This study aimed to analyze the influence of victim-related and observer-related
factors in victim blaming of battered women. Two hundred and forty six college
students participated. They were asked to read a scenario describing a
hypothetical case of physical violence perpetrated by a man against his partner.
Depending on the experimental condition, the victim was described either as a
feminist and/or as exhibiting difficulties in her relationship with others or
not. A hierarchical regression analysis was performed with victim blaming as
dependent variable. Participants’ hostile sexism positively predicted
victim blaming when the victim was described as a feminist and as a
“difficult to deal with” woman (p
< .001). In addition, men, but not women, high in hostile
sexist attitudes placed more blame on the victim when she was presented as a
feminist woman (p < .001). These results underscore
the importance of victim-related and observer-related factors, and of their
interaction, in blaming the victim of gender-based violence.