Rape myth acceptance among Croatian and Cypriot police officers
Abstract
This article draws on a survey involving 390 police officers from Croatia and Cyprus, where the officers’ views on rape and rape myths are measured via the updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale. In all, the findings stress that police officers do not buy-in the full array of the rape mythology, but only a part of it. Also, female officers, as opposed to male, appear to be more sensitive towards victimhood resulting from rape. Furthermore, the overall study findings complement findings recorded overseas, in other police organizations, attached to and influenced by different backgrounds and forces at work.
Introduction
Rape myths, like most bundles of myths, are perceived to be a set of enduring, rigid and a priori held misconceptions about the actors involved in ‘typical’ episodes of rape and the circumstances in which such episodes usually emerge. Inevitably, much like society at large, police officers, too, often adopt such myths, despite evidence to the contrary (Waterhouse et al., 2016).
In theory, female rape is the result of women refusing to submit to a sexual act (Miller and Kanazawa, 2007; Pinker, 2002). However, and speaking in legal terms, while it may be somewhat easier to prove the occurrence or not of a sexual act, the component of refusal – lack of, compelled or forced consent – is often more difficult to establish. Adding to that, the outlooks of law enforcers, who happen to be the gatekeepers of the criminal justice system, formulate a crucial crossing point in criminal proceedings; both while receiving a complaint for rape (Page, 2007), collecting evidence (Campbell and Fehler-Cabral, 2020) and pressing charges (Salerno-Ferraro and Jung, 2021) to that end. In addition, rape myths held by police officers could play an essential part in this, since victim-blaming propensities could alter the officers’ perceptions of victims’ reliability and this, in turn, could affect the way they approach reported rapes (Wentz and Archbold, 2012: 25). Undeniably, having in mind the indispensable role of police officers in handling complaints against rape, this article sets out to study the degree to which rape myths are endorsed by Croatian and Cypriot police officers. Moreover, it is assumed that the higher the approval rate of rape myths, the higher the possibilities of rape victims – and rape cases – to receive insufficient attention. However, this is not to say that no other factors play a role in rape beliefs held by police officers – that is, victim, crime scene and professional characteristics (Parratt and Pina, 2017) – but to proclaim that for our purposes we limit our investigation to this supposition.
No doubt, while there is an increasing scholarly attention in police officers’ perceptions on rape victims (Bitton and Jaeger, 2020; Garza and Franklin, 2020; Hine and Murphy, 2017; Parratt and Pina, 2017; Venema, 2018; Wentz and Archbold, 2012), this sphere of interest is far from having been satisfactorily explored. Having said that, this article seeks to complement the extant knowledge on the matter. It begins with an introduction to research and concepts in pertinence to rape myths, and then moves on to convey the findings of an empirical research conducted on 390 Croatian and Cypriot police officers. Following this, the results are further explored and contrasted to other relevant studies.
Myths surrounding rape
Lonsway and Fitzgerald (1994: 133) describe rape myths as beliefs and attitudes about rape that do not match with reality are largely wrong but are broadly accepted and are intended to defend sexual aggression against women. Likewise, Gray and Horvath (2018: 16) echo that rape myths are attitudes on the act of rape, the perpetrators and the victims, which perpetuate the culpability of victims while trivializing the accountability of offenders. Illustrations of rape myths contain perceptions such as ‘women ask to be raped, rape involves a weapon and obvious physical injury, rape is a result of uncontrollable passion, women lie about being raped, and only certain kinds of women are raped’ (Venema, 2018: 178-179). Remarkably, as noted by Chapleau et al. (2008: 602), rape myths such as ‘she asked for it’ and ‘he didn’t mean to’ have long been categorized and operationalized into scales (the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale) by well-established academics – that is, Payne et al. (1999), whose work forms the basis of this article.
Rape myths have been established and sustained against a patriarchal backdrop, the prime resolution of which has always been the discharge of men from fault and culpability. Interestingly, rape myths have been predicated for and directed to the demarcation of sexuality and gender roles since Greek mythology (Zeitlin, 1986). What is more, such myths vector towards castigating a particular kind of women who supposedly enable at best, and incite at worst, their sexual victimization. In criminological parlance, this concept is premised on victim precipitation theory which affirms that a victim’s behaviour and/or characteristics can singlehandedly cause her or his own victimization (Siegel, 2012: 74), and subsequent blaming that could be reified in the form of systematic testimonial injustice in the courts of law (Fricker, 2007). Generally speaking, rape myths deny, justify and disseminate the sexual violence of men against women in society (Chapleau et al., 2008), and deplorably enough, where rapes do actually occur, myths purport that only particular kind of women are raped (Grubb and Turner, 2012). As a result, depending on how the attack was carried out, the causes, the circumstances and the consequences, men either deny or tone down or even justify their actions. These views, being stereotypical and untrue, have a key impact on the way victims of sexual abuse are received by society and police in particular (Hine and Murphy, 2017; Jordan, 2004), since officers – being part of society – often reflect the preconceived views held by the general population (Page, 2008) and this may lead to substandard investigation of both female (Shaw et al., 2017) and male rape cases (Javaid, 2017) as well as to the hesitation of women to report their very victimization (Du Mont et al., 2003).
