The current study aims to shed light on how masculinity threat and challenges from women translate into fantasies of mass and gender-based violence. These attitudes are evident among some self-proclaimed “incels,” who blame social liberalism, feminism, and sexually active men for their rejection from women. We developed a measure of “incel” traits, which was administered in an online self-report survey of 18- to 30-year-old heterosexual men in the United States. As hypothesized, stress in one’s inability to live up to norms of masculinity and endorsement of “incel” traits are associated with violent fantasies about rape and using powerful weapons against enemies.

Research has shown that victims of sexual assault are at a significant risk of revictimization. We use routine activity theory to predict how sexual victimization in adolescence relates to depression, substance use, and ultimately revictimization as a young adult. We frame our research within routine activity theory and predict that sexual victimization increases substance use and depressive symptoms, both of which increase the likelihood of revictimization. We test the hypotheses with three waves of data from the Longitudinal Study of Violence Against Women. Using structural equation modeling, we examine the direct and indirect effects of previous sexual victimization, depressive symptoms, and substance use on the odds of victimization during the sophomore year of college. Results suggest that sexual victimization during the sophomore year of college is predicted directly by previous sexual victimization and also indirectly through depressive symptomology, though not substance use. Although understudied in the literature, depression is shown to mediate the relationship between victimization and revictimization, and this finding is consistent with routine activity theory, as well as the state dependence perspective on revictimization. Our findings suggest that depressive symptoms, a long acknowledged consequence of sexual victimization, should also be understood as a source of revictimization risk, indicating the importance of depression screening and intervention for decreasing sexual victimization.

There is a rich research literature linking interpersonal violence to mental health disorders among undergraduate students. However, scholars know less about the prevalence and consequences of victimization among students enrolled in postbaccalaureate programs. Graduate and law students are uniquely vulnerable in their dependence on programs for financial support and career advancement, and they are more isolated than undergraduates. We explore the experiences of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and stalking in a sample of 1,149 male and female master’s, doctoral, and law students at a southeastern public university. First, the current study estimates prevalence rates of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and stalking across participant characteristics such as gender, race, sexual orientation, and degree program. We find higher rates of sexual harassment among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, or asexual (LGBTQ+) women and multiracial students and higher rates of coercion and stalking among women. Second, following a longstanding literature on experiences with violence among undergraduate women, we demonstrate the effects of interpersonal violence on depression and anxiety. A series of multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) suggests a heightened risk of mental health disturbances among law students, women, and LGBTQ+ students. Importantly, interpersonal violence partially explains these heightened levels of depression and anxiety in these groups. Given increasing rates of enrollment in postbaccalaureate programs, our findings suggest an unfulfilled need for the assessment, prevention, and treatment of individuals regarding the experiences of interpersonal violence and mental illness among graduate and law students. Student services should develop education and prevention programming for students and faculty to alleviate the occurrence and consequences of victimization while being mindful of the unique experiences of sexually and racially minoritized students.

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Victim" and "survivor" identities are central to discourses on sexual victimization. Activist and academic discourses associate the former with weakness and latter with strength, while centering images and experiences of white women. Yet, little research has explored who identifies as "victims"/"survivors" or how these identities relate to distress. We utilize identity theory to consider how "victim" and "survivor" identities are incorporated into and prioritized within the self among women of color, white women, and men. In a sample of college students who have experienced sexual assault (N = 169), we find identity theory's core conceptscommitment, prominence, and salience-are strongly and positively correlated across identities, suggesting respondents cannot be easily dichotomized into "victims" and "survivors." Indeed, most respondents identified with both identities (44%), while 25% identified as "survivors" only and 11% as "victims" only. As expected, respondents who identify only as "victims" or as "victim/survivors" report greater negative emotions and depression and lower self-esteem than those who identify only as "survivors." The "victim" identity is particularly damaging for men's emotional states, while the "survivor" identity ameliorates distress among women of color. We discuss how these identities interact with social identities and each other.