Rape Victim Advocates’ Perception of the Influence of Race and Ethnicity on Victims’ Responses to Rape

Bibliographic Data

ID7843907
AuthorsShana L Maier (0000-0002-7823-8700, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume6
Issue4
Pages303-334
Publication date2008-12-16
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1537-7938 • E-ISSN: 1537-7946
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/15377930802533530
OpenAlexW1977643559
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited52

Race/ethnicity has historically played a role in the perception of rape, the response of the criminal justice system to rapists, and the treatment, experiences and reactions of rape victims. Despite illuminating issues surrounding race/ethnicity and rape, research has failed to examine how rape victim advocates, who have significant experience with multiple rape victims, perceive victims' different responses to rape and victims' treatment based on their race/ethnicity. Through interviews with 58 advocates, this research will address issues of racial and ethnic diversity by examining if and how rape victim advocates understand rape victims' responses to rape within a cultural context. Findings revealed that the majority (57%) of advocates interviewed believe victims of color respond to rape differently or face different issues than White victims do. According to advocates, victims of color are more likely than White victims to remain silent about their victimization, are less supported by members of their community, and are more likely to be blamed for bringing shame on their family. KEYWORDS: Raperape victim advocatesvictims of colormulticultural sensitivity I would like to thank all of the directors and coordinators at the rape crisis centers or programs who granted me access to their advocates. Also, this project would not have been possible without the advocates who allowed me to interview them. I thank Susan L. Miller, Dana Hysock, and the anonymous reviewers for comments on an earlier draft. Notes 1. Research has also indicated that battered women of color are underserved in many communities, and directors of battered women's shelters in the Deep South view White victims of intimate partner violence as the "norm" (Donnelly, Cook, Van Ausdale, & Foley, 2005 Donnelly, D. A., Cook, K. J., Van Ausdale, D. and Foley, L. 2005. White privilege, color blindness, and services to battered women. Violence Against Women, 11: 6–37. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). 2. The term Hispanic or Latino will be used because the United States Census includes Hispanic or Latino as one category (Therrien & Ramirez, 2000 Therrien, M. and Ramirez, R. R. 2000. The Hispanic population in the United States: March 2000. Current Population Reports, 20–535. Washington, DC: US Census Bureau. [Google Scholar]). Literature reviewed used both terms. 3. Gillum (2002) Gillum, T. L. 2002. Exploring the link between stereotypical images and intimate partner violence in the African American community. Violence Against Women, 8: 64–86. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] found that endorsement of stereotypical images by African American men was positively related to justification of domestic violence against African American women. 4. On the contrary, two studies have concluded that African American victims are more likely to report to the police (Bachman, 1998 Bachman, R. 1998. The factors related to rape reporting behavior and arrest: New evidence from the National Crime Survey. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 20: 254–270. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Fisher, Daigle, Cullen, & Tuner, 2003 Fisher, B. S., Daigle, L., Cullen, F. T. and Tuner, M. G. 2003. Reporting sexual victimization to the police and others: Results from a national-level study of college women. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 30(1): 6–38. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). 5. There is more research detailing the importance of race/ethnicity for victims of intimate violence. For example, recent research has explored the experiences of African American women with intimate violence (see Tarrezz Nash, 2005 Tarrezz Nash, S. 2005. Through black eyes: African American women's constructions of their experiences with intimate male partner violence. Violence Against Women, 11: 1420–1440. [Crossref], [PubMed] , [Google Scholar]; Taylor, 2005 Taylor, J. Y. 2005. No resting place: African American women at the crossroads of violence. Violence Against Women, 11: 1473–1489. [Crossref], [PubMed] , [Google Scholar]), the importance of religious involvement for abused women of color (see Gillum, Sullivan, & Bybee, 2006 Gillum, T. L., Sullivan, C. M. and Bybee, D. I. 2006. The importance of spirituality in the lives of domestic violence survivors. Violence Against Women, 12: 240–250. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), and the conceptualization of intimate partner violence among immigrant Latinas (see Adames & Campbell, 2005 Adames, S. B. and Campbell, R. 2005. Immigrant Latinas' conceptualizations of intimate partner violence. Violence Against Women, 11: 1341–1364. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Literature has also reviewed the factors that make African American women at risk for intimate partner violence (West, 2004 West, C. M. 2004. Black women and intimate partner violence: New directions for research. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 19: 1487–1493. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and how domestic violence can be understood using a race, class, and gender framework (Sokoloff & DuPont, 2005 Sokoloff, N. J. and DuPont, I. 2005. Domestic violence at the intersections of race, class, and gender: Challenges and contributions to understanding violence against marginalized women in diverse communities. Violence Against Women, 11: 38–64. