Influencia del sexismo, el rol sexual y el sexo sobre percepción del acoso callejero

Street harassment is a common form of violence that has been barely studied, thus there is little clarity among the psychosocial factors that may be determinant to define this type of harassment. The aim of this research was to analyze the influence of sexism, the sexual role and sex on street harassment from the observer’s view, through a path analysis. A non-probability sample technique was used among 262 students (193 women and 69 men) from Venezuelan universities, aged between 16 and 27 years. The perception of harassment was divided into two dimensions: attribution of responsibility to the victim for harassment and the perception of seriousness of the act. It was found that attribution of responsibility to the victim for harassment and the perception of seriousness of street harassment are directly influenced by hostile and benevolent sexism, as well as male sex role. An increase in sexism can lead to a greater attribution of guilt to the harassed and less perception of seriousness. The male role is associated, on the contrary, with less attribution of guilt and greater perception of severity. It also highlights the indirect effects of sex and male sexual role on the dimensions of street harassment. The results showed that the increase of victim attribution and perception of severity of street harassment is due to the individuals’ sexist attitudes.