Effects of violence against women in popular crime dramas on viewers' attitudes related to sexual violence

Moon J. Lee, Stacey Hust, Lingling Zhang, Yunying Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

36 Scopus citations

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.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)25-44
Number of pages20
JournalMass Communication and Society
Volume14
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Communication

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