“The Girl Who Cried Rape”: An Assessment of Rape Myths in the Moroccan Sociocultural Context

Received: 08 September 2021 Accepted: 14 October 2021 Published: 20 October 2021 DOI: 10.32996/ijcrs.2021.1.1.1 Empirical studies have unequivocally and consistently shown that rape myths are integral to the aetiology of sexual coercion and aggression. The present article reviews the literature on rape myth acceptance as an important risk factor in the sexual victimization of women and a precursor for a hostile social attitude towards victims of rape. Through the examination of the verbal reactions of the Moroccan public to the case of rape and torture of Khadija “the tattoo girl” (fata:t lwaʃm) on YouTube, it attempts to assess and debunk specific examples of rape myths present in the Moroccan sociocultural context. Discussion focuses on the social perception of female victims of sexual violence and the measurement and evaluation of its physical and psychological impact on them. Victims' emotional responses and psychic trauma constitute an important part of this discussion. Findings suggest the existence of immanently cultural rape myths, such as “the myth of the willing victim”, “it is impossible to rape a resisting woman”, and “women are prone to make false allegations”, along with deleterious victim-blaming cultural stereotypes, such as “she was asking for it”. Another noteworthy finding this paper presents is the social requirement of conspicuous "psychological/emotional harm" to legitimize the status of the victim. KEYWORDS

woman', 'men risk being falsely accused of rape', 'some categories of forced sex are not really rape" (p. 24). The majority of studies, Edwards, Turchik, Dardis, Reynolds, and Gidycz (2011) maintain, examine these specific rape myths, which are consistently and extensively documented in the academic literature that is mainly focused on Western countries. The current study is intended to yield a better understanding of the myths that are shared with the west and the ones that are endemic to Moroccan culture and that are, presumably, present in other Arab and Muslim cultures; a view that offers an occasion for future research. It should be noted that, to my knowledge, no research has assessed Moroccan people's perception and acceptance of cultural stereotypes and myths surrounding sexual violence and its victims. So it is important to have future research examine this issue, in addition to the belief structures of individuals who often come in contact with and whose job is to assist and help victims of sexual violence (e.g., the national police, the royal gendarmerie, health, social, and legal services). Data gleaned from such research would help elucidate the manner in which cases of sexual violence are handled in the kingdom, as well as the treatment of victims, which might, in turn, help us understand and, subsequently, remedy Moroccan women's lack of trust in the police and the legal system and their reluctance to seek help or to pursue legal avenues.

Women are prone to make false allegations
Research (e.g., Littleton & Axsom, 2003;Horvath and Brown, 2009; Ryan, 2011) shows that both men and women endorse "the real rape script", or what Krahé and colleagues (2007) refer to as "the real rape stereotype" (p. 316), which is characterized by three major elements: the threat of physical force, the use of a weapon, and victim resistance. Ryan (2011) says that "it involves a sudden and physically violent attack on an unsuspecting woman, usually by a stranger. The woman is alone at the time of the attack. She may physically resist the rape or she may be too afraid to resist. There is no doubt that the victim was raped-her only mistake was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She is devastated after the rape" (p. 776). Similarly, Weis and Borges (1973) argue that, for the majority of people, rape is the equivalent of as a sudden, violent attack by a stranger in a deserted public place. The victim is expected to actively resist the assailant and immediately provide genuine evidence of her attack. They refer to this as "the "classic" rape situation".
