This study, conducted by April L. Girard and Charlene Y. Senn and published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Volume 23, Number 1 (January 2008), delves into the complex issue of societal attributions concerning sexual assault, particularly when “date rape drugs” or alcohol are involved. The research, which originated as a BA thesis by the first author under the supervision of the second, aims to extend previous work on the influence of alcohol on date rape attributions by exploring perceptions when specific date rape drugs, such as GHB, are present.
Sexual assault, defined as any sexual contact without voluntary consent, has been a thoroughly discussed topic since the 1980s. It is a significant problem in North America, with high rates reported among college-age women; for instance, 15% of U.S. college women report experiences fitting the legal definition of rape, and 32.8% of Canadian female undergraduates have reported being victims of some form of sexual assault. A substantial number of these assaults on college campuses involve drugs or alcohol. While alcohol is the most commonly reported substance in drug-facilitated sexual assaults, there is growing concern about the use of other specific drugs like Rohypnol, GHB, and Ketamine, often dubbed “date rape drugs” by the media due to their frequent use to facilitate rape. These drugs have depressant effects similar to alcohol, causing symptoms like confusion, amnesia, and impaired judgment, which make it difficult for victims to resist or accurately report the crime.
The core of this research investigates how the voluntariness of drug or alcohol consumption by the victim influences attributions of responsibility and blame in an unambiguous date rape scenario. Using a sample of 280 randomly selected male and female undergraduate students, the study compared scenarios where no substances were involved, both parties voluntarily consumed alcohol or drugs (GHB), or the victim was involuntarily drugged or made drunk without their knowledge.
Key Findings and Implications:
The study revealed a stark contrast in attributions based on the voluntariness of substance use. When sexual assault was facilitated by alcohol or drugs that were administered involuntarily to the victim, participants viewed the situation similarly to sexual assault without any substance involvement. In these cases, the highest levels of responsibility and blame were assigned to the perpetrator, and the lowest levels to the victim. This suggests that surreptitious drugging or making someone drunk aligns with public perception of a “real rape,” potentially leading to more favorable treatment of victims by the justice system.
However, the findings highlighted a troubling social perception: women’s voluntary consumption of drugs (specifically GHB) prior to a sexual assault significantly reduced perpetrator responsibility and blame while increasing blame attributed to the victim. This effect was also observed, though to a slightly lesser extent, with voluntary drunkenness. The perpetrator, despite committing an unambiguous sexual assault, was viewed as least blameworthy when the woman had voluntarily taken GHB recreationally. The study posits that drugs, perhaps even more so than alcohol, are perceived as circumstances where “voluntary” use by a woman diminishes her worthiness as a “victim”. This has serious ramifications, as it could lead to victims’ reports not being taken seriously and the underestimation of psychological trauma, particularly given that drug-induced amnesia can hinder accurate reporting.
The research also found that while individual differences in rape-myth acceptance (e.g., beliefs like “many women secretly desire to be raped”) were statistically controlled, these beliefs were strongly associated with higher victim blame and lower perpetrator blame across all scenarios. Men, in particular, demonstrated considerably higher rape-myth beliefs than women in the study. This suggests that societal socialization plays a significant role in fostering these problematic judgments, especially regarding drug use.
In conclusion, this study underscores that attributions about date rape are profoundly affected by the involvement of date rape drugs, with voluntary use leading to increased victim blaming and excused perpetrator behavior. These findings extend existing research on alcohol-involved sexual assaults and call for greater awareness and educational efforts to counter victim-blaming tendencies in these common and often devastating circumstances.
Reference:
Girard, A. L., & Senn, C. Y. (2008). The role of the new “date rape drugs” in attributions about date rape. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23(1), 3–20.