criminal law protects rape victims based on the Qanun of Jinayah law in Aceh. The research applied the normative juridical method, specifically analytical descriptive research. The data sources were primary and secondary legal sources. The data analysis was conducted qualitatively. The result indicated that there are two types of protection in the politics of criminal law on the protection of rape victims based on the qanun of jinayah law. First, the ta'zir penalty or fines in the form of gold to the perpetrators. Second, the payment of uqubat restitution from the perpetrators to the rape victims, a maximum of 750 grams of pure gold.

The 2020 Joint Chairmen’s Report - FY 2021 Operating and Capital Budgets (Pages 33-34) requires the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention, Youth, and Victim Services (Office) - previously known as the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention - to submit a report to the budget committees by December 1, 2020, as it relates to the care for post-exposure prophylaxis administered through the Pilot Program for Preventing Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection for Rape Victims.

Moral Foundations Theory proposes five intuition‐based moral concerns: Care and Fairness (“individualizing foundations”) as well as Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity (“binding foundations”). In studies carried out in Italy, Spain, and Germany, the authors examined how these concerns are associated with the acceptance of modern myths about sexual aggression (AMMSA), and how both jointly predict rape victim blaming. Overall, victim blaming was positively predicted by Authority and Sanctity, and negatively predicted by Care and Fairness. Although victim blaming was best predicted by AMMSA, moral concerns also contributed to its prediction, partly independently, partly mediated through AMMSA, and in the case of Sanctity in interaction with AMMSA. Discussion highlights how integrating moral foundations in the investigation of victim blaming and AMMSA across different cultural contexts may deepen our understanding of why, in each cultural context, victim blaming and related beliefs are resistant to change.

Våldtäkt är ett utbrett globalt problem som påverkar på individ- och samhällsnivå. Utifrån detta har syftet med denna studie varit att belysa och få en djupare förståelse för hur socionomstudenter uppfattar våldtäkt, offer- och förövarskap samt hur detta är kopplat till kön. Studien innehar en kvalitativ ansats och materialet samlades in genom sex semistrukturerade intervjuer. Urvalet gjordes genom ett snöbolls- samt ett målinriktat urval och materialet analyserades utifrån tematisk analysmetod. Resultatet påvisade att det fanns en otydlig definition av våldtäkt bland respondenterna och en viss problematik i att beskriva vart gränsen mellan sex och våldtäkt går då den påverkas av olika omständigheter. Våldtäkt uppfattades och beskrevs som en makthandling som utförs av män mot kvinnor, att det bottnar i ett jämställdhetsproblem. Respondenterna menade på att offret och förövaren kan vara vem som helst men av deras resonemang framgick att deras uppfattningar om offer- och förövarskapet kan kopplas till kön. Resultatet visade även på tre omständigheter som respondenterna uppfattar kan komma att villkora offer- och förövarskapet.

The aim of the given study is to investigate the impact of the legal as well as the sociocultural systems of Iran on the secondary victimization of rape victims in the country. As a theoretical background of the study, two feminist theories, Feminist criminology and Radical Feminist, will be used. By the help of these theories the influences of patriarchy on secondary victimization of rape victims in Iran will be explained. While case study is used to frame the design of the study, qualitative content analysis will also be used to collect the needed data through analyzing different sources and materials. The findings show that the lack of comprehensive laws regarding rape crime in Iran and the way service providers view and perceive rape victims have led to re-victimization of rape victims. Moreover, analyzing the sociocultural system of the country demonstrated that the prevalence of rape myths and gender inequality in the society have also contributed to re-victimization of such victims. The author believes that establishing new comprehensive laws regarding rape crime and changing the service providers and people’s attitudes regarding rape crime and rape victims through education are the most appropriate solutions for this problem.