Rape myths and police endorsement
Comparative research on citizens and police officers in pertinence to rape myth acceptance seems to be at odds, as findings to that end often reach contradicting verdicts. A recent study conducted by Bitton and Jaeger (2020) found that police officers’ acceptance of rape myths lies at a higher point than students, whereas Sleath and Bull (2015) as well as Brown and King (1998) affirmed that officers do not endorse myths about rape victims more than do other segments of the population. Relatedly, regarding gender and rape myth acceptance, the body of research stresses that men, as opposed to women, tend to be more supportive of such myths (Aronowitz et al., 2012; Barnett et al., 2018; Bitton and Jaeger, 2020; Suarez and Gadalla, 2010), although this separation is not always easily discernible (Newcombe et al., 2008).
As far as police officers are concerned, their views on the matter appear to display some incongruity. Specifically, according to a study among police trainees in India (Thomas, 2016), about 77.4% of women denied the myths about rape compared with men (61.3%). Likewise, Brown and King (1998) found that female police officers, as opposed to male, accepted rape myths to a lower degree. This stance was validated by a systematic review conducted by Parratt and Pina (2017), which emphasized that female officers tend to hold more positive perceptions of rape victims compared with male officers. Also, a study with a sample of 517 police officers in a large US police department established that male officers reported increased rape myth acceptance compared with female officers (Garza and Franklin, 2020). Correspondingly, Schuck (2018) suggested that as the number of women in policing increases, so do the reporting and clearance rates for rape cases.
Contradistinctively, another study conducted on police officers (Jordan, 2001) showed that the acceptance of myths among women was similar to the acceptance among men, and contended that organizational culture, socialization and peer pressure have an impact on individual behaviours. Similarly, additional studies on police officers (Venema, 2018) did not show any sizable variance in the acceptance of myths between men and women, although there has been recorded that female officers may subscribe to rape myths more than male officers (Wentz and Archbold, 2012). As Alderden and Ullman (2012) predicated in their study of criminal sexual assault cases, female police officers (detectives) may not necessarily be more sensitive than male officers towards female victims of sexual offences.
Legal definition of rape
It is widely held that national legal prescriptions, to a certain extent at least, function as mediums of public expression over subject matters central to societal, and other genre, concerns. On this basis lies the expressive function of law (Sunstein, 1996) that reflects domestic attitudes and normative values (Anderson and Pildes, 2000) on corresponding themes (i.e. gendered violence), which in turn, and in concern to gender-role beliefs, influence rape myth acceptance among the corresponding population (Fansher and Zedaker, 2022). To this effect, the legal definitions of rape in Croatia and Cyprus are explicated, so to further expose the context in which rape myths are understood and dealt with in the two different nations.
Croatia
As prescribed by the Criminal Code, Title 16, Article 152 and Article 153,1
Non-Consensual Sexual IntercourseArticle 152(1) Whoever engages in sexual intercourse or an equivalent sexual act with another person without this person’s consent, or whoever induces another person to engage without his or her consent in sexual intercourse or an equivalent sexual act with a third party or to perform without his or her consent a sexual act equated to sexual intercourse upon himself or herself, shall be punished by imprisonment from six months to five years.(2) A perpetrator who is avoidably mistaken as to the existence of consent referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, shall be punished by imprisonment not exceeding three years.(3) Consent referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall exist if the person decided of his or her own free will to engage in sexual intercourse or an equivalent sexual act and was capable of making and expressing such a decision. It shall be deemed that no such consent exists in particular if the sexual intercourse or the equivalent sexual act was performed by the use of force or threat, by fraud, by abusing one’s position towards a person who is in a situation of dependence with respect to the perpetrator, by exploiting a person’s condition due to which the person was unable to express his or her refusal or if it was performed against a person unlawfully deprived of liberty.RapeArticle 153(1) Whoever commits the offence referred to in Article 152, paragraph 1, of this Code by the use of force or by threat of an imminent attack on the life or limb of the raped or other person, shall be punished by imprisonment from one to ten years.(2) A perpetrator who is avoidably mistaken as to the existence of consent referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be punished by imprisonment from six months to five years.
Cyprus
As postulated by the Criminal Code, Cap 154, Article 144,2
RapeArticle 144Any person who engages in illicit intercourse with another person through vaginal, anal or oral penetration, without his or her consent or with consent given under the state of violence, threat or fear, is guilty of a felony called rape and punishable by (up to) life imprisonment.