To construe rape as a crime that ought to involve the use of extreme physical violence and that can be evaded by victim resistance is, certainly, deleterious to victims; as this requirement delegitimizes experiences that involve subtle and psychological forms of intimidation and/or verbal coercion, and wherein the victim is shocked, utterly incapacitated, and, simply, unable to get out of that situation. Bourke (2008) argues that "subtle intimidation, for instance, is often more effective in producing the docile body of the victim" (p. 12). It is noteworthy that the Moroccan national media and online newspaper platforms mostly cover incidents that conform to common or largely accepted myths about rape and sexual assault; e.g., the victim is a young, beautiful, chaste virgin, who was brutally ravaged, and the perpetrator is an alcoholic or drug-addict, who was previously convicted of several crimes of violence. This type of heavy publicity helps create prototypes of the "perfect victim", the "ultimate perpetrator", and the "real rape", which, foremost, renders everyday cases of sexual violence that contradict those myths severely overlooked (Longsway & Fitzgerald, 1995, Pp. 134-5), and discourages women from labeling their personal experiences sexual assault or rape. Turchick and colleagues (2010) maintain that holding a "real rape script", for women, increases the likelihood of failing "to recognize risk cues in contexts that do not fit their idea of a real rape" (pp. 81-82), which makes them more vulnerable to sexual predation (Turchick, et l., 2010; Ryan, 2011). Therefore, female victims are more likely to fail to label experiences of rape that are inconsistent with the script, and to seek assistance from friends and relatives, or to pursue legal avenues (Warshaw, 1988;Peterson & Muehlenhard, 2004;Bohner, et al., 2009;Ryan, 2011).
The "real rape script" has consequential implications on women's claims of sexual victimization, especially if they were closely acquainted, romantically involved with, or even married to the perpetrator, prior to the attack; they are perceived as scheming and vindictive liars (Burt, 1980, Bryden, 2000Gavey, 2005;Patton & Snyder-Yuly, 2007;Edwards, et al., 2010;Edwards, et al., 2011), who falsely accuse innocent men to evade social reproval, or, in the case of Arab and Muslim countries, the repudiation by one's family and acquaintances, and legal punishment that culminates in incarceration for being caught in fornication, demand financial compensation that would save the man and his family's face, secure a husband who is unwilling to commit to wedlock, or get revenge for personal reasons (Edwards, et al., 2010). False allegations are also perceived as a means to deliberately ruin a respectable man's career and reputation, or a young man's future. Gavey (2005) argues that false allegations give the impression that it is men who are frequently victimized and in need of protection.
In the MENA region, the "syndrome of Potiphar's wife" is believed to characterize the female gender as a whole. The 12th chapter of the Quran, entitled Surah Yusuf, narrates the story of Potiphar's wife, who is the first and only woman in religious scripture to attempt to rape a man-Prophet Yusuf (PBUH)-and falsely accuse him of sexual assault, after he rejected her sexual advances. "23. But she in whose house he was, sought to seduce him from his (true) self: she fastened the doors, and said: 'Now come, thou (dear one)!' He said: Allah forbid! Truly (thy husband) is my lord! He made my sojourn agreeable. Truly to no good come those who do wrong! 24. And with passion did she desire him, and he would have desired her, but that he saw the evidence of his lord: thus (did We order) that We might turn away from him (all) evil and shameful deeds: for he was one of Our servants, sincere and purified. 25. So they both raced each other to the door, and she tore his shirt from the back: they both found her lord near the door. She said: "What is the (fitting) punishment for one who formed an evil design against thy wife, but prison or a grievous chastisement?" (Quran 12: [23][24][25] The "cunning" of Potiphar's wife, as her husband calls it, has been detrimental for women, over the centuries, especially victims of sexual violence, who are, ever since, believed to routinely lie about rape (Longsway and Fitzgerald, 1994) and whose claims of victimization are discredited; not only are their attackers all innocent, until proven guilty, but they are all liars and imposters until proven truthful. Consistent with the myth that "women lie about being raped", a large number of comments revealed a disquieting belief that false rape accusations are highly frequent in Moroccan society; individuals showed some extremely stereotypical interpretations of rape incidents that present themselves as 'ambiguous' and that do not perfectly align with the expectations of what constitutes a "real rape". Concomitantly, rape and sexual assault are transformed into an act of 'whoring' where both parties are equally held responsible for what happened. Women, 'lascivious' ones, in particular, are condemned as prone to make false allegations and cry rape when having 'second thoughts' and wanting to restore what they damaged impulsively.  Girls go on whoring willingly and, when they decide to get married, they start saying that they were drugged and raped. This has gotten old. Comment 6: wa:ʃ kajən ʃi ħədd kajɣtasəb wkajəktəb Ɂummi rah bayna hijja lli kətba:tha How would a rapist tattoo "mom"! It's obvious that she did it to herself. Comment 7: tta ʕrəfti ʃħal dja:l ttanaqudˁa:t fəttasˁrii: dja:l lbənt wa bəzzaf w ʕawtani ila ʕta lqadˁa:Ɂ lha:d lbənt waħəd lħəqq lli makatstaħəqqu:ʃ fa ra:h hazala lqadˁa:Ɂ fha:d lbla:d w ila: ʃəddu: du:k lqa:siri:n lli: kullhum bra:həʃ w dderbu: blħəbs fa ra:h mʃa:w ba:təl wa dˁulman

Do you have any idea how contradictory the girl's statement is? It is too much! If the law grants this girl rights she doesn't deserve, then this country's judiciary system is a joke. If the underage boys, who are all delinquents, get arrested, then their arrest is wrong and unjust.
