Without camouflage : 'gendered fear of violence' exposed : are women more fearful than men? : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
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Date
2006
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Massey University
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Abstract
There have been various theoretical and practical research attempts to explain the most interesting yet puzzling finding in 'fear of crime' literature, known as the 'gendered fear of crime paradox' which refers to the observation that although men are more likely to be the victims of violent assaults, they are the least likely to report feeling 'afraid', whereas women, who are the least likely victims, report higher levels of 'fears' across all types of crimes. Sutton and Farrall (2005) found evidence that men discount their 'fears' in order to provide socially desirable responses. The present study continues this area of research by employing a new paradigm using Point Light Display Video (PLD) in which participants will not be aware of research's topic and therefore allowing for responses that are not influenced by gendered social roles, expectations and socially desirable responding. Participants in this study were 40 University students (20 males and 20 females) who were firstly exposed to the experimental task (PLD video as an implicit measure of 'fear of violence') and once finished, were administered with a traditional 'fear of crime' questionnaire (an explicit measure of 'fear of violent crime'). The results showed that there was no gender difference in 'fear of violence' when participants were implicitly measured (despite both genders being sensitive to the velocity of movement). However when asked to report their 'fears' through a questionnaire, parallel to previous research, there was an observed 'gender paradox'. The present study's findings lend empirical support to previous theoretical speculations that 'gendered fear of crime paradox' might be fictitious after all, due to the unstable methodologies employed to investigate this phenomenon. Implications of these findings are discussed with some recommendations for future research into the fear of crime.
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Women -- Psychology, Men -- Psychology, Fear, Violence