Empathy for perpetrators helps explain victim blaming in sexual harassment

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-08/uoe-efp081619.php

News Release 18-Aug-2019
University of Exeter
Men's empathy for other men who sexually harass women may help explain why they are more likely to blame victims, new research suggests.

The research, based on two studies, compared people's reactions after reading about an incident of sexual harassment.

In the first study, men and women showed equal levels of empathy for the female victim - but men's greater empathy for the male perpetrator explained why they were more likely than women to blame the victim.

The second study was an experiment where people were asked to focus on the man's or the woman's point of view before reading the same information. Both men and women who focused on the male perpetrator's point of view showed greater empathy for him and blamed the female victim more.

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