An Examination of the Shadow of Sexual Assault Hypothesis Among Men and Women in South Korea

• DOI: 10.1177/1057567719873964
• Author: Jaeyong Choi,Haneul Yim,Daniel R. Lee
• Date: 01 December 2020
• Published date: 01 December 2020
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

An Examination of the

Shadow of Sexual Assault

Hypothesis

Among Men and Women

in South Korea

Jaeyong Choi

1

, Haneul Yim

2

, and Daniel R. Lee

3

Abstract

Using a South Korean sample from 2010 National Crime Victim Survey, the current research

examined the gender differences of fear of four different types of crime testing the shadow of sexual

assault thesis, which asserts that sexual assault operates as a master offense for females. The current

study provides insight into the robustness of the shadow hypothesis by controlling for various

covariates (e.g., perceptions of the neighborhood and crime-related media consumption) that have

been often omitted in this line of literature. Results show that the largest difference in fear between

males and females was the fear of sexual assault, and based on coefficient comparison tests, fear of

sexual assault was a stronger predictor of fear of other crimes among males than among females.

The current study calls for future research to disentangle the shadow of sexual hypothesis in dif-

ferent settings and to conduct more studies specifically on men’s fear of crime.

Keywords

shadow of sexual assault, fear of sexual assault, South Korea

Fear of crime has been extensively studied in criminology and many related disciplines because

of its broad implications ranging from individuals’ well-being to weakening social relationships

(Ferraro, 1995; Lane, Rader, Henson, Fisher, & May, 2014; Lee, 2018; Warr, 2000). Some research-

ers argue that fear of crime has served as a key component in corroding race relations (Skogan, 1995)

and weakening social ties by leading individuals to withdraw from community life (Lane et al.,

2014). While surveys have shown th at the public has a high level of fear of c rime in general

1

Department of Security Studies and Criminal Justice, Angelo State University, San Angelo, TX, USA

2

University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA

3

Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Jaeyong Choi, Department of Security Studies and Criminal Justice, Angelo State University, 2601 W. Avenue N, San Angelo,

TX 76909, USA.

Email: jaeyong.choi@angelo.edu

International CriminalJustice Review

2020, Vol. 30(4) 386-405

ª2019 Georgia State University

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DOI: 10.1177/1057567719873964

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(Kappeler & Potter, 2017), the level of fear of crime varies depending on demographic character-

istics of individuals (Logan & Walker, 2017; O

¨zas¸c¸ılar & Ziyalar, 2017). One of the most consistent

findings regarding fear of crime is the difference in fear of crime between males and females (e.g.,

Cook & Fox, 2012; Ferraro, 1996; Fox, Nobles, & Piquero, 2009; Lane & Fisher, 2009). Previous

studies have shown that while fear of crime is significantly related to the risk of being victimized, an

individual’s actual risk of victimization is not enough to explain a variation of fear of crime (Hinkle,

2015; Rader & Cossman, 2011; Rader & Haynes, 2011; Warr, 2000). Although females tend to

express higher levels of fear of crimes than males, not all statistics support that females are more

likely to experience direct victimization than their male counterparts for many crimes (Ferraro,

1996; Schafer, Huebner, & Bynum, 2006; Sutton, Robinson, & Farrall, 2011). This phenomenon is

known as the victimization-fear paradox (Sacco, 1990).

Many models have been developed and tested to explain the different levels of fear of crime

between males and females (La ne et al., 2014). Some researche rs argued that females tend to

underreport their victimization and that the hidden victimization rate of women can explain higher

levels of fear among women (Junger, 1987; Scott, 2003; Stanko, 1995). In contrast, the vulnerability

perspective explains that females are less capable of protecting themselves from potential victimi-

zation than males (Hale, 1996; Skogan & Maxfield, 1981). Some researchers advanced the argument

that females are socialized to be more fearful of crime by various learning agents such as parents and

the media (Rader & Haynes, 2011; Scott, 2003). Despite numerous models to account for gender

differences in fear of crime, the shadow of sexual assault hypothesis has prevailed in the fear of

crime literature (Ferraro, 1996; Fisher & Sloan, 2003; Lane, Gover, & Dahod, 2009; Lane et al.,

2014). This model hypothesizes that females tend to express high fear of crime in general due to their

overshadowed fear of sexual assault (Ferraro, 1995, 1996).

While there exists a large body of empirical literature documenting the validity of the shadow

hypothesis (Fisher & Sloan, 2003; Lane & Meeker, 2003; Lane et al., 2014), assessing the general-

izability of the shadow hypothesis among Asians is still scarce (but see also, Chui, Cheng, & Wong,

2013). South Korea is considered as one of the safest countries in the world, and the recent report

from the UN Crime Trends Survey on the prevalence rates on traditional crimes confirms the overall

low crime rate of South Korea (e.g., the median rate of 34.3 assault per 100,000; Heiskanen, 2010).

Nonetheless, South Korea recorded the rape rate above the third quartile among 116 countries.

Considering that the sex-fear paradox was presented based on the assumption that female victimiza-

tion rates are lower than male victimization rates, it should be examined if this assumption is tenable

in the South Korean context. A government report regarding victimization rates in South Korea

indicates that while males are more likely to experience violent crimes relative to females from aged

13 to 30, but this pattern is reversed among South Koreans aged 31 years to 50 years (Supreme

Public Prosecutors’ Office, 2015). Against this backdrop, the shadow hypothesis may serve as a

critical theoretical framework to understand the overall high fear of crime among South Koreans

(NationMaster, 2014).

We aim to examine whether the shadow hypothesis is adequate to account for gender gaps in fear

of crime in different ways. First, using a sample of South Koreans, the external validity of the

shadow hypothesis will be examined by testing if fear of sexual assault is a strong determinant of

fear of other crimes among females. Next, the proposed relationship will be estimated with a split

sample to compare the results across genders; the effect sizes of fear of sexual assault from the two

models will be assessed with coefficient comparison tests.

The current study can contribute to the literature in three ways: (a) it provides some insights into

the external validity of the shadow of sexual assault in a different cultural setting; (b) it controls for

the key variables (e.g., perceptions of neighborhood and confidence in the police), omitted in prior

research to reduce specification errors whe n examining the hypothesis; and (c) the addi tion of

correlates of fear of crime can test the robustness of the shadow hypothesis.

Choi et al. 387