A review of research on women's use of violence with male intimate partners

This article provides a review of research literature on women who use violence with intimate partners. The central purpose is to inform service providers in the military and civilian communities who work with domestically violent women. The major points of this review are as follows: (a) women's violence usually occurs in the context of violence against them by their male partners; (b) in general, women and men perpetrate equivalent levels of physical and psychological aggression, but evidence suggests that men perpetrate sexual abuse, coercive control, and stalking more frequently than women and that women also are much more frequently injured during domestic violence incidents; (c) women and men are equally likely to initiate physical violence in relationships involving less serious "situational couple violence," and in relationships in which serious and very violent "intimate terrorism" occurs, men are much more likely to be perpetrators and women victims; (d) women's physical violence is more likely than men's violence to be motivated by self-defense and fear, whereas men's physical violence is more likely than women's to be driven by control motives; (e) studies of couples in mutually violent relationships find more negative effects for women than for men; and (f) because of the many differences in behaviors and motivations between women's and men's violence, interventions based on male models of partner violence are likely not effective for many women.     

Men's and Women's Interpretation and Endorsement of Items Measuring Self-Reported Heterosexual Aggression

Early research on sexual aggression (e.g., sexual coercion, sexual assault, and rape) mainly focused on men as perpetrators and women as victims; more recently, researchers have begun to investigate women as perpetrators of sexual aggression as well. However, most measures of sexual aggression perpetration were designed for use with men and have not been well validated with women. This study sought to examine two different measures of sexual aggression perpetration in terms of their convergent validity for both men and women and to examine gender differences and similarities in item interpretation using open-ended inquiries. Participants were 590 individuals (395 women, 195 men) with a mean age of 25 years (SD = 8.1) recruited from an undergraduate psychology subject pool and an online convenience sample. The majority of the sample was White (65.4%) and Black (20.3%). All measures were completed online anonymously. Results suggested that convergent validity for the two measures was less than optimal, particularly for women. Further, item interpretation analyses revealed that, compared to men, more than twice the percentage of women provided a false-positive response to one of the measures, suggesting that women may be more likely than men to endorse self-report perpetration items incorrectly.     

Physical aggression, forced sex, and stalking victimization by a dating partner: an analysis of the National Violence Against Women Survey

This study used the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS) of women and men to estimate noncohabitating dating violence prevalence by type (physical, forced sex, and stalking), associations between dating violence and other types of interpersonal violence across the lifespan, and association of dating violence with longer-term mental health including substance abuse. Among respondents aged 18 to 65, 8.3% of 6,790 women and 2.4% of 7,122 men experienced physical aggression, forced sex, or stalking victimization by a dating partner. Few (20.6% of women and 9.7% of men) reported more than one type of dating violence. Childhood physical aggression by a parent or guardian was strongly associated with subsequent dating violence risk for men and women. Dating violence (physical aggression specifically) was associated with current depressive symptoms, current therapeutic drug use (antidepressants, tranquilizers, or pain medications), and current recreation drug use for women. Implications for parents, survivors, health care, and service providers are discussed.     

The role of sadism and peer pressure in the sexual aggression of male college students

Two types of motivational models help explain sexual aggression in college men. Socialization models emphasize imperatives of the male sex role, whereas a sadistic model focuses on increased sexual stimulation from female distress. These models were evaluated by comparing the relationship between a measure of sexual sadism and the frequency of sexually aggressive episodes with the relationship between peer pressure for sexual intimacy and sexual aggression. College men's ratings of sexual attractiveness for a series of female faces registering both pleasant and distressed affects were used to measure sexual sadism. Results showed that 60% of the college men with a sexual sadism pattern reported repeated episodes of sexual aggression since the 10th grade, whereas only 29% of those not showing this pattern did so. Peer pressure was inversely related to repeated aggression; sexual aggressives reported less peer pressure than students who did not have a history of repeated aggression. These results are not only important because they identify a possible source of sexual aggression toward females but also because they encourage an interest in discovering how sexual and aggressive motives become fused in a significant proportion of normal males.     

DO MEN “NEED” A SPOUSE MORE THAN WOMEN?: PERCEPTIONS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF MARRIAGE FOR MEN AND WOMEN

This study examines how important men and women feel marriage is for men and for women. Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households, we find that both men and women feel that men need to be married more than women do. Women are more likely than men to think that both men and women can have satisfying lives without marriage, but they are also more likely to think that only women can have satisfying lives without marriage. Younger, more educated people are less likely to emphasize marriage. On the other hand, religious people and those who are married with children are particularly likely to think that neither men nor women can have satisfying lives without marriage.     