Comment 8: sa taðˁharu lħaqi:qa wa kullu ma: qa:lathu la: jataqabbaluhu lʕaql The truth will be revealed. Everything she said cannot be comprehended by the human brain. Comment 9: ʕla:ʃ bba:k madəklara:ʃ mən lli:la lləwla fa:ʃ ɣəbti muddat ʃəhrajn wənti ɣa:jba w bba:k ka:n ħa:sbək ma:za:la mʕa bənt xa:ltək ħda: lba:b maθalan Why didn't your father report you as a missing person on the first night you went missing? You've been gone for two months! Did your father think you and your (female) cousin were still standing at the door of the house or something like that?

"She asked for it": The myth of "the willing victim"
The myth of the "willing victim" happens to be one of the many cultural attitudes that promote and propagandize prejudicial and stereotyped attitudes about rape and rape victims. Individuals who endorse this myth, typically show high levels of skepticism in regard to victims' claims and unambivalently believe that female 'victims' enjoyed being forced; a belief that is intensified by unconventional displays of character that are presumptuously judged as pure insignia of 'immodesty', 'immorality', and 'delinquency', and, most certainly, by news of the victim's engagement in extramarital sexual behavior and her 'promiscuity'. The belief that the victim was willing to engage in a consensual sexual encounter, but nevertheless cried rape, can also be evoked as a response to the victim's uncanny, unexpected mental condition following her attack, as individuals tend to, whether consciously, or subconsciously, perform a certain assessment or diagnosis of the victim's psychiatric condition to determine her level of 'stability', and, consequently, the degree of her 'credibility'. In this sense, rape myths, e.g., "women routinely lie about being raped" and the myth of "the willing victim", prescribe the way victims of sexual assault ought to feel or behave after their attack.
In the comments section, several people, men, and women expressed their bewilderment at how the young woman does not seem "traumatized" or "broken" enough as if there was an already established and ready to use a scale of psychic trauma according to which all female experiences of sexual assault and rape can be measured. The viewers seemed viscerally certain about what 'true trauma' looks like or, at least, should look like. Her state did not meet their expectations. Victims of sexual violence are mostly invited to speak of the impact the incident had on their lives. The importance of the incident, in this case, the rape and torture of a non-consenting underage girl, is judged according to the level of emotional breaking the victim reached. The more broken you look, the more believable you are. It is in here that lies the danger of the emphasis on the psychological/emotional impact; for when the victim does not show typical signs of psychological/emotional harm, she may find her experience trivialized, if not deemed completely unreliable. Buddie and Miller (2001) argue that because the visibility of clear emotional distress prescribes the way all "real victims" ought to feel and react, individuals' responses to rape victims are not the same, especially in the case of victims who do not display a strong emotional reaction to their attack; they are not always met with a subjectively positive and sympathetic response. Viewers voicing their concern about and questioning Khadija's credibility based on her "perfidious" performance can be attributed to her failure to meet the expectations of "the psychological and emotional impact", which communicates, not only the narrowness and erroneousness of individuals' understanding of trauma but also the way the latter is "constructed within the experiences and realities of dominant groups in cultures." (Brown, 1995, 102) Brown says that "the range of human experience becomes the range of what is normal and usual in the lives of men of the dominant class; White, young, able-bodied, educated, middle class, Christian men. Trauma is thus what disrupts the lives of these particular men but no other." (p. 101) Brown's argument, certainly, remains valid in the Muslim world, in the sense that victims who do not respect stereotypical and prescriptive guidelines are faced with disbelief, insensitivity, and minimalization of the effects of the experience on their lives. In Khadija's case, the degree of her "stability", "composure", and "poise" came as a shock to the majority of viewers and, consequently, stirred in them a feeling of disbelief. Some expressed that her claimed kidnapping and rape by a gang should have left her unable to speak with such "fluency" and "confidence", let alone open up about the distress Moroccan women face, today, because of harassers and rapists. Some even found this "ridiculous". It is obvious that she is "making it all up"-she ran away with one of the

She is in a better mental state than I am. You are feeding us lies. No trauma! No shock! No depression! No sorrow! What in the world is this?
