Article published in:
The Expression of Inequality in Interaction: Power, dominance, and status
Edited by Hanna Pishwa and Rainer Schulze
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 248] 2014
► pp. 81–104

A “rape victim” by any other name

The effects of labels on individuals’ rate-related perceptions

| Kansas State University
| Kansas State University
| Kansas State University
Our purpose in this chapter was to examine the power in and behind two labels – “rape victim” and “rape survivor” – commonly applied to women who have been raped, especially in the psychological literature. Thus, we examined past theory and research pertaining to power, language, and the language of rape, including evidence regarding the self-conceptualizations of women who have been raped. We then reported four recent studies on differences in individuals’ perceptions of women who are labeled as “rape victims” versus “rape survivors”. Finally, we discussed the intrapersonal, social, and political power of rape language, and offered suggestions for application and future research.
Published online: 12 June 2014
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.248.04hoc
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Cited by

Cited by 5 other publications

Boyle, Kaitlin M. & Jody Clay-Warner
2018. Shameful “Victims” and Angry “Survivors”: Emotion, Mental Health, and Labeling Sexual Assault. Violence and Victims 33:3 ► pp. 436 ff. Crossref logo
Romero-Sánchez, Mónica, Marika Skowronski, Gerd Bohner & Jesús L. Megías
2021. Talking about ‘victims’, ‘survivors’ and ‘battered women’: how labels affect the perception of women who have experienced intimate partner violence (‘Víctimas’, ‘supervivientes’ y ‘mujeres maltratadas’: cómo influyen las etiquetas en la percepción de las mujeres que han sufrido violencia por parte de sus parejas). International Journal of Social Psychology 36:1 ► pp. 30 ff. Crossref logo
Schwark, Sandra
2017. Visual Representations of Sexual Violence in Online News Outlets. Frontiers in Psychology 8 Crossref logo
Schwark, Sandra & Gerd Bohner
2019. Sexual Violence—“Victim” or “Survivor”: News Images Affect Explicit and Implicit Judgments of Blame. Violence Against Women 25:12 ► pp. 1491 ff. Crossref logo
Setia, Aanchal, Michael Marks & Sieun An
2020. Double Standards in Perceived Traits of Women Labeled Victims Versus Survivors. Sexuality & Culture 24:5 ► pp. 1562 ff. Crossref logo

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