The Objectification and Blame of Revenge Porn Victims

Abstract

The current study sought to explore the relationship between objectification and victim blame in cases of revenge porn across cases in which the victim was sexually diverse (i.e., bisexual, lesbian, straight). Participants included in this study were straight, cisgender (i.e., identifying with the gender assigned at birth) men and women ages 18 and older living in the United States. Given that bisexual women face harsher sexual stereotypes than lesbian and straight women, it was hypothesized that bisexual women would be more objectified than the straight and lesbian victims in the vignettes. Additionally, as objectification and victim blame appear to be related, it was hypothesized that the bisexual victim in the vignette would be blamed more for her implications in a revenge porn case than would the straight and lesbian victims. The findings revealed that objectification and victim blame were significantly correlated. No significant differences were found between bisexual, lesbian, or straight victims on measures of objectification or victim blame. Men participants were found to assign greater victim blame to the victims in the vignettes than were women participants. This study has important implications for targeting advocacy efforts around sexual violence and implications for training future counseling psychologists to enhance their advocacy efforts.