Coping With Intoxicated Masculinity: Queer Young Adults’ Experiences and Narratives of Sexual Victimization and Gender in Nightlife

Abstract

While research on intoxication and violence has been prolific, including research on sexual violence, little of the existing work has examined sexual victimization among sexual and gender minorities (SGM), especially in drinking settings where violence and aggression may be commonplace. Using data from interviews with 200 SGM young adults in the San Francisco Bay Area, we examine SGM young adults’ narratives of sexual victimization within drinking settings, exploring their discussions of objectifying gendered and sexual(ized) encounters and focusing specifically on the respondents’ experiences of cisgender men’s stranger intrusions, and the strategies they adopt in managing and coping with such intrusions.