This qualitative study examined female domestic violence offenders via structured interviews with 13 women referred for treatment in batterers' intervention programs in a major metropolitan area. The majority of women were victims of childhood abuse and/or witnessed violence between their parents. Most reported feeling cut-off from their mothers, left their childhood homes before the age of 18, and experienced violence at the hands of a prior partner. Women's motivations for current violence were primarily in self-defense or in retaliation for their partners' physical abuse, and secondarily in response to partner emotional abuse, control tactics, to get attention/be heard, or to express anger. A minority sought to control their partners. Differential treatment considerations and recommendations for women versus men batterers are included.

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A total of 100 African American undergraduate students were given the Sexual Experiences Questionnaire (SEQ) (Fitzgerald et al., 1988) and an open‐ended question assessing experiences of sexual harassment. Results showed a significant frequency of sexual imposition (19%), particularly sexual touching. Participants also clearly delineated a new category of sexual harassment previously untapped by largely Caucasian studies: comments or sexual attention based solely on racial stereotypes or racially based physical features. In conclusion, the reported differences with regard to experiences and definitions of sexual harassment indicate that previous assumptions of homogeneity of experience (with Caucasian women being the standard) appear to be incorrect.

Differences between European American women and first-and second-generation South Asian American women in their acceptance of rape myths were investigated. The Rape Myth Acceptance Scale, the Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale, and a demographic questionnaire were administered to 75 participants. A oneway analysis of variance and planned comparisons analyses showed that first-generation South Asian American women had higher rape myth acceptance than second-generation South Asian American women and European American women. Second-generation South Asian American women and European American women had similar rates of acceptance of rape myths.

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