Positive and Negative Cognitions of Sexual Submission: Relationship to Sexual Violence

Abstract

This study investigated gender differences in cognitions of sexual submission as well as their association with sexual violence. Participants were 292 heterosexual undergraduate students who completed a 56-item checklist assessing positive and negative sexual cognitions; they also completed measures assessing experiences of sexual abuse in childhood, experiences of sexual coercion in adulthood, and use of sexual coercion. Two 10-item sexual submission subscales were developed from the checklist. One reflected how often respondents had experienced the sexual submission items as positive. The other reflected how often these items were experienced as negative. When overall frequency of sexual cognitions was controlled, compared to the men, the women reported a significantly greater frequency of both positive and negative cognitions of sexual submission. Submission cognitions were more often negative for women and were more often positive for men. Men and women who had experienced sexual abuse in childhood reported more frequent positive sexual submission cognitions but not more negative sexual submission cognitions. Conversely, men and women who had experienced sexual coercion in adulthood reported more frequent negative sexual submission cognitions but not more positive sexual submission cognitions. Having used sexual coercion was associated with more frequent positive cognitions of sexual submission for both men and women. Implications for the proposed links between sexual violence and preferences for cognitions of sexual submission are discussed.

Stigmatization of individuals with sexually transmitted infections: effects of illness and observer characteristics

“…The target person was described as having had two previous sexual partners. This is consistent with the average number of partners reported by participants in previous studies with similar characteristics as the current sample (e.g., Renaud & Byers, ). The scenarios were identical except that the target's gender (“Jessica” vs. “Jason”), controllability of the onset of the STI (low control vs. high control), and STI type (herpes vs. chlamydia) were varied.…”

The effect of bilateral eye-movements versus no eye-movements on sexual fantasies

“…For example, some women regard their own sexual fantasies involving submission as negative (Byers, Purdon, & Clark, 1998;Moyano & Sierra, 2014), while some men who sexually fantasise about themes of dominance report them as negative (Byers et al, 1998). Renaud and Byers (2006) found that men and women who have experienced sexual coercion in adulthood report more negative sexual fantasies involving submission. Also, clinicians and researchers have noted that some female survivors of childhood sexual abuse report negatively appraised sexual fantasies involving force, humiliation, or pain, as well as inappropriate partners (Briere, 1992;Maltz, 2000;Westerlund, 1992;Wilson & Wilson, 2008).…”

Something in the way he moves? Interpersonal judgments of acquaintance rapists

“…Thus, future research should be directed toward understanding the background and individual difference variables responsible for variations in women's responses to such perpetrators. For example, given empirical links between the fantasies of sexual submission and childhood sexual abuse (Renaud & Byers, 2006; Shulman & Horne, 2006), the latter may facilitate greater tolerance for rapists. Unrestricted sociosexual orientation, which has been linked to fantasies of dominance in women (Yost & Zurbriggen, 2006), may also predict ascribing positive characteristics such as charisma to sexually aggressive men when the line between submission and dominance is blurred (e.g., the “strong but flaccid” scenarios herein).…”