Unwanted Sexual Experiences among Christian College Women: Saying no on the Inside

Abstract

Of 332 female college students who responded to a survey, 51% indicated that they had experienced an unwanted sexual incident. Twenty percent of the incidents occurred in childhood and 72% in adolescence or young adulthood. The stories fell into several categories: 15% were rated as sexual assault by a stranger, 11% as date rape, 13% as incest, and 55% as “lost voice.” Extent of the sexual involvement ranged from mild (7%), to kissing (14%), petting (45%), and intercourse (20%). The majority of situations involved a boyfriend, friend, or family member. Subjects also assessed their parents’ attitudes on gender roles. Those subjects who reported unwanted sexual experiences rated their fathers’ and mothers’ views of women as significantly more traditional than subjects who had not reported such experiences. These data suggest that parents’ attitudes about gender roles may be related to vulnerability and lead to unwanted sexual experiences.

The Relationship between a History of Childhood Sexual Abuse and Gender Role Attitudes

“…This hypothesis was supported by a simple comparison of means, but not when control variables were included in the analysis. The finding is consistent with those of Neal and Mangis (1995). They found that women who had unwanted sexual experiences as children, adolescents, or young adults were more likely to have parents with traditional gender role attitudes.…”

“…This would parallel the findings of traditional gender role attitudes in parents being associated with higher rates of unwanted sexual experiences in their daughters, as found by Neal and Mangis (1995). The participants in the Neal and Mangis study reported feeling unable to say no to the sexual advances of men in their lives, particularly when their parents held traditional gender role attitudes.…”

“…The relationship between parents' gender role attitudes and children's experiences also has been noted in the area of sexuality. Neal and Mangis (1995) found that women reporting unwanted sexual experiences had fathers and mothers with more traditional attitudes toward women. This finding suggests that parents' gender role attitudes may be related to vulnerability of unwanted sexual experiences or differential reporting rates and is consistent with studies on gender role and sexuality attitudes.…”

“…However, nontraditional roles may stress both the value of women beyond their sexuality and stress sexual independence and equality for women. Because it is consistent with traditional gender roles to submit to the wishes of men (Neal & Mangis, 1995), women with more traditional gender role attitudes may be more susceptible to experiencing CSA. Burke, Stets, and Pirog-Good (1988) found that women and men with more feminine gender identities were more likely to sustain and inflict sexual and physical abuse within intimate relationships.…”

Sexual assault and alcohol consumption: what do we know about their relationship and what types of research are still needed?

“…Eighty-four percent of the women knew their assailant; 57% were dates. These findings have been replicated by other researchers at various universities (Abbey, Ross, McDuffie, & McAuslan, 1996a;Kalof, 1993;Mills & Granoff, 1992;Muehlenhard & Linton, 1987;Neal & Mangis, 1995). Recently, Brener, McMahon, Warren, and Douglas (1999) examined the prevalence of rape among a representative sample of 4609 female college students.…”