NCJ Number
102355
Date Published
1986
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study examines the nature of and victim reactions to obscene telephone calls received in a sample of 170 women attending Temple University and Beaver College in 1980-1981.
Abstract
The subjects completed a 58-item questionnaire that solicited descriptions of their experiences and reactions to obscene calls. Eighty-one percent had received obscene calls, and 60 percent had received several obscene calls. The respondents distinctly remembered details of the calls more than 1 year later. The calls generally produced shock, fear, shame, anger, and disgust. Rather than viewing the caller as a perpetrator of a childish game, most viewed him as offensively obscene. One-third considered him potentially dangerous. About 20 percent altered their daily behavior to reduce the risk of receiving more obscene calls. In spite of respondents' strong reactions to the calls, very few reported the incidents to the police or the telephone company. Most could not provide a persuasive rationale for not seeking an official intervention in the incident. There was an apparent tendency for the respondents to accept such abuse as part of the lot of being a woman, suggesting that American women have been socially conditioned to accept the inevitability of such sexual abuse. 11 tables.