Against their will: Young women's nonagentic sexual experiences

Abstract

This study introduces the notion of nonagentic sexual interaction and presents findings describing its prevalence, characteristics, and consequences among a representative sample of 566 undergraduate women. One third of respondents reported one or more nonagentic sexual interactions during a single academic year, and more than half of the senior respondents reported one or more interactions during their college careers. Relations between these interactions' behavioral characteristics and four psychological outcome measures provide limited empirical support for the notion that interactions involving a higher degree of physical intrusion and more forceful tactics are more distressing than those involving less intrusion and more subtle tactics. Narrative accounts illustrate the complexity of these interactions. Implications of nonagentic sexual experiences for healthy sexuality development are discussed.

Casual Sex: Integrating Social, Behavioral, and Sexual Health Research

“…Unwanted sexual contact moves beyond vaginal, anal, and genital-oral contact to also include fondling or touching of the breasts or genitals (Crown and Roberts 2007;Flack et al 2007) and exists along a continuum from not desired to unwanted and coerced to forcible sexual contact and rape (Flack et al 2007). Unwanted sexual contact is more likely to occur in the context of uncommitted sexual encounters than in committed or exclusive dating relationships (Hill et al In review;Hall and Knox 2013;Tomsich et al 2013).…”

Sexual behaviour and knowledge among adolescents in Ireland

“…Sexual coercion in adolescence is a recurring theme in the literature [6,11,14,15,16], with the figure reported by young women higher than that reported in a UK study in which approximately a quarter of the young women interviewed referred to sexual violence or various types of pressure to have sex against their wishes [17].…”

Heterosexual experiences of secondary school pupils in Ireland: sexual coercion in context

“…. Other researchers have noted that for women, sexual interactions that occur against their will may be so prevalent within their culture that they have become normalised (Crown and Roberts 2007).…”

“…Since then, a range of studies have been conducted that have highlighted women's experiences of coerced heterosex (Holland et al, 1996, 1998, 2003, Kalichman et al 1998, Fisher et al 2000, Hilliard 2003, Hyde and Howlett 2004, Mayock and Byrne 2004, Livingston et al 2004, Crown and Roberts 2007. In recent years, a number of new areas of debate have opened up on the topic.…”

“…The lack of consistency in how sexual violation is defined and interpreted renders it difficult to identify its prevalence and outcomes (Crown and Roberts 2007). Writers such as Marston (2005) argue that in view of culturally embedded meanings in sexual interactions, sexual coercion is impossible to define in any objective way.…”