When female victims are not found "willing", they are "characterologically" blamed; e.g., they are found extremely trusting and naive (Howard, 1984;Perrot & Webber, 1996;Anderson, 1999), and/or "behaviourally" blamed for employing submission as a coping strategy and not successfully deterring their assault (Anderson, 1999;Groth & Birnbaum, 2013). Although, Anderson (1999) argues that a clear-cut distinction between behavioral and characterological blame is almost impossible, her study shows that when people are asked to make attributions of rape to both male and female victims, both genders were more likely to make behavioral blame attributes for not physically resisting the attack, 'as one ought to'.In (Perrot & Bebber, 1996), it is mostly male victims who are behaviourally blamed; they are judged for having been incapable of using their 'biologically-endowed' physical strength to prevent the attack.

It is impossible to rape a 'resisting' woman
It is disquieting that a large number of perceivers hold the belief that rape victims, Khadija as one of many, are not only capable of but also responsible for preventing their rape. How can a woman who was raised in a society that taught her nothing but to be passive and submissive miraculously develop a self-defense technique that would break her free? How can the public think that Khadija's reaction to the perpetrators should have been other than the inescapable paralysis of will that is the inextricable outcome of feminine conditioning, which encourages women to remain in the shelter of domestic life and demonstrate characteristics, such as shame, modesty, and chasteness, which are recognized as intrinsic, or natural, in a woman. Bourke (2008) on the subject of women's resistance, sarcastically says: "who was this woman who merely has to apply the "tremendous power" of her pelvic and abductor thigh muscles to evade her assailant? She was not everywoman" (p. 26). In a patriarchal society-practically any society one chooses to name-as a woman, "you [are driven to] develop a self who is ingratiating and obsequious and imitative and aggressively passive and silent -you [are driven to] learn, in a word, femininity." [Emphasis added] (MacKinnon, 1993, p. 7) This type of femininity, Brownmiller (1975) argues, makes you "unfit for the contest" (p. 403) and trains you to lose. As a woman, you are expected to show no evidence that your character reveals a degree of openness that would determine that the male conduct towards you was welcomed or even solicited; a character that, in other words, does not speak of innocence, purity, and chastity. "Provocative femininity" is to be avoided at all costs. You are, also, expected to say "NO", even when you desire to say "yes". It is your moral duty. You must maintain your modesty and chasteness because you are "naturally" equipped to do so. You are to use your natural skills of duplicity and dissemblance. You are destined to resist. In the comments section, people found it odd that Khadija could not prevent her rape and torture. They blamed her for not doing anything about it. They blamed her for letting it happen. Comment 25: ha:d xəjjti ba:jna məsku:na da:k ʒʒənn lli sa:kənha həwwa lli wʃəm li:ha ħi:t katəhdər bwa:əħəd lburu:da majəmkənʃ ki da:r ta wʃəm li:ha bla matqa:wəm hadʃʃi walla:hi:la qisˁsˁa ha:di This chick is clearly possessed. The demon possessing her is the one who tattooed her because she speaks with such coolness. It's too much! How is it possible that he tattooed her with such precision without her resisting it? Indeed, it is a weird story! Comment 26: tbarkəlla:h ʕla xadi:ʒa ma ɣəwətti ma wa:lu ma ka:nu la na:s la wa:lu
Comment 28: majemkənʃ muʒri:m jəktəb kəlmət ma:ma fʒəldha ssi:r huwwa anna:hu lmuʒrimi:n ʕa:qqi:n ra majmkənʃ jku:n ktəbha ʕan ħubb ləmmu: ttafsi:r dja:li həwwa annahu: hijja lli: qallbat ʕli:ha ħi:t lbna:t waxxa kajku:nu xa:rʒi:n lətri:q kajbqa:w mətʕellqi:n bmmawa:thum There is no way a criminal could've tattooed the word "mama" on her flesh. The secret is that criminals are "undutiful" to their parents. There is no way he could've written it out of love for his mother. My explanation is that she's the one who asked for it, because girls, even when deviant, remain attached to their mothers.