Interestingly, the juxtaposition of the above legal definitions leads us to surmise that in Cyprus, as opposed to Croatia, the constitution of rape does not necessarily require the infliction of violence or a threat thereof, while an intercourse without consent suffices to prove illegitimacy. Also, the respective prescribed punishments exhibit marked variance, since Cypriot legislation postulates a prison sentence up to life, while, on the other hand, Croatian law on rape stipulates that rape is to be punished up to 10 years in prison, and when a perpetrator is mistaken as to the consent (not) given by the plaintiff, such sentence shall be decreased to 5 years in prison maximum. At this point, it is worth stating that albeit Cypriot legislation stipulates for life in prison punishment, in practice, the average sentence for rape does not exceed 8 years (Constantinou, 2020). Having said that – and provided that domestic legislative prescriptions can be seen as forms of responsive law attached to socio-political elements (Nonet and Selznick, 2017) – rape laws reflect local norms, developments and expectations, and thus it could be argued that the offence of rape, and by extent all sexual offences against women, primarily, is viewed (and treated) with a slightly more open-minded lens in Cyprus, in contrast to Croatia. Taken to its furthest extent, for proving the occurrence of rape in Croatia (and less in Cyprus) such incidents need to resemble ‘real rapes’, violent and frightening that happen to innocent women who cannot, in any possible way, fight off their attacker (Tilton, 2022: 5). Be it as it is, whether and to what degree this is echoed in police attitudes as regards the myths of rape, is to be seen in the ensuing part of the article.
Croatian police
Croatia is situated between central and eastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea between Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. The Croatian Police was established in the early 1990s and covers 56,594 km2, including a 3320-km border line. It polices a 4.28 million population, mostly composed of Croats who follow Roman Catholicism. The Croatian Police is centralized and it is an organizational part of the Ministry of the Interior. At the top of the hierarchical structure of the Ministry is the Minister of the Interior and of the Croatian Police the General Police Director, followed by 20 police administrations that form the middle level of the structure which in turn have under their command 176 police stations that comprise the bottom of the hierarchy. The majority of regular police work is performed at the level of police stations, which can be either basic or specialized (airport, traffic, border, maritime, etc.). The Croatian Police currently employs slightly over 20,000 sworn officers – a ratio of one police officer per 202 inhabitants (1:202). Police recruits can enter the police upon completing their secondary education and after successfully passing the 11 months basic training course at the Police Academy. At present, female police members make up the 20.15% of the entire police personnel.
Cyprus police
The modern Cyprus Police was established in 1960, the year in which the Republic of Cyprus gained its independence from colonial Britain. Since then, Cyprus Police has been centralized, yet it still resembles operational features (militaristic) that reflect the erstwhile colonial model of policing. Nonetheless, Cyprus Police is a relatively small organization, divided in six divisions. Its primary goal is to preserve law and order across the island, and for doing so it undertakes a wide range of activities such as enforcing the law in pertinence to coastal and immigration matters, to internal assets, to road traffic, and to all sorts of (typical and unconventional) crime (Constantinou, 2017: 28). As of August 2021, Cyprus Police comprises 4865 police officers (26% female), of whom 17% are special constables, 63% constables, 12% sergeants and the remaining 8% are inspectors and higher rank officers. Furthermore, Cyprus Police serves 858,000 permanent residents and 2,670,000 tourists (on an annual basis), with the police density rising up to 1:278. It polices an area of 5.683 m2 and 307.1 km of coastline. The composure of Cyprus Police is, to a great extent, homogeneous (Greek Orthodox), and so is the policed public (aside the tourist population)
While Croatian and Cyprus Police share many commonalities (centralized operational structure and gender composition), and both are the main civil security forces within their Euro-Mediterranean respective states, they also differ in many ways. That is, there are distinctions in geographical space, educational level of police members, religious doctrine, ethnic descent and social milieu. Also, their current models of policing are not completely detached from the recent past of the two nations that existed for tens of years under the complete control of oppressive regimes (i.e. Communist Yugoslavia and British Cyprus colonialism) which in turn have shaped the organization, structure and function of local policing (Mawby, 2008). In light of these, and upon having established close ties between the authors during works of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL), it was decided that the comparison of police in Croatia and Cyprus would be worthy of undertaking.
Against the foregoing backdrop, this article attempts to decipher the relationship between nationality and gender of police officers and rape myth acceptance. The findings presented below seek to analyse these dualities and, as a result, further crystallize the relevant associations.
Methodology
For collecting the data of the current research, a survey was administered between 2019 and 2020 to both samples in Croatia and Cyprus. A convenient sampling design was used, as reaching out to the entire police population (and randomly selecting participants) in both countries was close to impossible. Specifically, self-reported questionnaires were administered by the authors at the Police Academy of Croatia and at the University of Cyprus to police officers who were in their second year into their careers at the Police. Police officers had been attending training and educational courses at the Police Academy and at the Cyprus University, respectively. During that time, they were given the option to voluntarily participate in this study. In total, 220 police constables from Cyprus and 170 constables from Croatia (100% response rate) participated in the study and completed a 16-item questionnaire, which was translated for that purpose in the corresponding native languages.
