User:Mkurdziel01/Rape myth

The influence of purity culture on rape myth acceptance

Purity culture is an idealization of female virginity completely void of any education on sexual consent due to the fact that women are taught solely to avoid and reject sexual advances and encounters. Six themes of purity culture include: an emphasis on virginity, the prohibition of physical affection, the need for modesty, sexual gatekeeping, denial of female bodily autonomy, and a lack of education on sexual consent. Premarital and marital sex are concretely differentiated within purity culture, but on the same token, the differentiation between consensual sex and sexual assault is withheld. A 2021 study conducted by Biola University researchers in southeast California, United States sought to examine the relationship between adherence to purity culture with rape myth acceptance (RMA) and an increased likelihood of misidentifying rape; the results of this study involving ninety Christian men and women yielded that adherence to purity culture's standards was related to increased acceptance and endorsement of rape myths, in addition to a heightened likelihood of mislabeling acquaintance and marital rape as consensual sex.

Moreover, the significance placed upon female purity on a cultural level could be indicative of RMA and the enhancement of rape tendencies through a positive association with the acceptance of rape myths. A 2022 five-study analysis on the relationship between the cultural prizing of purity and rape myth acceptance reported that placing significance on female purity could enhance rape tendencies through the promotion of rape myth acceptance. The data reported also support the hypothesis that the intensity of RMA beliefs assessed by the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (IRMA) is related to the strength of purity beliefs scaled by the Female Purity Beliefs Scale (FPBS).