The two rape cases that are the focus of this study were covered extensively in the two major Israeli daily newspapers, which are both tabloids and are the most popular newspapers in Israel. The two rape cases, which occurred in 1998 and 2001, were called "the Ramat Ha'Sharon rape" (a town near Tel Aviv with a well-established upper-middle-class population) and "the midcountry rape." In both cases, the victims were minor girls who were raped numerous times throughout several weeks by a group of youths. The "midcountry" victim was 13 years old, and the Ramat Ha'Sharon victim was 16 years old. In addition, the younger victim did not know most of her attackers; whereas, the older girl knew her attackers from school. The study hypothesized that the "midcountry" girl would be portrayed as helpless and not responsible for her victimization and would receive more positive descriptions than the Ramat Ha'Sharon victim. The analysis of the newspapers' coverage did not support this hypothesis. Instead, the media reports in both cases tended to focus on the victims' behavior before the rape, emphasizing that they were not sexually innocent. By focusing on the victims' previous sexual experience and by labeling them as "bad girls," the newspapers perpetuated and reinforced the myths that a woman who is having consensual sex cannot be an innocent victim when raped and thus contributes to her rape by "asking for it." 50 references