The questionnaire was constructed by the authors based on the updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (McMahon and Farmer, 2011). It contained two sections: (a) the demographics section and (b) the rape myths section. Rape myths were operationalized by measuring the perceptions of police officers on notions such as victim precipitation of sexual violence, male aggression and dominance, pathology of offending, as well as marital and gendered violence using 13 items (Table 1). Each item required participants to respond to 5-point Likert-type categories, ranging from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’. The 13 items put to operationalize rape myths comprised the dependent variables of the study and were compared against the main independent variables, namely, nationality and gender. In all, a three-scale and 16-item self-reported questionnaire was completed by 390 research participants. Subsequently, the collected data were analysed by inferential and descriptive statistics, on univariate and bivariate statistical levels.
| Scale (items) | Meana | SD | Skewness | Kurtosis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Focus on the act (items 1–4) | 2.64 | 1.00 | 0.14 | 0.95 |
| Focus on victim (items 5–9) | 2.28 | 1.06 | 0.80 | 0.20 |
| Focus on offender (items 10–13) | 3.17 | 1.14 | −0.29 | −0.77 |
a
Strongly disagree = 1, disagree = 2, neither agree nor disagree = 3, agree = 4, strongly agree = 5.
Findings
The findings draw on the analysis of the responses of two separate samples: Cypriot law enforcers (n = 220; 88 females) and Croatian (n = 170; 56 females). More to the point, the data in concern to the three scales (the act itself, the victim’s end and the offender’s end) were analysed by the SPSS 24.0 in two phases. First, we used descriptive statistics to attest whether myths on rape were adopted/discarded by our respondents. Second, once the assumption for homogeneity was met for the items within the three scales, we employed inferential statistics (independent t tests) to test whether police perceptions (clustered in the three scales) differed between Cypriots and Croatians. Upon that, we embarked to discover whether there were any disparities between male/female gender.
In all, it was found that overall police acceptance of rape myths is partially supported and that nationality and gender have some role to play in this. As demonstrated in Table 1, the strongest sentiments encompassing rape myths among police officers concern the third part of the elements, which deals with the perpetrator. Upon analysing the scores accumulated in all 13 items (ranging from 1 = ‘strongly disagree’ to 5 = ‘strongly agree’) grouped in three elements, it was found that, overall, (a) the myths surrounding the victim were least endorsed (mean of 2.28); (b) the myths involving the act of rape itself were also not endorsed – to a lesser degree though (mean of 2.64); and (c) the myths dealing with the offender were endorsed the most (mean of 3.17).
In addition, according to simple majority (see Table 2), it was found that overall police officers accepted less than half of the 13 myths available on the questionnaire. Moreover, although Croatian officers accepted five such myths, Cypriot officers endorsed four myths. Three of the rape myths were commonly held, and two on the part of Croatian officers and one on the part of Cypriot officers differed. More to the point, both nationalities embraced the following myths: (a) rapes almost always involve physical violence – Croatians 80.6%, Cypriots 69.1%; (b) rapists are persons with mental disorders – Croatians 77.1%, Cypriots 75%; and (c) alcohol or drugs can turn someone into a rapist – Croatians 70.5%, Cypriots 71.8%. In addition, Croatian officers supported that ‘women who flirt excessively with men will get into trouble’ (55.3%) and ‘rape victims are young’ (62.4%). On the contrary, Cypriot officers held that ‘rape accusations are often used as a way of getting back at guys or claiming insurance money’ (60.9%).
| Rape myths | Nationality | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cypriot | Croatian | |||||
| Strongly disagree & disagreea | Neither agree nor disagree | Strongly agree & agree | Strongly disagree & disagree | Neither agree nor disagree | Strongly agree & agree | |
| FOCUS ON THE ACT | ||||||
| 1. Most rapes happen between strangersb | 65.9% | 7.7% | 26.4% | 88.9% | 3.5% | 7.6% |
| 2. Rapes almost always involve physical violence | 29.5% | 1.4% | 69.1% | 19.4% | 0% | 80.6% |
| 3. Rapes cannot happen between married couplesb | 98.2% | 0% | 1.8% | 89.4% | 0.6% | 10% |
| 4. Rape accusations are often used as a way of getting back at guys or claiming insurance moneyb | 25.4% | 13.7% | 60.9% | 55.3% | 17.1% | 27.6% |
| FOCUS ON VICTIM | ||||||
| 5. Rape victims are youngb | 86.4% | 2.7% | 10.9% | 35.2% | 2.4% | 62.4% |
| 6. Women who flirt excessively with men will get into troubleb | 73.7% | 3.2% | 23.1% | 38.8% | 5.9% | 55.3% |
| 7. Women who wear “slutty” clothes ask for trouble | 61.4% | 2.3% | 36.3% | 63.6% | 6.5% | 29.9% |
| 8. Being raped is a hidden desire for many womenb | 81.8% | 10.9% | 7.3% | 95.3% | 1.7% | 3% |
| 9. Women cannot rape men | 85.9% | 2.7% | 11.4% | 90% | 1.1% | 8.9% |
| FOCUS ON OFFENDER | ||||||
| 10. Rape happens when a man’s sex drive goes out of controlb | 73.2% | 5% | 21.8% | 45.9% | 5.8% | 48.3% |
| 11. When men rape it is usually because of their strong desire for sexb | 45% | 10% | 45% | 67.6% | 8.3% | 24.1% |
| 12. Rapists are persons with mental disorders | 17.2% | 7.8% | 75% | 19.4% | 3.5% | 77.1% |
| 13. Alcohol or drugs can turn someone into a rapist | 22.7% | 6.8% | 70.5% | 25.9% | 2.3% | 71.8% |
a
For illustrative purposes, the categories ‘strongly agree’ and ‘agree’ as well as ‘strongly disagree’ and ‘disagree’ were unified.