Syftet med denna uppsats var att studera vad det är tingsrätten bedömer och värderar, när det gäller trovärdighet och tillförlitlighet i våldtäktsoffers berättelser. Utöver det så var syftet att undersöka om dessa faktorer kan jämföras med föreställningar om ideala och icke-ideala offer. Studien har genomförts med kvalitativ innehållsanalys som metod. Urvalet har inhämtats från två olika tingsrätter. Resultaten visar att det finns ett antal gemensamma kategorier som visar på vad tingsrätten ofta har med i sin bedömning, som vittnesutsagor, offrets beteende före, under och efter händelsen samt teknisk bevisning. Våra slutsatser är bland annat att bemötandet av våldtäktsoffer i rätten ser olika ut och att bedömningarna varierar mellan domarna. Studien visar att vissa faktorer från resultatet kan bidra till högre eller lägre offerstatus enligt teorin om det ideala brottsoffret samt beskrivningarna om det medskyldiga, passiva och motsträviga offret. Andra faktorer från resultatet kunde inte kopplas till dessa idealtyper gällande offer., The purpose of this paper was to study what it is that the district courts judge and value when it comes to credibility and reliability in the stories of victims of rape. We also wanted to study if these factors could be compared to the ideal and the non-ideal victim. The method that was used for this study was qualitative content analysis. The sample was obtained from two different district courts. The results show that there are several common categories that are often used by the districts courts in their judgements, such as witness testimonies, the behaviour of the victim before, during and after the incident and additional evidence. Our conclusions from the study are that rape victims can be treated differently in court and that the assessments look different depending which verdict it is about. The study shows that certain factors from the outcome may contribute to higher or lower victim status according to the theory of the ideal victim and descriptions of the complicit, passive and non-compliant victim. Other factors from the result could not be linked to these ideals of victims.

Background: Rape is considered a stressful trauma and often with durable consequences. How the aftermath of rape is for young adolescents' girls considering acute stress is an overlooked field and remains to be studied. Aims: In this study, we wanted to investigate acute stress among adolescent victims of rape and the psychometric properties of the Acute Stress Checklist for Children (ASC-Kids). Methods: A clinical sample (n = 79) of raped girls, 13 - 17 years old who had turned to a special rape victim unit for treatment, answered the ASC-Kids. ASC-Kids was also given to a group of minor stressed, non-raped adolescents in the same age range (n = 154) together with the University of California at Los Angeles Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index (UCLA PTSD RI), and the Sense of Coherence Scale 13 (SOC-13). Results : The scores from the groups were compared and showed significant differences in mean values on all the diagnostic criteria of acute stress disorder. In the clinical group, 36.7% obtained full ASD criteria. ASC-Kids could discriminate well between groups. Cronbach's alpha was found to be excellent, and the correlation between the UCLA PTSD RI and ASC-Kids found to be good; both ASC-Kids and UCLA PTSD RI had a good and moderate negative correlation with SOC-13. Conclusion: Adolescent female rape victims were shown to have a very high level of acute stress, and the ASC-Kids was found to have sound psychometrics and can be a valuable screening instrument to support clinicians in their assessments of an indication of adolescents after potentially stressful events such as rape.

Nineteen rape victims who had given evidence in court in English courts were interviewed. Questions concerned their examination in court, their perceptions of the criminal justice system, particularly criminal court processes, and the perceived utility of 'special measures' to facilitate giving evidence. Participants believed that prosecution lawyers generally did not accuse them of lying, attack what they said, put their character in doubt, put words in their mouth or use trick or leading questions. Defence lawyers were perceived to be significantly more likely to use these techniques. Participants reported that they felt they understood what was going on and, importantly, felt that they were reasonably able to give accurate evidence, They generally showed high levels of satisfaction with the way they had been treated, and positive attitudes towards measures to make giving evidence less stressful.

