 Sexual Coercion
Gender and Gender Differences
Rape:
 Nonconsensual oral, anal, or vaginal penetration, obtained by force,
threat of bodily harm, victim can’t give consent.

In 2005:
 Some 94,000 rapes were reported in the United States.
 28 percent of college women experience rape.

Rape trauma syndrome - Emotional and physical effects a woman
undergoes following a rape or attempted rape.

Post-traumatic stress disorder - Long-term psychological distress
suffered by someone who has experienced a terrifying event.

Posttraumatic growth - Positive life changes and psychological
development following exposure to trauma.
Date Rape:

One of the most common forms of rape.
 57% of rapes involved a date.

Rohypnol (flunitrozepam) - “date-rape drug”
Marital Rape:
 The rape of a person by her or his spouse.
 13% of married women.
Marital Violence:
 A man who batters his wife also is likely to rape her.
How to avoid date rape:
 Set sexual limits.
 Decide early if you would like to have intercourse.
 Do not give mixed messages.
 Be forceful and firm.
 Do not do anything you do not want to just to avoid a scene or
unpleasantness.
 Be aware that alcohol and drugs are often related to date rape.
 Trust your gut-level feelings.
 Be careful when you invite someone into your home.
 If avoidance does not work, self-defense strategies are needed.
Potential Causes of Rape:

Victim-Precipitated Rape - view that rape is a result of a woman “asking
for it.”

Psychopathology of Rapist - Rape is committed by a psychologically
disturbed man.

Power - Feminist theorists explore the complex links between sex and
power.

Social Disorganization - rape rates increase when the social
organization of a community is disrupted.
Causes:
 Cultural values
 Sexual scripts
 Early family influences
 Peer group
 Characteristics of the situation
 Miscommunication
 Sex and power motives
 Masculinity norms and men’s attitudes

Female Rapists –
 1% of men report being raped by a woman.

Prison rape –
 22% of male inmates and 7 percent of female.
 Prisoners use rape to establish a dominance hierarchy.
Child Sexual Abuse:
 17% of women and 12% of men had sexual contact, as a child, with an
adolescent or an adult.
 Men are the primary sex abusers of children.
 Incest - Sexual contact between relatives.

Pedophilia (child molesting) –
 Sdult having sexual activity with a prepubescent child.
 Tend to be repeat offenders.
 Patterns of preference tend to be stable over time.
Treatment:
 Surgical castration
 Antiandrogen drugs
 Hormones
 SSRIs - class of antidepressants; includes Prozac and Zoloft
 Cognitive-behavioral therapy
Sexual Harassment:
 25%-50% of women have been sexually harassed at work.
 U.S. EEOC definition includes:
 Unwelcome sexual advances
 Requests for sexual favors
 Other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual
nature.
Types of work harassment:

Earnest - Desires sexual intimacy but won’t take no for an answer.

Hostile - Motivated to dominate woman he sees as competitive with
him.

Paternalistic-ambivalent - Desires to be like a father.

Competitive-ambivalent - Mixes real sexual attraction with hostile
desire to dominate.
Sexual Harassment in College:

Common in College – 50% of female students have been harassed by
professors.

Illegal - Alexander v. Yale - sexual harassment of women in education
possible violation of their civil rights.

Peers – 79% of boys and 83% f girls sexual harassment in U.S. high
schools.
Gender role - Norms, or culturally defined expectations, that
define how people of one gender ought to behave.
 Stereotype - Generalization about a group of people that
distinguishes them from others.

Gender-role stereotypes vary among various ethnic groups of the
United States.

African Americans:
 Provider role is difficult for black men, because their
unemployment rate (9.5 percent) is double that of white men
(4.0 percent).

Latinos
 Hispanic Americans are now the nation’s largest minority
constituting 13% of the population.
 Gender roles are sharply defined, as epitomized in the
concepts of machismo and marianismo.

Asian Americans
 Asian Americans make up 4% of the U.S. population.
 Asian American women have a higher level of education than white
American women.
 Family needs take precedence over individual needs.
 The Asian American woman has been stereotyped as an exotic sex
toy, while the man has been stereotyped as asexual.
Gender Schema Theory:
 Refers to the ways in which society conveys to the individual its norms or
expectations for his or her behavior.
 Parents, peers and the media are important socializing agents.

Males and females differ in:
 Aggressiveness
 Verbal and nonverbal communication styles
 Self-disclosure
Measuring Arousal:
 Men - penile strain gauge (peter meter)
 Women - photoplethysmograph

Both measure vasocongestion in the genitals, which is the major
physiological response during sexual arousal.
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Men are more likely to have masturbated than women.
Men are more aroused by erotic materials.
Men are more approving of casual sex.
For undergraduate women, relationship and emotional connectedness
are important prerequisites for sex.
Men more consistently have orgasms during sex.
Men desire more sexual partners and a greater frequency of intercourse.
Men think about sex more often and have more frequent and varied
fantasies than women do.
Men have a stronger sex drive.

Transsexual
 A person who believes he or she was born with the body of the
other gender.

Gender Dysphoria
 Unhappiness with one’s gender;
another term for transsexualism.

Male-to-female transsexual
 A person who is born with a male body but who has a female
identity and wishes to become a female biologically in order to
match her identity.

Female-to-male transsexual
 Those with female bodies who think they are males.

Transgender includes transsexuals, as well as those who do
not seek sex-reassignment surgery but prefer only some
treatments such as hormones.
 Transvestites
 Drag queens and kings
 Gender blender
 Gender bender
 Gender outlaw
 Genderfree

Gender reassignment is complex and proceeds in several
stages:
 Counseling
 Hormone therapy
 Real-life experience
 Surgery

Approximately two-thirds of those who have sex
reassignment surgery show improvements in adjustment,
such as reduction in depression.


No definite causes of transsexualism are known.
Gender Identity Disorder (GID) is found in children as young as 2 or 3
years old.
 Insistence that she or he is the other gender.
 Preference for cross-dressing.
 Intense desire to participate in stereotypical play of the other gender.

Buccal smear
 Test of genetic gender test, in which a small scraping of
cells is taken from the inside of the mouth, stained, and
examined under a microscope.