Seeking help

[bluflamingo]

So, some of you have heard me ramble on about this, I'm sure, but I'm in the dissertation stage of my masters degree. My topic is peer perceptions of date rape victims - basically, I'm looking at how the peer group of victims assign responsibility for the crime.

As part of this, I'm conducting a short online survey, for which I'm looking for participants. It should only take a few minutes to complete.

There are some requirements/exclusions for participants:

- Any gender
- Must be aged between 18 and 30
- Must NOT have been a victim of serious sexual assault, including date rape
- Must NOT have been accused or convicted of serious sexual assault, including date rape.
- You do not have to personally know someone who has been a victim of date rape.

If you'd be willing to take some time and fill out my survey, I'd be really, really grateful. If you'd be willing to send on the link to other people who might be willing to fill it out, I'd be even more grateful.

Peer Perceptions of Date Rape Victims

Comments

[lyonza.livejournal.com]

I would have loved to help you with your survey, but I'm too old :)

Good luck with the dissertation.

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the dissertation.

Thanks!

[miss-zedem.livejournal.com]

This is a fascinating study, and one I'd be very interested in seeing the outcome of if you feel the urge to post your findings once you're done with your research.

One question - is there a particular reason you're focusing on heterosexual scenarios? In my experience, people have very different views of rape when it involves same sex partners, or when it's the man in a heterosexual partnership who has been raped. Is it just that the topic would be too big if you covered all angles?

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

Is it just that the topic would be too big if you covered all angles?

Essentially, yes - it's a 15,000 word masters dissertation, so it had to be narrowed down. As you say, people have very different views of rape depending on who's involved and who is the victim. Also, heterosexual rape of women by men is what most people seem to think of first when you say date rape, which fits into the peer perceptions thing best.

[miss-zedem.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I kind of figured that would be it. Be interesting to see a bigger study of it though. I'm very much in the 'no means no' camp, regardless, which is pretty simplistic, I know. But I've spent a lot of time arguing with people over whether men can be raped by women (duh), whether women can rape other women (also duh), and it just ends with me getting frustrated and wanting to throw things.

Good luck with the dissertation! When's it due in?

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

Be interesting to see a bigger study of it though

Definitely - maybe if I come back to do my PhD!

Good luck with the dissertation! When's it due in?

12th September - eep!

[ariadne83]

Done and done. I'd be more than willing to talk about this further, though I do have some biases - a close friend of mine was the victim of date rape

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your help, I'll definitely contact you to talk about this some more.

I'm sorry that your friend was a victim.

[dracotelitha.livejournal.com]

So I took this survey and was surprised how often my thoughts always came back to "No is no is no." However one thing that kind of bothered me was that the scenario for the reverse was never presented. I mean if a girl wants sex and the guy says no, but the girl does it anyway is the guy anymore to blame then the girl in that situation? Of course you're probably basing the whole thing totally from the female pov in which case I understand it more. It was a good survey though.

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

However one thing that kind of bothered me was that the scenario for the reverse was never presented

Yeah, a few people have said that. Basically, I've got 2 months, just over, to research and write up, and only 15,000 words in which to do it, which sounds like a lot but isn't really. So I had to narrow the topic, and chose to focus on the most common form of date rape, mainly because people are likely to have the strongest pre-formed ideas about this.

[dracotelitha.livejournal.com]

Yes I thought that might be the case. I do hope you get a lot of feedback with this, because I'm interested in seeing how it will turn out.

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

I've taken the survey and passed it on. Feel free to contact me for further questions!

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I definitely will, probably over the weekend by email.

[winter-elf.livejournal.com]

I am also too old. Any particular reason you only have 18 to 30?

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

Any particular reason you only have 18 to 30?

Yes - statistically, most victims of date rape are under thirty, and I'm looking at peer group perceptions, so the same cut off point should apply. Due to the nature of the research, the minimum age is 18 so that parental permission isn't required. I hope that answers your question.

Thank you for wanting to participate.