Understanding Status Defense Myths: When Power and Privilege Go Unpunished

Understanding Status Defense Myths: When Power and Privilege Go Unpunished investigates the role of status in the decision to punish or permit violence in society. Whether sexual, racial, political or financial, powerful factors work to maintain the status quo, heaping retribution on low-status perpetrators and delivering leniency to those with high-status. The model of status defense myths identifies four factors that are used to justify violence or absolve perpetrators of blame: evidence, deviance, danger and social worth. Status defense myths have been studied most often in the context of men’s sexual violence toward women, particularly victim blaming , hence this is a timely resource.

Whether on an elementary school playground, courtroom, or boardroom, status defense myths are used to privilege the rights of some at the expense of others. Understanding how this rhetoric exists and how it works is essential to understanding and combatting injustice.