Effects of Violence Against Women in Popular Crime Dramas on Viewers' Attitudes Related to Sexual Violence

Abstract

In a posttest-only group experimental design, 176 college undergraduates (80 male, 96 female) watched TV crime drama scenes, which included either sexual or physical violence against women, to determine the effects of crime dramas on enjoyment, gender stereotypes, acceptance of the objectification of women, and rape myth acceptance. Male participants who watched sexual violence clips expressed less support for traditional gender stereotypes. There were no significant condition effects for the remaining outcome measures among the male participants except that they perceived the physical violence clips to be the most enjoyable. Results for female participants were mixed. Implications are discussed within the frameworks of social cognitive theory and the potential benefits of well-designed crime dramas to address sexual violence against women.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Moon J. Lee

Moon J. Lee (Ph.D., University of Florida, 2001) is an Associate Professor in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. Her research interests include development and evaluation of new media technologies, health communication campaigns, and information processing and decision-making process of individuals (especially young adults).

Stacey Hust

Stacey Hust (Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2005) is an Assistant Professor in the College of Communication at Washington State University. Her research interests include health communication; alcohol, tobacco, and other substance abuse prevention; media effects and sexual/reproductive health; and sexual assault prevention.

Lingling Zhang

Lingling Zhang (Ph.D., Washington State University, 2008) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mass Communication and Communication Studies at Towson University. Her research interests include research on media process and effects, media and stereotyping, entertainment education, and health communication campaigns.

Yunying Zhang

Yunying Zhang (Ph.D., Washington State University, 2010) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication and Theatre at the Austin Peay State University. Her research interests include intercultural and international communication, specifically media and stereotypes and stereotypical change, media effects and campaign effects, and the Internet and its various impacts.