b
Statistical significance (see Table 3).
shading = rape myth acceptance.
While the above findings concern the overall attitudes of police officers upon rape myths, after applying inferential statistics, such attitudes were further decoded and what the findings revealed was that nationality had some impact on the extent to which rape myths were accepted/rejected. In reiteration, Croatian and Cypriot officers exhibited agreement in accepting three rape myths and disagreement in accepting another three myths. Overall, their responses to eight particular rape myths (items 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 and 11 in Table 3) on the questionnaire differed to a statistical level. In detail, and aside items 5 and 6, where only Croatian officers endorsed rape myths and item 4 in which only Cypriots accepted the myth, t tests employed to pinpoint statistically different variations between the binary variable (nationality) showed that though myths were rejected by both nationalities, the between-group certainty of rejecting such myths varied. For instance (as demonstrated in Table 3), Croatian officers rejected myths (items) 1, 8 and 11 more firmly than Cypriot officers, whereas Cypriot officers showed more decisiveness than Croatian in concern to myths (items) 3 and 10.
| Rape myths | Nationality | 95% CI for mean difference | t | df | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cypriot | Croatian | ||||||
| M | SE | M | SE | ||||
| 1. Most rapes happen between strangers | 2.49 | 0.07 | 1.96 | 0.06 | 0.35 to 0.71 | 5.87* | 387 |
| 2. Rapes almost always involve physical violence | 3.62 | 0.09 | 3.78 | 0.07 | −0.38 to 0.06 | −1.39 | 387 |
| 3. Rapes cannot happen between married couples | 1.39 | 0.04 | 1.75 | 0.08 | −0.53 to –0.18 | −4.03* | 268 |
| 4. Rape accusations are often used as a way of getting back at guys or claiming insurance money | 3.39 | 0.07 | 2.67 | 0.08 | 0.51 to 0.93 | 6.88* | 388 |
| 5. Rape victims are young | 2.01 | 0.06 | 3.29 | 0.08 | −1.48 to –1.07 | −12.47* | 304 |
| 6. Women who flirt excessively with men will get into trouble | 2.31 | 0.07 | 3.16 | 0.08 | −1.06 to –0.62 | −7.54* | 360 |
| 7. Women who wear “slutty” clothes ask for trouble | 2.60 | 0.08 | 2.58 | 0.09 | −0.22 to 0.25 | 0.11 | 376 |
| 8. Being raped is a hidden desire for many women | 1.75 | 0.06 | 1.50 | 0.06 | 0.09 to 0.42 | 2.99* | 388 |
| 9. Women cannot rape men | 1.94 | 0.07 | 1.94 | 0.07 | −0.19 to 0.18 | −0.06 | 388 |
| 10. Rape happens when a man’s sex drive goes out of control | 2.26 | 0.08 | 2.91 | 0.09 | −0.88 to –0.41 | −5.40* | 356 |
| 11. When men rape it is usually because of their strong desire for sex | 2.99 | 0.08 | 2.45 | 0.08 | 0.32 to 0.77 | 4.73* | 379 |
| 12. Rapists are persons with mental disorders | 3.85 | 0.07 | 3.81 | 0.08 | −0.18 to 0.26 | 0.38 | 388 |
| 13. Alcohol or drugs can turn someone into a rapist | 3.57 | 0.08 | 3.52 | 0.08 | −0.17 to 0.28 | 0.49 | 388 |
*
p < .05.
