Ch. 17 Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct Flashcards
Sexual Harassment: Definition
- The abuse of power for sexual ends
○ Unwelcomed advances
○ Requests for sexual favors
○ Other verbal/physical conduct of a sexual nature - The creation of a hostile environment
Sexual Harassment At Work
○ between 25 and 85% of women have been sexually harassed at work by supervisors and/or co-workers (EEOC, 2016)
○ 23% of men report being sexually harassed at work (Quinnipiac Poll, 2017)
○ Highest rates seen in “male-dominated” professions: tech, military, law enforcement, building trades, and trucking
Sexual Harassment In Education
○ Common in College (cantor et al, 2020)
- 18.9% of all students have experienced harassment
○ Undergrad: 31% of women, 46% TGQN
- 24% of female grad students have been harassed by professors
○ Common in High School
- 65% of girls & 78% of boys reported peer sexual harassment during 9th grade (SESAME, 2009)
- 7% have had physical sexual contact with an adult at the school. (SESAME, 2015)
Sexual Harassment: Doctor-Patient Sex
Coercive & potentially damaging sexual encounters between psychotherapists & client or physicians & clients
Sexual Harassment: Military
○ 21% of women and 6% of men reported sexual harassment (2016)
○ 6.2% of women and 0.7% of men experienced sexual assault (2018)
○ Female soldiers are 180 times more likely to be sexually assaulted by a colleague solider than killed in combat
Sexual Harassment: Street harassment
○ Unwanted comments, gestures, and actions forced on a stranger in public without their consent
- ex: cat calling, honking, yelling, vulgar gestures
○ 76% of women and 35% of men have experienced this (2019)
○ Overwhelmingly male offenders but 20% of men said their harasser was a woman
Stalking
○ Being watched or followed
○ Being repeatedly contacted by phone, electronically or by social media
○ Being threatened by physical harm
○ 1 in 6 women and 1 in 17 of men (NISVS, 2018)
○ On college campuses:
- 5.8% of all students had experienced stalking
- For TGQN students, rates were 15.2%
Flirting
an ambiguous, goal-oriented behavior with potential sexual or romantic overtones
When flirting becomes harassment
○ If the person initiating the flirting has power over the recipient
○ If you are approached inappropriately
○ If you wish to discontinue contact and the flirting continues
Gender differences
○ Men are less likely to perceive activities as harassment
○ Men tend to misperceive a woman’s friendliness as sexual interest
○ Men are more likely to perceive male-female relationships as adversarial
Heterosexual bias
○ Ignoring existence of LBGTQ+ people
○ Segregating LBGTQ+ people from greater society
○ Subsuming LBGTQ+ people into a larger category (orientation vs gender identity)
Anti-gay prejudice
Strong dislike or hatred of LBGTQ+ people because of their orientation
Homophobia
irrational/phobic fear of LGBTQ+ people
LGBTQ Bullying
59% of LBGTQ+ MS/HS students feel unsafe at school
LGBT Discrimination
Some states still allow employment discrimination by sexual orientation, inability to give blood, inability to foster or adopt children,
LGBT Violence/Hate crimes
16.7% of all hate crimes in the US happen to LBGTQ+ individuals (FBI, 2020)
Sexual Assault
- Any act of violence and aggression against a person
- Principle motive is power not sexual gratification
- Includes
○ Rape
○ Being made to penetrate someone else
○ Sexual coercion
○ Unwanted sexual contact (hugging, kissing, fondling, etc)
○ Noncontact unwanted sexual experiences
Sexual Assault: Statistics (NSVRC)
○ 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men face sexual violence in their lifetime
○ Women: 51% committed by an intimate partner, 40.8% by an acquaintance
○ Men: 52.4% by intimate partner, 14.1% by a stranger
○ 8% of encounters occur at work
○ Estimated that 60-80% of cases are underreported
○ False accusation rate is between 2-10%
Who does Assault affect?
- 82% of all juvenile victims are female. 90% of adult rape victims are female
- Women ages 18-24 who are college students are 3 times more likely than women in general to experience sexual violence.
- 21% of TGQN (transgender, genderqueer, nonconforming) college students have been sexually assaulted, compared to 18% of non-TGQN females, and 4% of non-TGQN males.