In an interesting sidelight, the endorsement of rape myths that blame victims for what happened to them does not necessarily translate into the complete negation of the nefarious effects that rape has on victims; a considerable number of perceivers who endorse some rape myths seem to recognize the negative effects of the experience on the victim, an argument that is in line with (Buddie and Miller, 2002)'s findings. Consequently, perceivers seldom directly blame victims for their predicament but would agree that certain of her characteristics (e.g., promiscuity, immorality) and actions (e.g., drinking alcohol, smoking, spending time with "thugs") irrevocably led to her victimization. This was not applicable to Khadija's case, as the majority of perceivers who showed high levels of R.M.A directly blamed her for her rape and went farther than that to, actually, express a feeling of pleasure, satisfaction, and joy, even, obtained from her misfortune, which represents a major disconfirmation of the hypothesis that perceivers would blame the victim for her experience and simultaneously show a certain level of empathy towards her. The majority of the comments express a feeling of schadenfreude were, surprisingly, written by women. Comment 34: ba:jna axti bəlli nti xa:rʒa lətri:q w Ɂallahu Ɂaʕlam nəfta:rdu bəlli hu:ma ʃəmka:ra ku:n kənti məħta:rma ra:sək w da:xla su:q ra:ssək majqerbu:kʃ w mən ttasˁri:ħ dja:lki ba:jna mətwətra dnu:b du:k dra:ri msa:kən fu:q kta:fek w lħaqi:qa ɣa:da tba:n Ɂinna lla:ha jumhilu wala: juhmilu It is obvious, sister, that you are deviant (a slut). Only Allah knows! Let's suppose that they are thugs. If you had had some self-respect and were chaste, they wouldn't have approached you. You look nervous, from the way you talk. You will bear the burden of (falsely accusing) those poor boys. The truth shall be revealed. Allah gives respite but never neglects.
Framing rape within victim-blaming discourses implies the focus on every detailed aspect that would make the victim "rapeprone." The rape-prone female, as described by Hugo (1967, p. 105) cited in MacKinnon (1993, p. 70), is someone "who consciously or unconsciously exposes herself by dress, behavior, itinerary, or other means to potential sexual assault." Following this, "provocative" clothing, makeup, laughter, posture, or walk, the fact that the victim was working in isolated areas, keeping late hours, walking down deserted dark streets "alone" is to make her the perfect victim. She got what she was "asking for." It is important to add that a woman might also get raped because she was not being cautious. Her rapist is out of the picture. In this regard, (Valenti, 2009, p. 151) argues that "women do not get raped because they weren't careful enough. Women get raped because someone raped them [original emphasis]." Cultural stereotypes and myths that blame victims aim towards ostracising women from the public sphere. They construct strict boundaries between what is "private" and what is "public", thus rendering the streets an exceptionally hostile and minacious environment for women. They are especially conspicuous in cases of everyday street sexual harassment and sexual assault; as victims are constantly and unjustly incur blame for the perpetrator's actions. The tribulation of being a victim of sexual violence in a patriarchal system is the latter's attempt to rationalize and justify male sexually aggressive tendencies when attributional strategies fail to uphold individuals' belief in a "just world", where, essentially, each person gets what they deserve. Such systems promote a number of rape myths that help exonerate perpetrators of sexual violence, e.g., men "are very sexual" and "unable to control their sexual behaviors." (Ryan, 2011, p. 6) Consequently, perpetrators of sexual violence, especially child molesters and pedophiles, as (Groth and Birnbaum, 2013, pp. 145-7) maintain, are constantly represented as "retarded" or "insane", "alcoholic or drug-addicted", and as "sexually frustrated" people. Therefore, Moroccan women are held accountable for managing and deterring, men's sexual behaviors and 'unrestrained' sexual urges, as well as overtly communicating non-consent; a notion that is perfectly clarified in the comments section.

