The One Ring Model

Rape Culture Beliefs are Linked to Purity Culture Beliefs

July 6, 2022

Abstract: The One Ring Model suggests that when a culture presents both ideas valuing female purity (Purity Culture) and ideas promoting sexual violence against women (Rape Culture), people acquire both sets of ideas and these two idea systems can be cognitively linked. Results from Studies 1 through 4 present correlational evidence of this between-construct linkage and show that endorsement of purity beliefs and endorsement of rape myths can sometimes simultaneously and uniquely predict blame for a sexual assault. Results from Study 5 support the existence of the linkage by showing that priming purity ideas increases the strength of rape myth beliefs. Taken together, these studies provide preliminary evidence that, not only are purity culture ideas cognitively associated with rape culture ideas, but that they might be causally linked as well.