Young Women's Experiences with Coercive and Noncoercive Condom Use Resistance: Examination of an Understudied Sexual Risk Behavior

Abstract

Objectives.-To investigate young women's engagement in and receipt of condom use resistance (attempts to avoid condom use with a partner who wants to use one; CUR), including nonconsensual condom removal ("stealthing"), with male partners. Methods.-Participants were 503 women aged 21-30 with elevated sexual risk characteristics recruited from 2013 to 2017. Participants completed measures assessing sexual victimization history and CUR experiences. Results.-Findings indicated that 87% of women experienced non-coercive CUR from a partner, while 49% experienced coercive CUR. 58% and 19% of women reported having engaged in noncoercive and coercive CUR, respectively. 12% of women had a partner engage in stealthing; none of the women engaged in stealthing. Severity of sexual victimization history was positively associated with both use and receipt of coercive and non-coercive CUR. STI diagnoses were positively associated with receipt of, but not engagement in, CUR. Conclusions.-Findings demonstrate that sexual victimization and both the use and receipt of CUR are positively related for young women, suggesting that prevention efforts focusing on women's sexual health would benefit from joint consideration of sexual violence and risk behaviors and that such efforts should target victims of sexual violence.

Stealthing Perpetration and Victimization: Prevalence and Correlates Among Emerging Adults

“…It appears that our sample may overrepresent individuals with college experience, and be less generalizable to non-students, although this variable was not significant in any analyses. Regarding other limitations, note also that our assessment of stealthing was created for use in this specific study and has not undergone formal psychometric evaluation, though our questions are quite similar to those used in prior research (Davis et al, 2019; Wegner et al, 2018). As with any survey-based research, limitations regarding self-report data arise; however, the use of online versus face-to-face or phone-based methods of administration could reduce concerns regarding anonymity and encourage more accurate self-report.…”

“You Do It without Their Knowledge.” Assessing Knowledge and Perception of Stealthing among College Students

“…Likewise, among 503 women aged 21-30 years, Davis et al found that 19% of the participants experienced coercive condom use resistance (CUR). Though this does not directly relate to the stealthing behavior promoted on social media, it does shed light on the common practice of sexual acts without condoms when consent is lacking [9].…”

Gendered power dynamics and threats to sexual and reproductive autonomy among adolescent girls and young adult women: A cross-sectional survey in three urban settings

“…Leading threats to reproductive autonomy include inability to refuse unwanted sex and low confidence in contraceptive use. Direct threats to contraceptive autonomy include coercive condom negotiation, such as condom use resistance, non-consensual condom removal also known as “stealthing” [ 17 , 18 ] which can prompt unprotected sex as well as fear of future negotiation [ 19 , 20 ]. Reproductive coercion, i.e., partner interference with contraceptive and reproductive decisions, can include direct contraceptive sabotage and enables unintended pregnancy [ 21 , 22 ].…”