NCJ Number
141177
Journal
Sexual Coercion and Assault Volume: 1 Issue: 1 Dated: (1986) Pages: 2-7
Date Published
1986
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Using a sample of students at Western Washington University, this research examined the factors associated with males initiating and females experiencing a wide range of sexually coercive and assaultive behaviors.
Abstract
The participants were 130 males and 207 females who volunteered to complete an anonymous questionnaire in exchange for extra course credit. The questionnaire contained standardized measures of sexual experience, male macho personality, female attraction to macho males, attitude toward the female gender role, locus of control orientation, social background and demographic characteristics, and experience with coercive sexual behaviors. Results revealed that females had experienced an average of 6.8 different types of sexually coercive activity, while males reported initiating an average of 2.4 different types of such behavior. For all 19 activities, which ranged from the hand being held against the will to intercourse against the will, a greater proportion of females than males reported experience with the behavior. Findings suggested that for males in general, sexually coercive or assaultive behavior is a function of the opportunity to engage in such behavior and a macho personality orientation. The males who engage in less serious behaviors appear to do so as a function of the opportunity, while those who have initiated more serious forms of coercion or assault are characterized by hypermasculinity. For females, having experienced all forms of sexually coercive/assaultive behaviors is a function of exposure to heterosexual sexual situations. Tables and 27 references