As far as gender is concerned, the findings pointed out a patent correlation with rape myth acceptance (Tables 4 & 5). Interestingly, the overall police acceptance of rape myths did not differ from male/female corresponding acceptance but only in one instance (item 4) where male officers accepted that ‘rape accusations are often used as a way of getting back at guys or claiming insurance money’ (51.2%), whereas female rejected such projection. Furthermore, according to the data exhibited in Table 4, both female and male officers endorsed three myths: (a) rapes almost always involve physical violence – male 72.4%, female 77.1%; (b) rapists are persons with mental disorders – male 76.5%, female 75%; and (c) alcohol or drugs can turn someone into a rapist – male 75.2%, female 63.9%.
| Rape myths | Gender | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | |||||
| Strongly disagree & disagreea | Neither agree nor disagree | Strongly agree & agree | Strongly disagree & disagree | Neither agree nor disagree | Strongly agree & agree | |
| 1. Most rapes happen between strangers | 75.2% | 6.9% | 17.9% | 77.1% | 4.1% | 18.8% |
| 2. Rapes almost always involve physical violence | 27.2% | 0.4% | 72.4% | 21.6% | 1.3% | 77.1% |
| 3. Rapes cannot happen between married couplesb | 92.7% | 0.3% | 7% | 97.3% | 0% | 2.7% |
| 4. Rape accusations are often used as a way of getting back at guys or claiming insurance moneyb | 35.8% | 13% | 51.2% | 43% | 18.8% | 38.2% |
| 5. Rape victims are young | 63% | 2.5% | 34.5% | 66% | 2.7% | 31.3% |
| 6. Women who flirt excessively with men will get into troubleb | 47.6% | 3.6% | 48.8% | 77.1% | 5.5% | 17.4% |
| 7. Women who wear “slutty” clothes ask for troubleb | 53.6% | 2.9% | 43.5% | 77.1% | 6.2% | 16.7% |
| 8. Being raped is a hidden desire for many womenb | 84.1% | 9.8% | 6.1% | 93.8% | 2% | 4.2% |
| 9. Women cannot rape men | 89.8% | 0.9% | 9.3% | 84.1% | 4.1% | 11.8% |
| 10. Rape happens when a man’s sex drive goes out of control | 60.6% | 2.4% | 37% | 62.5% | 10.4% | 27.1% |
| 11. When men rape it is usually because of their strong desire for sexb | 52.4% | 7.8% | 39.8% | 59.1% | 11.7% | 29.2% |
| 12. Rapists are persons with mental disorders | 19.5% | 4% | 76.5% | 16% | 9% | 75% |
| 13. Alcohol or drugs can turn someone into a rapistb | 20.7% | 4.1% | 75.2% | 29.9% | 6.2% | 63.9% |
a
For illustrative purposes the categories strongly agree and agree, as well as strongly disagree and disagree were unified.
b
Statistical significance (see Table 5).
shading = rape myth acceptance.
| Rape myths | Gender | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | ||||||
| M | SE | M | SE | 95% CI for mean difference | t | df | |
| 1. Most rapes happen between strangers | 2.28 | 0.06 | 2.23 | 0.08 | −0.15 to 0.24 | 0.47 | 388 |
| 2. Rapes almost always involve physical violence | 3.61 | 0.07 | 3.81 | 0.10 | −0.44 to 0.04 | −1.64 | 388 |
| 3. Rapes cannot happen between married couples | 1.63 | 0.06 | 1.40 | 0.05 | 0.08 to 0.39 | 3.00* | 377 |
| 4. Rape accusations are often used as a way of getting back at guys or claiming insurance money | 3.17 | 0.07 | 2.92 | 0.09 | 0.02 to 0.47 | 2.14* | 388 |
| 5. Rape victims are young | 2.60 | 0.07 | 2.51 | 0.10 | −0.15 to 0.33 | 0.72 | 388 |
| 6. Women who flirt excessively with men will get into trouble | 3.00 | 0.07 | 2.14 | 0.08 | 0.64 to 1.08 | 7.70* | 326 |
| 7. Women who wear “slutty” clothes ask for trouble | 2.87 | 0.08 | 2.12 | 0.08 | 0.53 to 0.97 | 6.63* | 342 |
| 8. Being raped is a hidden desire for many women | 1.77 | 0.06 | 1.43 | 0.07 | 0.17 to 0.51 | 3.89* | 328 |
| 9. Women cannot rape men | 1.90 | 0.06 | 2.02 | 0.08 | −0.31 to 0.07 | −1.25 | 388 |
| 10. Rape happens when a man’s sex drive goes out of control | 2.63 | 0.08 | 2.40 | 0.10 | −0.01 to 0.48 | 1.86 | 388 |
| 11. When men rape it is usually because of their strong desire for sex | 2.87 | 0.07 | 2.56 | 0.10 | 0.06 to 0.54 | 2.48* | 388 |
| 12. Rapists are persons with mental disorders | 3.83 | 0.07 | 3.85 | 0.09 | −0.24 to 0.21 | −0.16 | 388 |
| 13. Alcohol or drugs can turn someone into a rapist | 3.65 | 0.07 | 3.38 | 0.09 | 0.05 to 0.50 | 2.38* | 388 |
*
p < .05.
shading = rape myth acceptance.
