Sexual fantasies, gender, and molestation history

Briere, John; Smiljanich, Kathy; Henschel, Diane

doi:10.1016/0145-2134(94)90115-5

Cited by 48 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Therefore, there appears to be something about these cognitions that is particularly aversive for a sizeable number of women. Consistent with past research with women (Briere et al, 1994), men and women who had experienced sexual abuse in childhood tended to report more frequent positive cognitions of sexual submission. However, experience of child sexual abuse was not related to the frequency of negative cognitions of sexual submission.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…In general, researchers have failed to show a relationship between experiencing sexual coercion in adulthood and subsequent submission fantasies (Pihlgren, Gidycz, & Lynn, 1992;Strassberg & Lockerd, 1998). However, research has shown that women who were sexually abused in childhood were more likely to report submission fantasies than were women who were not sexually abused (Briere, Smiljanich, & Henschel, 1994;Gold, 1991). As noted above, despite their correlational nature, these results have been interpreted as indicating that individuals who have experienced sexual abuse in childhood prefer and enjoy fantasies about being forced to engage in sexual activity as a result of conditioned arousal due to traumatic sexualization.…”

Section: Factors Asociated With Sexual Submission Cognitionsmentioning

confidence: 65%

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Positive and Negative Cognitions of Sexual Submission: Relationship to Sexual Violence

Renaud

Byers

2006

Arch Sex Behav

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This study investigated gender differences in cognitions of sexual submission as well as their association with sexual violence. Participants were 292 heterosexual undergraduate students who completed a 56-item checklist assessing positive and negative sexual cognitions; they also completed measures assessing experiences of sexual abuse in childhood, experiences of sexual coercion in adulthood, and use of sexual coercion. Two 10-item sexual submission subscales were developed from the checklist. One reflected how often respondents had experienced the sexual submission items as positive. The other reflected how often these items were experienced as negative. When overall frequency of sexual cognitions was controlled, compared to the men, the women reported a significantly greater frequency of both positive and negative cognitions of sexual submission. Submission cognitions were more often negative for women and were more often positive for men. Men and women who had experienced sexual abuse in childhood reported more frequent positive sexual submission cognitions but not more negative sexual submission cognitions. Conversely, men and women who had experienced sexual coercion in adulthood reported more frequent negative sexual submission cognitions but not more positive sexual submission cognitions. Having used sexual coercion was associated with more frequent positive cognitions of sexual submission for both men and women. Implications for the proposed links between sexual violence and preferences for cognitions of sexual submission are discussed.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Factors Asociated With Sexual Submission Cognitionsmentioning

confidence: 65%

Positive and Negative Cognitions of Sexual Submission: Relationship to Sexual Violence

Renaud

Byers

2006

Arch Sex Behav

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“…There is a discrepancy between the present results and past findings that dominance fantasies are more frequent among men than women (Briere et al, 1994;Hsu et al, 1994;Person et al, 1989). This may be because previous researchers did not control for the total frequency of sexual cognitions, even though men report more frequent sexual fantasies than women do (Ellis & Symons, 1990;Jones & Barlow, 1990;Renaud & Byers, 1999).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 76%

“…In order to determine whether these relationships are specific to the use of sexual coercion or are associated with sexual violence more generally, we also examined the association between sexual dominance cognitions and sexual victimization in both childhood and adulthood. Past research and theory has linked the experience of sexual victimization, at least in childhood, to cognitions of sexual submission but not to cognitions of sexual dominance (Briere, Smiljanich, & Henschel, 1994;Gold, 1991).…”

Section: Factors Associated With Sexual Dominance Cognitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship Between Sexual Violence and Positive and Negative Cognitions of Sexual Dominance

Renaud

Byers

2005

Sex Roles

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This study was designed to examine the extent to which men have a greater preference for cognitions of sexual dominance than do women, as has often been assumed. We also studied the link between sexual violence and these types of cognitions. Participants were 292 heterosexual undergraduate students who completed a 56-item checklist that assessed positive and negative sexual cognitions along with measures of use of sexual coercion, experiences of child sexual abuse, and experiences of adult sexual victimization. Two 6-item sexual dominance subscales were developed from the checklist to determine how often respondents had experienced the sexual dominance items as positive or as negative. Compared to the women, the men reported a significantly greater frequency of negative cognitions of sexual dominance but a lower frequency of positive cognitions of sexual dominance. Both men and women who had used sexual coercion reported more positive sexual dominance cognitions than did participants who had not used sexual coercion. Sexual violence was not uniquely associated with negative sexual dominance cognitions when the frequency of positive sexual dominance cognitions was controlled. Implications for the link between traditional sexual script and preferences for sexual dominance cognitions are discussed.

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“…Together with the multicomponent nature of fantasy, researchers have also demonstrated that the content of sexual fantasy is highly dependent on what an individual reads, sees, hears, and directly experiences (Jones & Barlow, 1990;Leitenberg & Henning, 1995), and varies as a function of past experiences, cognitive style, personality, and an individual's level of creativity (Briere, Smiljanich, & Henschel, 1994;Mednick, 1977;Reich, 1993;Rokach, 1990). Four overarching content categories of sexual fantasy have been observed (Arndt et al, 1985;Crepault, Abraham, Porto, & Couture, 1976;Meuwissen & Over, 1991;Plaud & Bigwood, 1997;Smith & Over, 1987Wilson & Lang, 1981): conventional homosexual or heterosexual imagery with past, present, or imaginary lovers who are usually known to the person; scenes expressing sexual power and irresistibility; fantasies involving somewhat varied or "forbidden" sexual imagery; and submission-dominance scenes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%