Erotic value of female distress in sexually explicit photographs

The extent to which distress of the female model contributed to the erotic value of sexually explicit photographs of women in bondage was studied for a sample of 54 young-adult college males. In addition, subjects were categorized by level of antisociality and level of facial-decoding skill with the prediction that the erotic value of a model in distress would be greatest for subjects departing most from social values (antisociality) and most capable of recognizing emotions as facially displayed by another person (facial decoding). There was an overall sadism effect. Most of the men reported pictures depicting a distressed model in bondage to be more sexually stimulating than pictures in which the female model displayed positive affect. The erotic value of distressed females in bondage was greatest when subjects combined greater anti-sociality and better facial-decoding skill.     

Parent and Nonparent Perception of the Multimodal Infant Cry

This study examined whether perceivers can detect infant distress in the visual and acoustic signals within the cry. Parent and nonparent perceivers rated distress in 3‐, 6‐, 8‐, and 12‐month‐old infants' cries that were manipulated to separate facial, vocal, and bodily action. Mean perceiver ratings differed for high‐ and low‐distress cries at each infant age on the basis of facial and vocal action, but not bodily movement. Perceivers rated the cry sound as more distressed and the cry face as less distressed with increasing infant age. Parents rated the cries as less distressed overall than did nonparents. The results suggest that information about distress is available for perceivers in the crying infant's face and voice.     

Perceptions of motives in intimate partner violence: expressive versus coercive violence

This study examined perceptions of motives in the perpetration of intimate partner violence. Respondents (N = 401) of diverse professions read three vignettes and indicated their perception of the aggressor's motive (from 1 = Exclusively Expressive; 5 = Exclusively Coercive). Half of respondents read vignettes describing male-perpetrated violence against a female partner; the other half, female-perpetrated violence against a male partner. Overall, male-perpetrated aggression was seen as more coercive than female-perpetrated aggression, particularly by shelter workers and victim advocates. Further analyses revealed that men generally gave higher ratings than women, and that women rated female-perpetrated aggression as less coercive than male-perpetrated aggression. In contrast, men did not differ in their ratings of male versus female perpetration. Implications are discussed with respect to the assessment and treatment of partner violence.     

“Harder and Harder”? Is Mainstream Pornography Becoming Increasingly Violent and Do Viewers Prefer Violent Content?

It is a common notion among many scholars and pundits that the pornography industry becomes “harder and harder” with every passing year. Some have suggested that porn viewers, who are mostly men, become desensitized to “soft” pornography, and producers are happy to generate videos that are more hard core, resulting in a growing demand for and supply of violent and degrading acts against women in mainstream pornographic videos. We examined this accepted wisdom by utilizing a sample of 269 popular videos uploaded to PornHub over the past decade. More specifically, we tested two related claims: (1) aggressive content in videos is on the rise and (2) viewers prefer such content, reflected in both the number of views and the rankings for videos containing aggression. Our results offer no support for these contentions. First, we did not find any consistent uptick in aggressive content over the past decade; in fact, the average video today contains shorter segments showing aggression. Second, videos containing aggressive acts are both less likely to receive views and less likely to be ranked favorably by viewers, who prefer videos where women clearly perform pleasure.     

Durkheim's theories of deviance and suicide: a feminist reconsideration.

In The division of labor in society, Durkheim conceptualizes deviance as an essentially asocial phenomenon, and he conceptualizes "woman" as an essentially asocial being. Both theories contradict Durkkheim's characteristic social determinism, and both encounter, in Suicide, two further contradictions. First, Suicide demonstrates conclusively that relatively asocial individuals, women, are actually much less prone to deviance than relatively social individuals, men. Second, Suicide introduces the theory that deviance is an essentially social phenomenon that is produced by pathological social forces or "currents" rather than by "excessive individualization" and "insufficient socialization." Durkkheim's second theory of deviance thus simultaneously rescues his theory of the social nature of men and his theory of the asocial nature of women.     

Toddlers' Reactions to the Distress of Familiar Peers: The Importance of Context

Reactions to peers' distress were recorded for 52 toddlers (hosts), 18 to 36 months old, who were observed playing with familiar peers in their own homes during 2 sessions, 6 months apart. Four contextual factors were explored: the host's responsibility for the guest's distress, similarity between the toddler and the distressed peer, relative familiarity of the peer, and the toddler's experience with peers and siblings. Hosts responded more positively to distress they had caused than to distress they witnessed. Negative reactions were most likely to be shown when hosts themselves had caused the distress of a guest of the same sex. Hosts were less likely to respond either positively or negatively if they had known their guests all their lives. Toddlers who had older siblings were more likely than other hosts to respond negatively to guests' distress.     

Characteristics of Couples Who Attend Family Services Counselor Visits in Relationship Education

Case management services for low-income couples receiving relationship education have been required by federal funding agencies. Studies examining relationship education outcomes for low-income couples have yet to address participant characteristics of those who attend case management services (e.g., distressed vs. nondistressed). Thus, this study examined the influence of baseline relationship satisfaction and demographics on attendance at case management visits for 2,628 low-income, partnered participants who attended relationship education. Findings indicated that participants who reported higher baseline relationship distress attended more family services counselor (FSC) visits. However, when we added demographics to the model, relationship distress no longer predicted FSC visits, whereas income served as a predictor for men and women, with those reporting greater monthly income attending more FSC visits.     

