The role of culture and morality on men's acceptance of sexual aggression myths and perpetration of rape in Brazil and the United Kingdom

The understanding of sexual violence perpetration is complex and calls for a multifactorial approach, as this behaviour seems to be the final product of an intricate arrangement of individual, social and contextual elements (Ward & Beech, 2006; Ward & Beech, 2008; Ward & Casey, 2010; Ward & Gannon, 2006). In addition, due to ethical constraints, this phenomenon cannot be investigated via realistic analogous studies in the context of the laboratory, making it hard for researchers to unveil the factors which aredeterminants for its occurrence. The primary goal of this thesis is to address this deficiency by discussing certain variables (sexism, moral values, rape myths and gender norms) that may serve to either legitimise types of sexually aggressive discourses and practices (and thereforeincrease the chances of its occurrence), or to condemn them (and thus lower those chances), exploring how it might affect men's likelihood to sexually offend (i.e., rape) women in two different countries. A series of six studies (of qualitative and quantitative nature) with adult men from one European (the U.K) and one Latin American (Brazil) culture were conducted. In line with expectations, overall results suggest that both social norms and morality play an important role in the way men understand sexual violence in both countries. More importantly, findings provide evidence of a strong relationship between individuals' use of moraldisengagement strategies and their likelihood to perpetrate rape. Parallel to that, this piece of work offers researchers a new self-reported measure: the Moral Disengagement in Sexual Violence Scale (MDinSV). To conclude, this thesis presents a wider and more in-depth conceptualisation of the social-cognitive mechanisms that neutralise and justify sexually violent behaviour.