Women’s Experience of Sexual Coercion and Reactions to Intimate Partner Sexual Violence

Abstract

Sexual coercion is one of the most subtle manifestations of gender-based violence and may profoundly affect victims’ sexuality. This research analyzed the association of previous experiences of sexual coercion by an intimate partner (intimate partner sexual coercion [IPSC]) with women’s reactions and responses to a scenario of sexual violence. Female college undergraduates ( N = 207) completed a computer task in which they watched a video about a couple that ended in a woman having unwanted sex with her male partner. Participants answered several questions about tolerance (risk recognition, risk response, delays in behavioral response, and probability of leaving the relationship). They also responded about their level of commitment to their current partner, as well as their previous experience of sexual coercion. Results showed no differences between victims and nonvictims on the time they took to perceive the situation of sexual violence as threatening (risk recognition). However, victims of current sexual coercion took more time deciding to leave the abusive situation of the video (risk response), required a greater time lag between risk recognition and risk response, and they would be less likely to leave the relationship than victims of past sexual coercion and nonvictims. Finally, commitment predicted later risk recognition and risk response only for victims of past sexual coercion. Overall, the results suggested that previous sexual coercion by an intimate partner and being committed to the relationship may be risk factors associated with the increase of women’s tolerance toward situations involving the risk of sexual victimization.

The impact of college men’s sexual coercion perpetration on proclivity toward sexual assault and their cognitive and emotional reactions.

“…Although the present findings provide an important contribution to understand how college men who have perpetrated sexual coercion toward an intimate partner react to a hypothetical sexual assault situation differently than nonperpetrators, some limitations of this study should be noted. First, a film clip was used to represent a situation of sexual assault; reactions men have to this fictitious situation could differ from their responses in real-life situations (Garrido-Macías et al, in press; Garrido-Macías, Valor-Segura, Krahé et al, 2020). However, because it is not possible to measure sexual assault involving non-consensual acts in the laboratory, we believe the visual scenario favors the increase of experimental realism and similar responses to real-life situations (Franz et al, 2018).…”

“…A clip of 165 s from the Spanish film “No estás sola, Sara” [You are not alone, Sara] (Villalba & Sedes, 2009) used in previous research (Garrido-Macías, Valor-Segura, Krahé et al, 2020; Garrido-Macías et al, in press) was employed to present a situation of sexual assault. This scene was about two young people (involved in a romantic relationship) who were in the woman’s bedroom studying for a university exam.…”

“…The first was the response-latency measure developed by Marx and Gross (1995) and adapted by Anderson and Cahill (2014) to be used with victims. In the research by Anderson and Cahill (2014), Garrido-Macías, Valor-Segura, Krahé et al (2020), and Garrido-Macías et al (in press), participants were asked to indicate at what point they would leave the situation if they were the woman in the scene (imagining them as the victim of the situation). According to the objectives of this research, and adapting this procedure to research about perpetration of sexual aggression, we asked participants to indicate at what point they would stop behaving in the same way as the man in the situation if they were the male protagonist.…”

“…These prevalence rates, along with the multiple consequences for victims (e.g., Brown et al, 2009), have encouraged a large body of research on the identification of characteristics that increase the risk of future victimization for women (e.g., Garrido-Macías, Valor-Segura, Krahé et al, 2020; Garrido-Macías et al, in press; Haugen et al, 2019). However, the study of perpetrators’ characteristics (perceptions, cognitions, emotions, etc.)…”

Women’s Risk Perception and Responses to Intimate Partner Sexual Coercion: The Role of Type of Tactic, Previous Experience, and Myths Acceptance

“…Lastly, previous sexual coercion experiences may also affect the decision to leave the relationship, due to delayed risk responses and lower negative perceptions of the perpetrator’s behavior. Deciding to leave an abusive relationship implies a greater degree of conscious reflection than deciding to leave a situation (Garrido-Macías, Valor-Segura, Krahé, et al, 2020). Indeed, according to several studies, many women decide not to leave the relationship after a sexual violence experience (e.g., Edwards et al, 2011; Katz et al, 2006).…”