Also, it is worth to note that the degree of gender rape myth acceptance/rejection was found to be discrepant at a statistically significant level on seven occasions. As illustrated in Table 5, the two groups’ stances on rape myths proved to differ on items 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11 and 13. Differently put, female police officers’ rejective responses, as opposed to male, exhibited a higher level (to a statistically significant extent) in the following myths: (a) rapes cannot happen between married couples; (b) rape accusations are often used as a way of getting back at guys or claiming insurance money; (c) women who flirt excessively with men will get into trouble; (d) women who wear ‘slutty’ clothes ask for trouble; (e) being raped is a hidden desire for many women; (f) when men rape it is usually because of their strong desire for sex; and (g) alcohol or drugs can turn someone into a rapist.
In addition to the above statistical analysis, t tests were run on gender variables within the two nationality groups to ascertain whether gender had any (other than the aggregated) impact on rape myths endorsement within Croatian and Cypriot officers. Interestingly, the female/male acceptance of rape myths among Cypriot officers did not differ but only in one instance, where male officers accepted that ‘when men rape it is because of their strong desire for sex, whereas female rejected such projection’. Similarly, Croatian female/male officers found not to have any between-group divergence, aside from one myth (women who flirt excessively with men will get into trouble), which was endorsed only by male officers.
Discussion
As can be extrapolated from the aforementioned findings, police officers tend to reject the preponderance of rape myths. Nationality (an independent variable) does not seem to play a chief role in mythologizing rape, since Cypriot officers accepted four out of the 13 myths, and Croatian five out of the 13 myths. The same applies to the independent variable of gender, where male officers endorsed four myths and female officers went down to three. However, it is worth emphasizing that the gender of officers appears to be important not on whether or not they reject rape myths per se, but on the degree of such dismissals. A case in point is the fact that female officers score higher on discarding myths than male officers on the 11 out of the 13 rape myths. Female police officers also demonstrate to be more adamant on discounting myths which underscore the blameworthiness of victims (i.e. women who flirt excessively with men will get into trouble or women who wear ‘slutty’ clothes ask for trouble), in contrast to male officers who, albeit reject such myths, are not equally rigidly against them. This gendered variation could be linked to the gendered nature of police culture which in turn requires a careful appreciation of the ways that gender is accomplished within police organizations (Silvestri, 2017: 298). Also, this finding could indicate that within masculine police culture – which is not always readily receptive to (sex)victim-centred approaches – subsist factions of female officers who negotiate and somewhat alter the conditions under which they conduct policing (Rabe-Hemp, 2008).
As to the foregoing, different degrees of myth discarding did not come up when nationalities were juxtaposed, since rigidity in rejecting myths was allocated somewhat equally. Yet, the three rape myths which received acceptance by only one national group deserve some further explanation. For example, the fact that Cypriot officers endorsed the myth regarding the rape being used as a ‘tool’ for getting back at guys or claiming insurance money could, probably, be due to (the second part of the myth) the high numbers of tourists visiting Cyprus and the disproportionate high number of claims submitted to insurance companies which contact the Cyprus Police for relaying formal reports to the former; and this could influence Cypriot police officers’ perceptions on the discussed rape myth. In concern to the myth of rape victims being excessively flirtatious and its acceptance only by Croatian, it could be attributed to the fact that the Croatian sample includes 33% female officers, whereas the Cypriot sample is made up of 40% female officers. This, to a degree, must have had some impact on the differences reported between the two samples, to this effect. More to the point, as indicated earlier, at the legal definition of rape section in the article, the more rigid statutory approach centred within the Croatian setting could have some connection with the Croatian police officers accepting the discussed myth (one item more than Cypriot officers on the rape myth acceptance scale). Finally, the discrepancy of perceptions regarding the young age of rape victims which translates into Croatian officers supporting that victims of rape are young could be attributed to lack of knowledge in relation to the true democratic data of rape victims in the respective country or even the fashion in which local institutions portray acts of rape (Edwards et al., 2011).
Overall, the findings of this study contradict other research which points out that female police officers may display intra-female gender resentment and, thus, become less sensitive than male officers towards women who suffer sexual assaults (Wentz and Archbold, 2012). Moreover, the study findings offer credibility to research which supports that men, in contrast to women, tend to score higher on rape myth acceptance scales (Aronowitz et al., 2012; Davies et al., 2012), blame the victim more than the offender (Hammond et al., 2011; Krahé et al., 2007) and that victim-blame tends to become more extreme in cases where women infringe traditional gender roles (Grubb and Turner, 2012; Tilton, 2022) such as acting flirtatiously towards men (Landström et al., 2016). A testament to this is the (endorsed) myths which suggest that women who flirt excessively or wear ‘slutty’ clothes ask for trouble. In addition, our findings, to a certain degree, parallel other research that draws on police officers’ opinions about rape myths which underscores that male officers, when compared to female, score higher on rape myth acceptance scales (Garza and Franklin, 2020; Parratt and Pina, 2017).
