Citation

Kamdar ZN, Kosambiya JK, Chawada BL, Verma M, Kadia A. Indian J. Psychiatry 2017; 59(1): 77-82.

Affiliation

SMO (NPSP), Deoria, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Medknow Publications)

DOI

10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_78_16

PMID

28529364

PMCID

PMC5419017

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: In India, girl is raped every 20 min. The majority of reports reveals youth is vulnerable group for rape victimization. A set of prejudicial, stereotyped, or false beliefs about rape, rape victims, and rapist exist in the community. AIMS/OBJECTIVES: To study the attitude and myths toward rape among college going students of Surat City.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: College students of various streams were participated in the study based on attitude toward rape scale (21 items) and updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (22 items). A total of 332 participants from three different colleges of the city took part in the survey. Data analysis was done with the SPSS version 19.

RESULTS: Among the responders, 61.75% were female. Mean age of participants was 20.22 ± 1.27 years. Almost two-third (73%) of female participants and 42% of the male participants disagreed with the myth that "When a woman says 'no' she really means 'yes'." Around 30% of the participants were uncertain about the myth that "A woman cannot be raped by someone she previously knew or had sex with." While almost 35% of participants believed that "Most rapes are carried out by strangers." Strong sexual desire of guys, drunkenness, and girl's clothes were reported to be factors that provoke rape by 50%, 40%, and 33% of respondents, respectively, around 95% of female and 92% of male participants think that 7-year imprisonment for rape is not enough.

CONCLUSIONS: Rape myths are found to be highly prevalent among youth and higher among males.

Language: en

Keywords

India; rape; rape myths; youth