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DARVO (deny, attack, reverse victim and offender) is a response exhibited by perpetrators to deflect blame and responsibility. When using DARVO, perpetrators deny their involvement in wrongdoing, attack their victims’ credibility, and argue that they are the real victims. The purpose of this study was to measure the influence of DARVO and another manipulative tactic—insincere perpetrator apologies—on observers’ judgments of a victim and perpetrator in a fictional sexual violence scenario. Perpetrator DARVO was experimentally manipulated via fictional vignettes to measure their impact on perceived perpetrator and victim abusiveness, responsibility, and believability. Data from 230 undergraduate students revealed that participants who were exposed to perpetrator DARVO rated the perpetrator as less abusive ([Formula: see text], 90% CI [0.04, 0.15]), less responsible for the sexual assault ([Formula: see text], [0.001, 0.06]), and more believable compared ([Formula: see text], [0.002, 0.07]) to participants who were exposed to a perpetrator who did not use DARVO. DARVO-exposed participants rated the victim as more abusive ([Formula: see text], [0.04, 0.14]) and less believable ([Formula: see text], [0.03, 0.14]), and also expressed less willingness to punish the perpetrator and greater willingness to punish the victim. Insincere apologies had minimal impact on ratings. By promoting distrust in victims and less punitive views of perpetrators, DARVO might contribute to rape-supporting outcomes such as victim blaming, greater victim distress, and low rates of rape reporting and perpetrator prosecution.

Many studies have examined the consequences of being objectified by others and of self-objectification, but less attention has been given to those who objectify others. We therefore examined the re...

Perpetrators of interpersonal violence sometimes use denial, engage in personal attacks on victim credibility, and assume a victimized role (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender; DARVO) to def...

Increases in the availability and accessibility of Internet pornography have led growing numbers of children to become consumers of sexually explicit media. Research has identified negative behavioral and attitudinal outcomes associated with Internet pornography use in childhood and adolescence, but few studies have examined sexual victimization as a correlate. The current study aimed to examine the association between age of first Internet pornography exposure and sexual victimization. Data from 154 undergraduate women yielded several important findings. Women who viewed Internet pornography unintentionally at a younger age reported more sexual victimization. Specifically, compared to women who were first unintentionally exposed to Internet pornography at age 14 or older, women with unintentional first Internet pornography exposure before the age of 14 reported more childhood sexual abuse, sexual abuse in adulthood, and more instances of sexual coercion and aggression. Women with younger age of unintentional Internet pornography exposure also reported more interpersonal sexual objectification than women who had never viewed Internet pornography at all. Age of first intentional exposure to Internet pornography was not related to women’s self-reported experiences of objectification, although this may be because women’s intentional exposure tended to happen at older ages. Overall, the results of this study suggest that women’s unintentional Internet pornography exposure at a young age may contribute to a potentially harmful sexual socialization. Early Internet pornography exposure in childhood should be considered a potential risk factor for women’s sexual victimization.

Perpetrators of violence often use a strategy of Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender (DARVO) to confuse and silence their victims. Although some previous research has examined the individ...