Book Description

This dissertation, "Attitudes Toward Rape and Sexual Assault: a Comparative Analysis of Professional Groups in Hong Kong" by Lik-hang, Darick, Law, 羅力恒, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Law Lik Hang, Darick Abstract ABSTRACT Rape and sexual assault, among all violent crimes in Hong Kong, has a low reporting and conviction rate, implying attrition occurs because victims fail to report, and if they report prosecutions often do not proceed. The purpose of this research is to examine the role of societal attitudes toward rape in Hong Kong, and their influence on the attrition, through the criminal justice system, of sexual assault cases. Variations in attitudes toward rape by gender, age, education level, and other personal traits, as well as the attitudes of police and medical professionals, who have contact with rape and sex offence victims, are the focus. A total of 326 respondents completed a 97-item questionnaire on rape, heterosexual beliefs, violence and women, which combined several attitudinal scales used in previous research (Spence and Helmreich, 1978; Burt, 1980; Ward, 1988; Lonsway and Fitzgerald, 1995) and translated into Chinese. The questionnaire was employed to survey the attitudes of accident and emergency medical staff (N= 109), police officers (N= 108), rape counselors (N = 16) and university students (N= 93) towards women, heterosexual beliefs, violence and rape myths. The findings show strong differences in attitudes toward rape exist between the sexes and between medical and police professionals. The results confirm the findings of previous studies (e.g. Burt, 1980; Field, 1978; Ward, 1988) that men and police officers are the two groups that are the least sympathetic to rape victims and the most willing to accept rape myths. It was also found that rape myths were strongly related to general attitudes toward women, corresponding to the feminist's claims that rape is not only a sex crime but also helps to reinforce inequality and sex role stereotypes. Results of this study provide further evidence that the attitudes of 'frontline' staff will be crucial in influencing the propensity of sexual assault victims to report and that general attitudes to women may Law Lik Hang, Darick Abstract still play a role in determining the deserving status of the victim. Although not fully explored in this study, attitudinal data can assist in evaluating victim care and management by the police force, hospitals and voluntary organizations and the results suggest further attention is required in preparing these staff for victim support. Change in police and medical responses via a 'one-stop' service for victims may address the problem of under-reporting by reducing the likelihood of encountering unsympathetic support. A special service would also improve the efficiency and effectiveness of processing rape and sexual assault cases and enhance the quality of treatment that helps to minimize the short and long-term impact of victimization. DOI: 10.5353/th_b2970511 Subjects: Rape - China - Hong Kong Emergency medical personnel - China - Hong Kong - Attitudes Police - China - Hong Kong - Attitudes Counselors - China - Hong Kong - Attitudes College students - China - Hong Kong - Attitudes