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Richie (1996) Richie, B. E. 1996. Compelled to crime: The gender entrapment of battered Black women, New York: Routledge. [Google Scholar] compared the experiences of 26 battered African American women to 5 nonbattered African American women and 6 battered white women, all incarcerated in New York. She concludes that marginalized women turn to crime when they have no other options. Unlike White battered women, African American battered women had a strong connection to their racial identity and a great deal of loyalty to their families. They excused behavior against them by African American males because of the harsh realities of all African Americans. 6. I was unable to recruit participants from one of the university-based centers. Due to the university's somewhat lengthy institutional review board process, I was not permitted to start to recruit participants until the end of the fall semester 2003. No one volunteered for the research; presumably this was due to the workload of college students during the final weeks of a semester. In addition, this university-based center only had approximately 10 active volunteers. 7. The average population of the three total counties served by three rape centers was 517,000. The population of one city was approximately 1,500,000 and the population of the other city was approximately 589,000 (2000 population estimates, U.S. Census Bureau; http://factfinder.census.gov). The university where the university-based center was located has a student population of over 15,000 full-time undergraduate students and over 3,000 graduate students. 8. Some of the questions included the following: How long have you been an advocate? How long have you been involved in this organization? What topics were covered during your training to be an advocate? How would you describe your role as an advocate? Have you ever had a personal experience with sexual assault or victimization? How would you define rape? How would you define or describe feminism? Would you describe yourself as a feminist? Would you describe this organization as a feminist organization? Based on your experience, could you characterize the typical rape victim for me? Why do you think rape occurs? How can we reduce or eliminate rape? Do you think victims are aware of their legal rights or any changes in the law that gives them more protection? Do you think changes made to laws regarding marital rape have helped victims? In your experience, do you think changes made to rape laws have helped victims? 9. In addition, after being asked if they thought women of color respond to rape differently than White women, respondents were asked the following: "In 2002 African Americans were victims of rape/sexual assault at rates higher than Whites. Why do you think that is?" Data gathered from this question are not included in this article because many advocates were unable to respond. In addition, data from the National Crime Victimization for the two following years (2003, 2004) indicate that African American, White, and other races experienced about the same rates of rape/sexual assault (Catalano, 2004 Catalano, S. M. 2004. Criminal victimization, 2003, Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 2005 Catalano, S. M. 2005. Criminal victimization, 2004, Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey. [Google Scholar]). 10. Of the city's 1.5 million residents, 43% were African American (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000; http://factfinder.census.gov). 11. I did not specifically ask advocates to estimate the diversity of their victim population, so it is impossible to determine if staff and volunteers are as racially/ethnically diverse as the clients they serve. Possibly staff and volunteers at the two rape crisis centers located in cities and the university-based center are not as racially/ethnically diverse as their clients, based on 2003 population estimates (U.S. Census Bureau; http://factfinder.census.gov). The population served by one city-based rape crisis center was 58% people of color; only 25% to 35% of staff were women of color (diversity of volunteers unknown). The population served by the other city-based rape crisis center was 47% people of color; 30% of staff and less than 25% of volunteers were women of color. The university-based center had no staff or volunteers of color. Moreover, increased efforts to hire and recruit racially/ethnically diverse staff and volunteers could lead to more women of color reaching out for services, since rape crisis centers are criticized for being dominated by White women who ignore the complex situations experienced by women of color (Matthews, 1989 Matthews, N. 1989. Surmounting a legacy: The expansion of racial diversity in a local anti-rape movement. Gender and Society, 3: 518–532. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Riger et al., 2002 Riger, S., Bennett, L., Wasco, S. M., Schewe, P. A., Frohmann, L.Camacho, J. M. 2002. Evaluating Services for Survivors of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Washington, 2001 Washington, P. A. 2001. Disclosure patterns of Black female sexual assault survivors. Violence Against Women, 7: 1254–1283. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; White, 2001 White, A. 2001. I am because we are: Combined race and gender political consciousness among African American women and men anti-rape activists. Women's Studies International Forum, 24(1): 11–24. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Ullman & Townsend, 2007 Ullman, S. E. and Townsend, S. M. 2007. Barriers to working with sexual assault survivors: A qualitative study of rape crisis center workers. Violence Against Women, 13: 412–443. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar])

Criminal justice · Criminology · Ethnic group · People of color · Perception · Political science · Shame · Sociology · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Gender Studies · Intimate Partner and Family Violence · Psychology · Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies · Social Psychology