Thinking about rape: The meaning of sexual violence for 'non -victimized' women

Previous research on Rape Myth Acceptance (RMA) has found that men are consistently more accepting of rape myths than women. But what are the ideological justifications of RMA among women---specifically among women who do not identify themselves as ever being the victim of a sexual assault? Are women generally sympathetic toward the rape victim? This dissertation explores several issues: (a) the fear of rape as something widely experienced by women and the possible effects such fear have on women's perceptions of rape victims; (b) how sexual violence is socially constructed through group interaction (a continuous process of defining and re-defining what rape is); (c) an analysis of how the news media construct sexual violence and how tolerant (or intolerant) focus group members are to such constructions; and (d) an examination of the influence of several elements of popular culture on women's construction of sexual violence as well as an exploration of the present state of our corporate controlled media system with respect to possible future implications for the construction of gender-related issues.;This dissertation is qualitative in nature and explores the above issues in the context of focus groups. This particular method has raised important issues as to how the belief systems surrounding sexual violence are shaped, negotiated and renegotiated during the process of social interaction.;The data suggests the following: first, the creation and acceptance of the myths surrounding sexual violence are a social and cultural production. Women interpret sexual violence and the concept of "victim" in diverse ways. Their definitions are fluid and changeable rather than fixed and are often subject to reinterpretation during the process of social interaction with other focus group members. Next, the fear of rape was almost universally reported among this sample with numerous instances of women using social distancing techniques to quell such fears. Finally, while many women tended to incorporate the prevalent media constructions of sexual violence into their belief systems, there was also a strong indication that said media conceptions brought out anger at the way women were being portrayed and thus served to increase their levels of resistance.