Citation

Custers K, McNallie J. Violence Against Women 2017; 23(7): 813-829.

Affiliation

Augsburg College, Minneapolis, MN, USA jenna.mcnallie@gmail.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1077801216651340

PMID

27370943

Abstract

Rape affects a large proportion of women in the United States but is one of the most underreported crimes. It is believed that rape myth acceptance contributes to low reporting rates. We tested whether television sports exposure was indirectly related to higher acceptance of rape myth beliefs. An online survey involving 465 undergraduate students showed that viewing TV sports was positively related to hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, and sexual objectification of women. Through these variables, TV sports was indirectly and positively associated with rape myth acceptance. These results suggest that sports programming contributes to the perpetuation of rape myths in society.

© The Author(s) 2016.

Language: en