As far as the three rape myths that received acceptance by all police officers (regardless nationality) are concerned, it can be reasoned that this underpins a mild disposition (of all police officers) towards the espousal of pre-set standpoints over rape, essentially the myths concerning the use of physical force during an act of rape, the mentally disordered perpetrators and the alcohol or drug use by the rapists. To an extent, this predeterminations are studied in research conducted elsewhere, which calls attention to the fact that police officers often anticipate victims of rape to have had battled during the act of rape, or else their version loses believability (Smith et al., 2016). Not to mention that the timing of resisting, on the part of the rape victim (i.e. early or late), also plays a role in police officers’ understandings (Hine and Murphy, 2017, p. 7).
Paradoxically, in relation to the rest of the accepted rape myths – the mentally disordered perpetrators and the consumption of alcohol and drug use by the rapists – when offenders consume alcohol or use drugs or even suffer from some mental illness, automatically the blame goes to these factors, easing, in this way, the offender from liability. Otherwise, when victims happen to be under the influence of a substance prior to or during their rape, responsibility is still attached to them (Grubb and Turner, 2012). By extrapolation, it could be argued that our findings partly accord with other studies which illustrate a tendency of police officers to attribute responsibility on the victims while at the same time pardoning, to an extent, the perpetrators (Constantinou, 2021; Hine and Murphy, 2017; Jordan, 2004; Sleath and Bull, 2012).
In concern to ‘made-up’ complaints of rape (although only Cypriot officers endorsed this myth), while some studies have supported that eight out of 10 officers estimate the rate of false rape claims to be very high – that is, well above 8% (Mennicke et al., 2014: 822), other studies have emphasized that police officers do not tend to agree that rape victims lie about being raped (Page, 2007: 53) or deceitfully report a rape against them (Page, 2010: 326).
Conclusion
Admittedly, our research would no doubt benefit the most if samples were randomly selected and included at least 10% of the populations (police forces) under examination. Also, had collection of data also involved interviews with research participants, we would have been in a better position to cast more light on the insightful aspect of police views and perceptions surrounding the mythology of rape, and not just on the self-reporting of participants.
As highlighted in the introduction of this article, a concern was expressed as regards the nexus between rape myths and police attitudes about (and handling of) the offence of rape. It is expected that the higher the approval rate of rape myths, the higher the likelihood of rape victims to receive deficient attention by police officers who receive complaints for such sexual offences. Also, it was stated that the different values, attitudes and norms attached to the two samples (Croatian and Cypriot) could have some effect on their corresponding views on rape myths. Likewise, the gender of police officers was also subjected to analysis for the above-stated purpose. Ultimately, our findings did not support these two suppositions, since (a) four and five out of the 13 projected rape myths received acceptance by Cypriot and Croatian police officers, respectively, and (b) three and four myths were correspondingly endorsed by female and male officers. Reflecting the findings presented throughout this article, female police officers appear to be more dismissive than male officers when it comes down to rape myths. Also, it has been revealed that police officers tend to accept some rape myths and that nationality plays only a menial role in this.
Having said that, the discussed findings could propel an initiative for implementing bespoke gender-specific police training, so to render male officers more informed (and better prepared) over sexual offences. That said, more female officers should be allowed to take leading roles and placed in posts that deal with sex crimes so to iron out relevant biases and also to influence male officers to that effect. Coupled with this, police training should also focus on the demystification of the perpetrators, the victims and the circumstances in which rapes do actually occur. In any event, research has confirmed that special police training helps minimizing prejudices about rape (Sleath and Bull, 2012), chiefly when it comes down to individual characteristics and partaking of the actors involved in such offences (Lee et al., 2012). Thus, given the police officers’ propensities revealed in our research, police organizations in Croatia and Cyprus would unambiguously benefit from implementing such training and, also, tackling such stereotypes.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
ORCID iD
Angelo G Constantinou https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5606-4343
Footnotes
1. Official Gazette, No. 125/11, 144/12, 56/15, 61/15, 101/17, 118/18, 126/19
2. Official Gazette, No. 4785/20
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Biographies
Angelo G Constantinou is a visiting Assistant Professor in Criminology/Policing at the University of Cyprus and an adjunct Lecturer in Criminology/Policing at the Open University of Cyprus. He holds a PhD in criminology from the University of Edinburgh and his research focuses on criminological and policing matters.
Ksenija Butorac obtained her MSc degree in Forensic Sciences (1990) after a Law degree, and she obtained her PhD in Criminology at the University of Zagreb, Croatia. She has been working as a Full Professor of Criminology, Penology, Drug-Related Crime and Addictions at the Croatian University Police College of the Ministry of Interior.
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