Department of Psychology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington, United States of America.
Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2020 Jun 5;15(6):e0234201. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234201. eCollection 2020.
Although survivors of sexual violence have shared their stories with the public on social media and mass media platforms in growing numbers, less is known about how general audiences perceive such trauma stories. These perceptions can have profound consequences for survivor mental health. In the present experimental, vignette-based studies, we anticipated that cultural stigma surrounding sexual violence and cultural preference for positive (redemptive) endings to adversity in the United States (U.S.) would shape perceptions. Four samples of U.S. adults (N = 1872) rated first-person narratives of 6 more stigmatizing (i.e., sexual violence) or less stigmatizing (e.g., natural disaster) traumatic events. Confirming pre-registered hypotheses, sexual violence trauma (versus other types of trauma) stories were perceived as more difficult to tell, and their storytellers less likeable, even when they had redemptive endings. Disconfirming other pre-registered hypotheses, redemptive (versus negative) story endings did not boost the perceived likelihood or obligation to share a sexual violence trauma story. Rather, redemptive (versus negative) story endings only boosted the perceived likelihood, obligation, and ease of telling other, less stigmatizing types of trauma stories. Findings suggest that sexual violence survivors do not benefit, to the same degree as other survivors, from telling their stories with the culturally valued narrative template of redemption. Clinical and societal implications of the less receptive climate for sexual violence stories are discussed.
尽管越来越多的性暴力幸存者在社交媒体和大众媒体平台上分享了他们的故事，但人们对普通观众如何看待这些创伤故事知之甚少。这些看法可能对幸存者的心理健康产生深远的影响。在本实验中，我们基于情景的研究预计，美国（U.S.）围绕性暴力的文化污名和对逆境中积极（救赎）结局的文化偏好会影响人们的看法。我们有四个美国成年人样本（N = 1872）对 6 个更具污名化（即性暴力）或较少污名化（如自然灾害）的创伤事件的第一人称叙述进行了评价。证实了预先注册的假设，性暴力创伤（与其他类型的创伤相比）的故事被认为更难讲述，其讲述者也不那么讨人喜欢，即使他们有救赎性的结局。与其他预先注册的假设相反，救赎（与负面）结局并没有提高分享性暴力创伤故事的感知可能性或义务。相反，救赎（与负面）结局只提高了讲述其他、污名化程度较低的创伤故事的感知可能性、义务和容易程度。研究结果表明，性暴力幸存者并没有像其他幸存者那样，从以救赎为文化价值观的叙事模板讲述自己的故事中受益。讨论了对性暴力故事接受度较低的临床和社会影响。