U posljednjih tridesetak godina u svijetu raste interes za ispitivanje stavova prema silovanju. U Hrvatskoj se tek u skorije vrijeme započelo s istraživanjem u ovom području, no zasad nema standardiziranog instrumenta za mjerenje stavova prema silovanja. Stoga je cilj ovog rada provjeriti jednu od najpopularnijih mjera - Fieldovu skalu stavova prema silovanju te, ukoliko sadržajna i psihometrijska analiza to pokažu potrebnim, predložiti njenu modifikaciju za primjenu na hrvatskom uzorku. Istraživanje je provedeno na uzorku od 473 zagrebačkih studenata 1. i 2. godine različitih studijskih usmjerenja (245 djevojaka i 228 mladića). Kao vanjski kriterij valjanosti korištena je Skala mitova o silovanju. Rezultati su pokazali da se faktorska struktura skale iz Fieldovog istraživanja nije ponovila na hrvatskom uzorku, a analiza čestica je pokazala da skala mjeri srodne, ali ipak različite predmete mjerenja. Skala je modificirana prema dva kriterija: a) izuzete su čestice koje se odnose na uvjerenja u uzrocima silovanja i b) izuzete su čestice čija je korelacija s ukupnim rezultatom manja od 0.30. Predložena modifikacija sadrži 16 čestica koje se odnose na stav prema žrtvama silovanja. Nova skala ima jednofaktorsku strukturu i pokazala se visoko interno konzistentnom (α = 0,87) te u visokoj korelaciji s vanjskim kriterijem., During the last thirty years there has been a growing interest in the world in researching attitudes toward rape. In Croatia, research in this field has begun only recently, and there is still no standardized instrument for measuring attitudes toward rape. Therefore, the aim of this study was to validate one of the most popular measurse – Field's Attitude Toward Rape Scale, and, if content and psychometric analysis suggests so, to propose a modification of the scale for its use in Croatia. The study comprised 473 first and second year students from University of Zagreb (245 female and 228 male). Rape Myth Acceptance Scale was used as external criteria. Results revealed that the factor structure found in Field's study was not replicated in the Croatian sample. Item analysis showed that the scale measures similar, but various objects. The Scale was modified on the basis of two criteria: (a) items measuring beliefs were excluded; (b) items correlated less than 0.30 with total result on the scale were excluded also. The New scale consists of 16 items measuring attitudes toward rape victims. The scale demonstrated one factor structure, and proved to be higly internally consistent (alpha= 0.87) and strongly correlated with external criteria.

To understand the barriers rape victims and their supporters face from their informal networks while disclosing rape events in Tanzania, 30 in-depth interviews with victims and supporters were conducted. We found, that decisions to disclose rape events were influenced at the individual, family, and community levels. The overall theme, ‘normative justification of rape’ indicated wider societal beliefs and attitudes through all levels. The categories ‘internalizing shame and fearing the consequences’, ‘defending family integrity’, ‘reconciling role of the elders’, and ‘marginalizing victims and supporters’ captured the impact the identified normative justification of rape had on specific levels. The possible consequences and implications for interventions are discussed., The authors gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the participants, and those who assisted in one way or the other, at the women help centers in Dar es Salaam and in rural Temeke. This work was funded by the Swedish Inter-national Development Cooperation Agency, Department for Research Coop-eration (Sida/SAREC); and the Umeå Centre for Global Health Research, with support from the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Re-search [grant no. 2006-1512].

This thesis discusses two cases of rape against adolescent girls that happened in Cianjur, West Java, and Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara in Indonesia. First of all, the thesis evaluates the availability of the legal framework in the area of rape in Indonesia that ensures the victims rights with regard to rape. It will look at whether Indonesia has ratified relevant international human rights instrument with regard to rape, whether the legal framework in the area of rape has adhered to the international human rights standard, and if there is the possibility to submit complaint and get it examined. Secondly, the thesis examines if the victim rights of rape are accessible and whether the relevant services and mechanisms are secured for the rape victims without any kind of discrimination. It will investigate if non-discriminatory access to judicial mechanisms and services are secured, whether physical, economic, and social obstacles are being eliminated, and if the access to information and education is available. The thesis demonstrates that the accessibility of the rights of victims rape were due to the fruitful combinations of the effective supports of legal officers and judiciary, the provisions of children rights protection law, and the support of intermediary or paralegal during the case handling.

