(PS10-34) Labeling Rape Experiences Among Marginalized Women Who Recently Experienced Rape

While at least 25% of American women experience rape, most do not label their experience as such—what the literature calls “hidden” or unacknowledged victims. Minimizing labels, such as “miscommunication,” increase risk for re-exposure to rape and are associated with mental health symptoms. Further, most prior research on rape and labeling has been conducted with cisgender, heterosexual, White college women. This is a particular concern given meaningful differences in Black women’s  experience of labeling, minimization, cultural blame, and consequent treatment dropout. Thus, this study aimed to examine racial differences in labeling unwanted sexual experiences in a diverse community sample. Black- and White-identifying women (N = 169) with histories of exposure to sexual trauma completed surveys as part of a larger longitudinal study on rape acknowledgment and health. Participants were screened with the Sexual Experiences Survey and presented with a list of 17 possible labels derived from Peterson & Muehlenhard (2004). The most frequently endorsed event were “bad sexual experiences” and “sexual assaults.” Several race-related differences were noted. Black women were more likely to classify their sexual trauma as a rape (75.8%) and childhood sexual abuse (18.2%) than their White peers (53.7% and 2.2%, respectively). In contrast, White women were more likely to select descriptors of “a mistake on the other person’s part” (58.1%), “assault” (50%), and “something that happens to everybody” (11%) in comparison with 33.3%, 27.3%, and 0% (respectively) of Black women. Effects were small and small-to-moderate in size. We further assessed identification with the terms ‘victim’ and/or ‘survivor.’  Women characterized themselves as victims but not survivors (37.7%), victims and survivors (22.8%), neither victims nor survivors (20.4%), and survivors but not victims (19.1%). We used bootstrapped logistical regression to evaluate main  and interaction effects of victim and survivor terms between racial groups. The model was significant (X2 = 11.29, p = .01, Nagelkerke R2 = .11). The interaction yielded the strongest effect (Wald = 9.05, p = .002), followed by identification as a survivor (Wald = 5.88, p = .012) and as a victim (Wald = 4.72, p = .19). When endorsing victim descriptors, 41.3% of White women also identified as survivors vs. 20% of Black women. When denying identification as a victim, 48.3% of Black women identified as survivors vs. 40.5% of their White peers. White women were twice as likely to identify as both victims and survivors and four times more likely to not identify with either victim or survivor. White women were more likely to endorse items that normalized rape than Black women, suggesting possible differences in the internalization of rape culture that may represent unique strengths for Black women. Inconsistent with past findings, cultural/social narratives concerning the strength of Black women may be associated with a survivor identity. Black women may also be more inclined to reject inaccurate stereotypes concerning promiscuity. Findings  suggest common parlance of referring to those who experience rape as survivors or victims is inconsistent with how women see themselves.