Are there sex biases in rape counseling?

To test the common assumption that only women should treat rape victims, the authors examined the effect of therapists' gender on their counseling of 41 rape victims. The men and women counselors did not differ significantly in their descriptions of their affective responses to the patients or in their treatment recommendations. The women therapists rated victims as having more functional impairment on the Global Assessment Scale, possibly suggesting that they were more sensitive to the victims' distress. The total group of therapists viewed the rape victims more positively than they viewed other female emergency room patients, probably reflecting "undesirable" characteristics of persons who use this setting.