Attribution of blame to gender violence victims: A literature review of antecedents, consequences and measures of victim blame

In this article, we have reviewed the research literature on the attribution of blame to gender violence victims. We looked first at the cognitive biases (e.g., fundamental attribution error) at the core of people’s tendency to blame victims. Then, we examined the effects of perceivers’ ideological standpoints (e.g., gender-related conservativism), victims’ (e.g., gender), perpetrators’ (e.g., socioeconomic status) and situational characteristics (e.g., intoxication) on blame attribution. We also analyzed the evidence on the consequences of blame attribution at intrapersonal (self-blame) and interpersonal (bystanders helping intention) level. Then, we proposed an analysis of some scales used to assess attribution of blame to sexual crimes victims. Finally, we discussed some limitations and proposed future directions to move forward research on victim blaming.