Eastern Oregon University, La Grande, USA.
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA.
J Interpers Violence. 2023 Aug;38(15-16):8898-8920. doi: 10.1177/08862605231160823. Epub 2023 Mar 13.
After the popularization of #MeToo in 2017, the conversation around sexual violence was brought to global attention. The collapse of compassion theory is proposed to occur in situations where individuals no longer feel increased levels of empathy due to an increase in the number of victims. This theory was employed to attempt to understand negative responses to #MeToo. The current study used a mixed methods exploratory approach to understand how exposure to multiple versus single victim(s) (image(s) and vignette) of sexual violence may affect participants' perception of survivors of sexual violence. We hypothesized that individuals who were exposed to multiple victims would demonstrate less compassion, higher levels of distance, more diffusion of responsibility, lower perceived efficacy, and less belief of the victim's story compared to individuals who were exposed to a single victim. We hypothesized that individuals with higher levels of rape myth acceptance (RMA) would endorse greater rates of distance and diffusion, and lower rates of compassion, efficacy, and belief. Participants, recruited via MTurk, were randomized into a single-image group or an eight-image group accompanied by a vignette explaining that the woma(e)n were victim(s) of sexual violence and naming the #MeToo movement. Participants in the single-image group expressed more belief in the victim's story and endorsed higher levels of psychological distance than the eight-image group. Higher rates of RMA related to less belief and compassion for victims and increased distance. In the qualitative analysis, three content areas were identified: (a) comments on woman(en), (b) comments on #MeToo, and (c) comments on sexual violence. The majority of responses expressed support for the #MeToo movement, with a smaller percentage expressing highly critical views including questions on the inclusivity of #MeToo and sexualization of the woman(en) in the vignettes. Implications and integration of results are discussed.
2017 年“我也是”运动（#MeToo）普及后，关于性暴力的讨论引起了全球关注。共情崩溃理论提出，当受害者人数增加导致个体不再感到同理心增加时，就会发生这种情况。该理论被用于试图理解对“我也是”运动的负面反应。本研究采用混合方法探索性方法，以了解性暴力的多个（图像和情景描述）与单一受害者暴露如何影响参与者对性暴力幸存者的看法。我们假设，与仅暴露于单一受害者的个体相比，暴露于多个受害者的个体表现出较少的同情心、更高的距离感、更多的责任扩散、更低的感知效能以及更少相信受害者的故事。我们假设，具有较高强奸神话接受度（RMA）的个体更倾向于认同距离和责任扩散，而同情心、效能和信念的比率较低。通过 MTurk 招募参与者，将他们随机分为单图像组或八图像组，并附有情景描述，解释女性是性暴力的受害者，并提到了“我也是”运动。单图像组的参与者比八图像组更相信受害者的故事，并表示出更高的心理距离。较高的 RMA 与对受害者的信任和同情心降低以及距离增加有关。在定性分析中，确定了三个内容领域：（a）对女性的评论，（b）对“我也是”运动的评论，以及（c）对性暴力的评论。大多数回应表示支持“我也是”运动，一小部分回应表示强烈批评意见，包括对“我也是”运动的包容性以及情景描述中女性的性化问题的质疑。讨论了结果的含义和整合。