Conclusion
Predictably, the examination of the comments section of multiple YouTube videos revealed a number of alarmingly negative and unsupportive responses to the female victim. The present research demonstrates that a large number of Moroccan people-men, in particular-show high levels of rape myth acceptance, rape-supportive attitudes, and victim-blaming attitudes. The rape myths debunked in this paper appear to be indistinguishable from the ones revealed in previous studies done in Western countries, which shows that stigmatization, discrimination, and unsupportive responses constitute an unmistakeably shared experience for the majority of victims around the globe. The social attitudes that are vocalized in the comments section represent an array of political ideologies and modes of understanding of heterosexuality, especially sexually normative male aggressiveness and female "rape proneness", which represent an important challenge to western societies, and an even greater one to the MENA region, wherein the victimization of women is normalized, minimized, and justified, as has been demonstrated in this paper. The current manifestations of stereotypes and myths documented in this article reveal an enduring skepticism about women's claims of sexual victimization and a plethora of victim-blaming discourses that struggle for recognition, thus reinforcing the belief that they are an unmistakable sign of structural violence. It becomes important to adopt a feminist sociocultural model of S.V that acknowledges the role of the patriarchal structure of society in the perpetuation of S.V.A.W, which entails the recognition that negative cultural beliefs, including stereotypes and myths about S.V, victims, and perpetrators represent strong mediating variables between structural gender inequality and the high rates of S.V in the country. Moreover, all understandings of the negative attitudes towards victims have to be framed within a larger context of structural violence that ensures the persistence of the current gender stratification system, which, in its turn, helps maintain male sexual entitlement and social superiority over women.
This research has yielded an interesting finding that supports the notion that Moroccan women are implicated in the maintenance of societal violence and victim discrimination; a large number of the comments examined in this paper are written by women. Female perceivers seem to hold negative attitudes towards their own gender and to tolerate-even, justify-male sexual violence towards other women, which can only demonstrate the magnitude of the problem of Moroccan women's non-labeling their experiences sexual violence when they are legally recognized as such, which results in the underreporting of sexual crimes and the consequent impression that they are a rare occurrence in the Moroccan context. Further, the responses of both male and female perceivers validate the failure of the country's strategies to deal with the problem of S.V, thus highlighting the stressful need for the development of efficient social strategies that work towards the deconstruction and elimination of cultural stereotypes and myths surrounding S.V.

Directions for future research
The present article was intended to offer a better understanding of the issue of cultural stereotypes and myths about S.V in Moroccan society. Nonetheless, several limitations warrant discussion. First, for a thorough documentation of the current manifestations of rape myths in the Moroccan context, studies can examine diverse cases of S.V that differ in terms of the victim's perceived reliability and the case's perceived level of ambiguity. This paper's main focus has been the case of Khadija, which has gained an unprecedented level of media coverage, public interest, and involvement of social and human-rights activists. Second, future studies might examine the demographic, sociocultural, and behavioral characteristics of individuals who support rape myths in the Moroccan context. Finally, it is crucial to examine the beliefs that encourage sexually aggressive behavior towards women, justify perpetrators' actions, and, certainly, help restrict disclosure of female experiences of sexual victimization.