FSS-DSOC Luncheon Seminar 2026 Spring#5 & Mini-Methods Meeting (M3)

Rape myths refer to a series of false beliefs that aim to deny or justify sexual violence against women by shifting responsibility from offenders to victims. Examples of typical rape myths may include “a husband cannot rape his wife” and “a sex worker cannot be a victim of rape”. Drawing on attribution theory and using a dataset of more than 4,000 first-instance court judgments collected from China Judgments Online, this study examines whether such myths exist and influence judges’ sentencing decisions in rape cases. Rape myths were operationalized as several factors, including the victim-offender relationship, intimate visuals used to threaten the victim, victim alcohol and/or sexually marginalized activities involved, and offender alcohol use. The statistical results show that rape myths subtly shape judges’ decision-making, revealing that socio-cultural norms remain implicitly embedded in sentencing practices for rape cases in China.