Indigenous Persons
- 2.5x more likely to experience sexual assault
- Assault more likely to be committed by a stranger compared to other races
- 84% report experience interpersonal violence
○ 50% report sexual violence - 37.5% victimized by intimate partners
○ 15.5% in marriages - 7.2% severe violence: hospitalization or death
defined: Rape
- Nonconsensual oral, anal, or vaginal penetration
○ by force
○ by threat of bodily harm
○ when the victim is incapable of giving consent
- includes being drunk, unconscious, or high
Myths about Rape
- rape is a crime of passion
- Women want to be raped
- But she wanted sex
- Women ask for it
- The woman did not fight back or scream, so it wasn’t rape
- Women are raped only by strangers
- Women could avoid rape if they wanted to
- Women cry rape for revenge
- People who rape are “crazy or psychotic”
- Most people who rape are of a different race than their victims
- Men cannot control their sexual urges
- Rape is “no big deal”
- Men cannot be raped
Statutory Rape
○ Consensual sexual contact with a person younger than a state’s age of consent (usually 16-18)
○ Romeo and Juliet Laws
Marital Rape
○ Unwanted sexual behaviors by a spouse or ex-spouse committed without consent, against a person’s will, and done by force, intimidation or when a person is not able to consent
○ 10-14% of all married women and 40-50% of all battered women
○ intimate partner rape includes married couples & cohabiting couples
○ A man who batters his wife also is likely to rape her (2004
Marital Rape: Motives
- anger
- power and domination
- sadism
- desire for sex whether or not his partner is willing
Date Rape
○ One of the most common forms of rape
- especially on college campuses
- 78% of rapes committed by someone the victim knows (2014)
- 24% committed by a regular dating partner
- 6% of high school seniors were victims of date rape (2002)
Campus sexual assault
- 1 in 5 women assaulted in college, usually during freshman or sophomore year
- If you are assaulted, please go to the ER to get a SANE exam
- > 50% of those who experience the most severe incidents (rape) do not report the event because it wasn’t “serious enough” (AAU, Cantor)
- A lot of students worry the institution will not do anything about the reports
Men as Victims of Rape
1.5% of men have been raped
○ Perpetrators are predominantly male
Victim-precipitated rape
rape is a result of a woman “asking for it”
Psychopathology of rapist
rape is committed by a psychologically disturbed man or woman
Feminist view
- a product of gender-role socialization
- explores the complex links between sex and power
Social disorganization
rape rates increase when the social organization of a community is disrupted
Preventing Rape
○ Three strategies
- avoiding situations in which there is a high risk of rape
- if the first strategy has failed, knowing some self-defense techniques in case a rape attempt is actually made
- changing attitudes that contribute to rap
How to Avoid Date Rape Situations
○ 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
The Impact of Rape: Post-traumatic stress disorder
Long-term psychological distress suffered by someone who has experienced a terrifying event
Psychological reactions to sexual assault
- negative psychological reactions immediately afterward
- Many show significant recovery within a year
- Factors associated with worse psychological outcomes
Re-victimization
experienced sexual violence previously
The severity of the violence
More severe violence associated with worse outcomes
Reactions of others upon disclosure of the assault
Negative reactions produce worse psychological outcomes
Damage to women’s physical health
§ Irritation or damage to throat
§ Vaginal or Rectal bleeding and pain
§ Sexually transmitted infections (especially HPV)
Pregnancy (~5% of encounters)
Rape-prevention strategies
- Awareness-based programs
○ Raise awareness about how common assault and rape are - Empathy-based programs
○ Increase understanding of consequences for victims - Social norms-based programs
○ Question gender and societal norms that support violence against women - Skills-based programs
○ Teach skills that decrease risk of being target of sexual violence - Bystander intervention programs
○ Encourage people to intervene
Types of Consent
- Consent as an internal state of willingness
- Consent is an act of explicitly agreeing to do something
- Consent as behavior that someone else interprets as willingness
- Consent as distinct from wanting
- Affirmative consent: “yes means yes”
Child Sexual Abuse definition
- Sexual-related activity between an adult and a child or any minor.
Patterns of child sexual abuse
○ 1 in 10 children will be sexually abused by their 18th birthday
- 1 in 7 girls
- 1 in 25 boys
○ 20% of children are abused before age 8
○ 60% will never tell anyone
Child Sexual Abuse types
- Intrafamilial
○ Incest: done by biologically related people - Extrafamilial
○ Abuse by acquaintances or strangers
Detecting Abuse
○ Behavior Changes
- regressive behaviors
○ Physical Signs
- Bruising, genital swelling, recurrent yeast or UTIs in pre-pubescent girls
○ Verbal Cues
- Using words or phrases “too adult” or out of character for the child’s age
Impact on Victim
○ Child may be as traumatized by testifying in court as by the abuse itself
Risk is greatest when
- Attempted or completed intercourse occurred
- Abuse was by a relative
- Victim told someone & received a negative response
Adult survivors of child sexual abuse more likely to experience sexual disorders…
- Fears of sex (sexual aversion)
- Lack of sexual desire
- Lack of arousal
Women survivors of child sexual abuse
- More likely to be preoccupied with sex
- Younger at time of first voluntary intercourse
- More likely to be teen mothers (2003)
The Offenders; child molesting
A paraphilia involving an adult having sexual activity with a prepubescent child
Identifying Abusers – Grooming behaviors
○ Gift giving
○ Kid-magnet activities
○ Repeated time alone with a single child
○ Touching with children
○ pushing through appropriate boundaries
○ Justification/rationalization of why behavior was ok
○ Engaged in playful but inappropriate touch
Treatments for CSA Offenders
○ Surgical castration
○ Antiandrogen drugs
○ Hormones
○ SSRIs
- class of antidepressants
- includes Prozac and Zoloft
○ Cognitive-behavioral therapy
Preventing Child Sexual Abuse
- Watch for grooming behaviors in adults
- Teach children the names of their body parts
- Teach children some parts of the body are private
- Teach children it’s ok to say “no”
- Talk to children about secrets
- Reassure them its ok to talk to a trusted adult, they will not get in trouble