In this thesis it was my intention to explore the theme of rape among Muslim women in the Netherlands more in-depth, because I would like to continue arguing that it is of great importance to raise more awareness – in Dutch society, especially regarding the government – as to how these two ethnic groups of Turkish and Moroccan female rape victims could be effectively helped in the regular Dutch care sector, especially the women’s shelters and psychology practices.

is included in the article.

The percentage of rape victims who do not seek social support after rape is alarming, particularly given the potential consequences of not seeking help. The present study attempts to address the dilemma of rape and attempted rape victims' lack of support seeking through a two-phase online intervention designed to encourage them to seek treatment. The study manipulates factors involved in characterizing oneself as a rape victim and in seeking help for problems resulting from rape. It was hypothesized that victims who received the intervention would seek counseling more than victims in a wait-list control group. Participants were 1322 women ranging in age from 17 to 39 from a large, southeastern university. Of these women, 344, or 26% of the sample, reported an experience consistent with a legal definition of rape or attempted rape. Unfortunately, it was not possible to fully examine the proposed model in this study, as hypothesized differences between intervention and control subjects did not exist. However, interesting trends developed collapsing across treatment groups. While few participants sought formal help, almost three-fourths sought informal help and almost half sought information about counseling. These findings are made even more salient by the large number of non-recent victims who sought help for the first time. Taking part in the study itself appeared to encourage victims who had gone without help for some time to actually seek help. In addition, higher levels of distress were associated with seeking help, as were higher levels of negative social reactions, stigma, and self-blame. Perceived need for help was found to mediate the relationship between distress and intent to seek help. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.

In recent years, numerous studies have assessed social perceptions of rape in various subject populations. One phenomenon that has received considerable attention is the tendency of observers to attribute responsibility for rape to the victim rather than to the rapist. The present study was an attempt to explore some of the factors (just world beliefs, empathy, perceptions of similarity to the rape victim and rape perpetrator) that contribute to this tendency to blame the victim of rape, and to evaluate the adequacy of three competing theories (Lerner's, Walster's and Shaver's) that have been used to explain this phenomenon. Students at a highly selective university were given a just world belief scale and a self-report measure of dispositional empathy. Reactions to rape victims were measured in two ways. Subjects completed a scale measuring callous attitudes towards rape victims. They also read one of four possible rape vignettes, which differed in the extent of involvement between the woman and man prior to the rape, and were asked to make attributions of responsibility. Using the questionnaire responses of 303 students, analyses of variance showed demographic differences in these measures. Respondents reacted more favorably to victims that were raped by a stranger, with whom they had no prior involvement, and attributed the most responsibility to victims of date rape. Qualitative data suggested that students were using various strategies to assess responsibility. Correlational and Multiple Regression analyses showed that neither just world beliefs nor empathy were important factors in understanding victim callous attitudes and attributions of responsibility in rape scenarios. Students' perceptions of similarity to the rape victim and rape perpetrator were, however, highly related to the reactions to rape victims, accounting for 12% of the variance of victim blame in the rape scenarios. These results indicated that students were more lenient towards victims with w

