Citation

Alley D, Silberkleit G, Bederian-Gardner D, Goodman GS. Int. J. Child Maltreat. 2019; 2(4): 287-308.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s42448-019-00034-5

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Children's rights to personal safety and their rights to justice when that safety has been violated should be applied universally, irrespective of a child victim's race. Yet when children disclose sexual abuse, racial prejudice could affect adults' judgments of child victims. The present study examined how endorsement of the Jezebel stereotype (that Black females are lascivious and hypersexual) and exposure to sexualized videos influence perceptions of Black female child sexual abuse (CSA) victims. Undergraduates (N = 213) completed a Jezebel stereotype questionnaire and were randomly assigned (within gender/race) to experimental condition based on a 2 (victim age: 6 vs. 10 years) × 2 (victim race: Black, White) × 3 (priming condition: Black sexual video, White sexual video, no video) factorial design. Participants viewed one of the videos, read a CSA case, and then provided ratings about the case.

RESULTS suggest bias against Black girls even as young as 6 years old. For example, Black (compared to White) girls were perceived as less traumatized by their victimization. Participants who viewed the Black video and judged a Black victim rated the victim as less credible than those who viewed the Black video and judged a White victim. A number of participant gender differences in ratings of the child victims were also uncovered. The findings expand research on stereotyping and child victims. Implications for CSA case adjudication and children's rights are discussed.

Language: en