Association Between Risk Perception Towards Sexual Violence, Social Perception and Beliefs About Gender and Sexuality in a Portuguese Sample

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between risk perception towards sexual violence and social perceptions and beliefs regarding gender and sexuality in a sample of the Portuguese population. Levels of perceived risk at home and in public were studied among women and men who reside in Portugal, in association with social perceptions and beliefs regarding gender and sexuality. The latter was further analyzed in matters of permissiveness, separately for each gender and risk perception, in order to enlighten the complex study field of sexual violence. This cross-sectional and retrospective research happened within the study named NEUROPSYCHSEX, which took place at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Porto and gathered a representative sample of the Portuguese population. The present study focused on a subsample of 372 adult participants of both genders, with an average age of 46.25 (SD = 17.16), who were subjected to several statistical analysis. Results showed that women tend to significantly perceive more risk outside their homes in comparison to men, suggesting an impact of gender in risk perception. As for beliefs, results revealed a trend where men who reported perceived risk had significantly less permissive beliefs, whereas no significant difference was found for women. The importance of subjective factors, such as risk perception, are significant to understanding sexual violence. The results of this study suggest that sexual beliefs and social perceptions tend to be more situational among men and more stable among women.