This study analyses laypersons’ explanations for sexual violence. It focusses on how the responsibility for sexual crimes is constructed and attributed, and moreover, what kind of effect this has on the attribution of blame. The research data consist of 105 opinion pieces published in the leading Finnish newspaper since the beginning of the 21st century. The theory-driven qualitative analysis utilises attribution theory and focusses on laypersons’ interpretations and explanations for unusual acts and events deviating from social norms. Attribution theory is commonly utilised in relation to micro-level actors, the offender and the victim, whereas in this article, it is broadened to include also society as a macro-level actor. The analysis reveals that the construction of responsibility derives from (I) the chronological presentation and explanation of sexual crimes; especially (II) the causality attached to chronological phases, which emphasises the victim’s actions prior to the crime; and (III) the construction of active female agency against male passivity or absence of the perpetrator. Moreover, blame is based on a combination of active agency, produced in the analysed explanations, and stereotypical features connected to female gender (e.g. rape myths).

中文翻译：

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超越个体行为者的性犯罪责任归属——在外行解释中构建罪犯、受害者和社会的责任

本研究分析了非专业人士对性暴力的解释。重点关注性犯罪的责任是如何构建和归属的，以及这对责任归属有什么样的影响。研究数据包括自 21 世纪初以来在芬兰主要报纸上发表的 105 篇评论文章。理论驱动的定性分析利用归因理论，侧重于外行对偏离社会规范的异常行为和事件的解释和解释。归因理论通常用于微观层面的行为者、犯罪者和受害者，而在本文中，它被扩大到也包括社会作为宏观层面的行为者。分析表明，责任的建构源于（一）性犯罪的时间呈现和解释；尤其是（二）因果关系依时间顺序，强调受害人在犯罪前的行为；（三）构建积极的女性代理，反对男性被动或肇事者缺席。此外，责备是基于分析解释中产生的积极代理和与女性性别相关的陈规定型特征（例如强奸神话）的组合。