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) frequently occurs as a response to rape. Rape victims and other trauma survivors frequently report sleep disturbances following the traumatic event. Responses of 23 rape victims with PTSD and 23 comparison women to sleep-related items on four standardized instruments were analyzed. The instruments used were the Impact of Events Scale (Horowitz, Wilner, Alvarez, 1979), the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (Derogatis, 1977), the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979), and the PENN Inventory for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (Hammarberg, 1990). All sleep-related items analyzed showed significant positive associations with rape and PTSD. Predictive power of each item was assessed. Being awakened from sleep during the rape was not significantly associated with self-reported sleep disturbances. Findings support the assertion that sleep disturbances are a hallmark of PTSD (Ross et al., 1989). The Information Processing of Trauma Model (Burgess & Hartman, 1988; Hartman & Burgess, 1988) was supported and its usefulness in predicting and explaining response to sexual trauma was expanded to include adult female rape victims. Future research in sleep and trauma with female populations is strongly indicated.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not women who have been sexually revictimized in adulthood are more highly dissociative and have more frequent histories of child sexual abuse than women raped once. The sample included 75 women; 50 women were recruited from rape care programs throughout the state of New Jersey and two rape care programs in Pennsylvania. Counselors working with rape victims recruited clients for the study, and subjects completed a questionnaire including the Sexual Experiences Survey, the Dissociative Experiences Scale and the Child Maltreatment Interview Schedule. A control group of 25 subjects was recruited from three graduate classes in the Department of Education at two universities. Results of analyses of variance indicated that multiple-incident rape victims reported significantly higher levels of dissociation than single-incident victims and control group members. Single-incident victims reported significantly higher levels of dissociation than control group members. Over 40% of the women from rape care programs had dissociation scores which indicated that further assessment for dissociative disorders was warranted. Results of interviews with rape care programs indicated that few rape care counselors were skilled in the diagnosis and treatment of the dissociative disorders or in the utilization of assessment tools for dissociation, although half of the centers indicated that they do treat dissociative disorders. Results of chi-square analyses indicated that multiple-incident victims reported significantly more frequent histories of child sexual abuse than members of the single-incident group and the control group. The single-incident group reported significantly more frequent histories of child sexual abuse than the control group. Child sexual victimization was significantly more severe within the multiple-incident group than the single-incident group or the control group. Although it was not possible to determine causalit

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess the level of post-traumatic stress in juvenile male rape victims and to test for its relationships with perceived parental rearing and personality dimensions. METHOD: Fifteen subjects (mean age of 16 years) were recruited from a correctional camp for juvenile criminals in Arkhangelsk, Russia. They were investigated by means of the "Revised Impact of Event Scale," the "Child Self-Report Post-Traumatic Stress Reaction Index," the "Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale," the "EMBU" (perceived parental rearing) and the "Temperament and Character Inventory" (TCI). RESULTS: The level of post-traumatic stress, in most cases moderate to high, correlated with the temperament dimensions of harm avoidance and reward dependence. As concerns parental rearing, the total level of post-traumatic stress reaction was negatively correlated with paternal emotional warmth and positively with paternal rejection. CONCLUSIONS: The experience of post-traumatic stress is influenced by temperamental characteristics as well as by perceived parental rearing practices. Assumingly, these factors also play a role in becoming a rape victim, which deserves further investigation.

Rape is a violent crime. Myths and misconceptions surrounding it only further its injustice. Many victims, especially college students, don't report the crime because they fear police officers' attitudes towards them. Research by the FBI has shown that police officers as a whole are more understanding of the rape victim than is society in general. This experiment assesses the different attitudes of college students and police officers in two different cities (Helena and Kalispell) toward women as rape victims by means of a rape attitude survey. Each individual's scores were totalled and the two test groups for each city compared using an independent sample t-test. There was not a significant difference between the attitude scores of the two Helena groups or the two Kalispell groups. However, there was a significant difference in attitude scores as a combined function of occupation and sex of the respondent using the one-way ANOVA test: Police officers (Helena and Kalispell Police Departments combined) had significantly more empathetic attitude scores than college students (Carroll College and Flathead Valley Community College combined) did.

Grounded theory guided the analysis of 30 in-depth interviews with raped women and community members who had supported raped women in their contact with the police and health care services in Tanzania. The aim of this study was to understand and conceptualize the experiences of the informants by creating a theoretical model focusing on barriers, strategies, and responses during the help seeking process. The results illustrate a process of managing in the contemporary world characterized as walking a path of anger and humiliation. The barriers are illustrated by painful experiences of realizing it's all about money, meeting unprofessionalism and irresponsibility, subjected to unreliable services, and by being caught in a messed-up system. Negotiating truths and knowing what to do capture the informants' coping strategies. The study indicates an urgent need for improvement in the formal procedures of handling rape cases, improved collaboration between the police and the health care system, as well as specific training for professionals to improve their communication and caring skills., The authors gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the participants, and those who assisted in one way or another at the women help centres in Dar es Salaam and in rural Temeke.

