Attitudes toward prostitution and acceptance of rape myths

The authors examine the relationship between attitudes towards prostitution and acceptance of rape myths. They suggest that both rape and prostitution myths are part of a cultural milieu that normalizes violence against women. Prostitution myths are those which justify the existence of prostitution, promote misinformation about prostitution and prostituted women, and contribute to a social climate that exploits and harms not only prostituted women but all women. This study explores the relationship between the acceptance of prostitution myths and rape myths amongst college undergraduate students in several states (California, Iowa, Oregon and Texas). These authors begin by asserting that violence against women is “associated with culturally supported attitudes that encourage men to feel entitled to sexual access to women, to feel superior to women, or to feel that they have license as sexual aggressors ” (p. 1790). Both rape and prostitution myths are seen as specific components of the culturally supported attitudes that normalize rape. The authors briefly describe the rich literature that has suggested a link between acceptance of rape myth with lowered support for rape victims and an increased likelihood of men to self-define as potentially raping. The authors also describe the ways that rape myths might also expose prostitution myths – specifically that all women are prostitutes. They refer to a Miller and Schwartz article (1995) the views of johns, polices and others regarding prostituted women. Miller and Schwartz found the following prejudicial beliefs were common: a) prostituted women are unrapable, b) no harm is done to prostituted women when they are assaulted or harassed, c) prostituted women deserve to be raped, and d) all prostituted women are the same. Farley and Kelly (2000) found these and other rape myths have been endorsed by judicial decisions when prostituted women were raped