This study investigates the impact of victim sexual orientation, the degree of victim physical resistance, and respondent gender on attributions of blame and assault severity in a hypothetical case of stranger-perpetrated male rape. One hundred eighty-three participants read a scenario depicting a rape in which the victim's sexuality and degree of resistance were both varied between-subjects before completing 12 blame attribution items. Overall, findings suggest that male respondents were less pro-victim than were females. While women generally attributed little victim blame and considered the assault very severe regardless of condition, men were influenced by both factors. Specifically, although men considered the assault severe, they blamed a gay victim more when he fought back against his attacker but, conversely, blamed a heterosexual victim when he did not fight back. Results are discussed in relation to homophobia and judgments about victim resistance during rape. Implications for treatment services are also considered.

We report appreciably high concentrations of ethanol (82 and 102 mg/dL) in specimens of urine collected from two victims of date rape. Both girls (aged 15 and 18 years) suffered from diabetes mellitus, but adamantly denied drinking any alcohol before or after the incident. The presence of glycosuria and high risk of fungal infections in female diabetics suggests that ethanol was produced in vitro by fermentation after voiding. Making a routine test for sugar in the urine and ensuring that the sampling tubes contain sufficient sodium or potassium fluoride to inhibit glycolysis are recommended practices. A specific marker for post-sampling synthesis of ethanol might also be used such as the 5HTOL/5HIAA ratio.

Following sexual assault, many women express some guilt or responsibility for their rape. This has been described as self blaming by various researchers. Two types of self blaming have been identified - behavioural and characterological. Functional theories describe behavioural self blaming as having a positive adaptive role for the victim, while feminist theorists describe self blaming as a product of women's socialisation. They maintain that self blaming is not functional, but that it serves to maintain and perpetuate a rape culture. The objective of this study was firstly to explore the self blaming response through a victim analogue study, and secondly, to examine the relationship between self blaming and the feminist explanation of self blaming. The results from the victim analogue part of the study indicate that self blaming is not purely a response to the trauma of rape. The two types of self blaming were not readily identifiable but appeared to merge into one combined grouping. A conceptual explanation for this lack of differentiation suggests that the two types of self blaming may not be mutually exclusive to each other as previously described. The second part of the study found relationships existed between rape myth acceptance and rape definition, stereotypical beliefs and sexual vulnerability. Self blaming was also significantly related to rape myth acceptance, and this was viewed as further support for the feminist theory.

Trigger warnings have been a cause for concern nationwide, and it remains unclear whether they truly protect students with varying histories of sexual assault trauma when exposed to triggering experiences. The sample consisted of 62 participants enrolled in an Introduction to Psychology course at Bucknell in the Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 semesters. Students responded to a three-part survey, filling out a prior sexual victimization scale, a life events checklist, a PTSD checklist, a distress scale, a research participation scale, and demographic questions in response to reading an emotionally distressing, “triggering” passage from Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye.” Participants were also able to opt-out of the triggering passage and read a neutral passage instead. Follow-up online surveys with a distress scale and adapted PTSD checklist based on the passage were sent to participants two days and two weeks after initially reading the passage. Three hypotheses were tested: First, it was expected that participants who have experienced any trauma would report more emotional distress to the triggering passage than those without a trauma history; second, it was expected that students who have a history of sexual trauma would report more emotional distress to the triggering passage than those without such history; and third, participants with PTSD would report more emotional distress to the triggering passage than those without PTSD. Results show that participants had prolonged emotional distress over the two week testing period, with victims of sexual assault indicating higher scores on measures of emotional distress and an adapted PTSD checklist in response to the literature. As one of the most common forms of trauma for college students is sexual assault, it is essential to know whether trigger warnings can be used in college courses in order to avoid negative traumatic reactions from students when completing assignments.