Gender differences in the enactment of sociosexuality: an examination of implicit social motives, sexual fantasies, coercive sexual attitudes, and aggressive sexual behavior

An unrestricted sociosexual orientation (the endorsement of casual sex) has been found to correlate with undesirable behaviors and personality characteristics more so in men than in women. Using a community sample of men and women, we investigated the correlations between sociosexuality and behaviors, motives, attitudes, and fantasies related to sexual aggression. Participants (n = 168; ages 21-45) completed self-report measures of sociosexual orientation, sexual conservatism, rape myth acceptance, adversarial sexual beliefs, attitudes toward women, sexual behaviors, and perpetration of sexual aggression. Participants also wrote five brief stories that were scored for power and affiliation-intimacy motives and two sexual fantasies that were coded for the theme of dominance. For both men and women, an unrestricted sociosexual orientation was correlated with behavioral items indicating earlier life experiences with sex, a greater number of lifetime sex partners, and more frequent sexual activity. For men, an unrestricted sociosexual orientation was linked with higher levels of rape myth acceptance and adversarial sexual beliefs; more conservative attitudes toward women; higher levels of power motivation and lower levels of affiliation-intimacy motivation; and past use of sexual aggression. For women, an unrestricted sociosexual orientation was associated with sexual fantasies of dominance and lower levels of sexual conservatism.     

Gender differences in the enactment of sociosexuality: An examination of implicit social motives,sexual fantasies,coercive sexual attitudes,and aggressive sexual behavior

An unrestricted sociosexual orientation (the endorsement of casual sex) has been found to correlate with undesirable behaviors and personality characteristics more so in men than in women. Using a community sample of men and women, we investigated the correlations between sociosexuality and behaviors, motives, attitudes, and fantasies related to sexual aggression. Participants (n = 168; ages 21–45) completed self‐report measures of sociosexual orientation, sexual conservatism, rape myth acceptance, adversarial sexual beliefs, attitudes toward women, sexual behaviors, and perpetration of sexual aggression. Participants also wrote five brief stories that were scored for power and affiliation‐intimacy motives and two sexual fantasies that were coded for the theme of dominance. For both men and women, an unrestricted sociosexual orientation was correlated with behavioral items indicating earlier life experiences with sex, a greater number of lifetime sex partners, and more frequent sexual activity. For men, an unrestricted sociosexual orientation was linked with higher levels of rape myth acceptance and adversarial sexual beliefs; more conservative attitudes toward women; higher levels of power motivation and lower levels of affiliation‐intimacy motivation; and past use of sexual aggression. For women, an unrestricted sociosexual orientation was associated with sexual fantasies of dominance and lower levels of sexual conservatism.     

Self-employment,earnings, and sexual orientation

Although many studies document differences by sexual orientation in earnings and other labor-market outcomes, little is known about differences in self-employment. Our study contributes to both the self-employment literature and sexual-orientation literature by analyzing differences in self-employment rates and earnings by sexual orientation. Gay men are less likely to be self-employed than married men, whereas lesbians are equally likely to be self-employed as married women. We find that gay men earn less than married men. We do find, however, that for those gay men who are self-employed, there is little evidence of a further earnings penalty, at least among full-time workers. Lesbians earn at least as much as married women, but receive no further earnings premium—or penalty—by being self-employed, again among full-time workers.     

University Service Work in STEM Departments: Gender,Perceived Injustice,and Consequences for Faculty

Using expectancy theory as a framework, we use focus group and climate survey (N = 114) data from a midsize university to explore the gendered nature of university service work among science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty. Focus group data highlighted the divergent perceptions of STEM faculty women and department chairs about the importance of service work and its outcomes. Climate survey data indicated that STEM women faculty were more likely than men to perceive injustice in service loads, and perceived injustice was associated with reduced job satisfaction, and increased scholarly isolation, interpersonal workplace conflict, and job stress, regardless of gender.     

How College Men Understand Unwanted Sex with Women

Recent studies have shown that heterosexual college men report unwanted sex at higher rates than one might expect. And yet, college men’s perceptions of unwanted sex with women have been studied infrequently. This study examines how men understand unwanted sex with women and the impact of these experiences. Thirty-nine men, aged 18–25, were interviewed using open-ended questions related to their unwanted sexual experiences. Our findings demonstrate how men frequently minimize unwanted sex by framing it as either funny, unimportant, or something that happens to women. However, we find evidence that men's attempts at minimization are not always successful and that some experiences are indeed upsetting and/or hurtful. Rather than treating all men as a homogeneous category, our analysis details the circumstances associated with more or less troubling experiences. We find that there are particular circumstances (e.g. incapacitation), as well as personal characteristics (e.g. virgin), that position men to be more distressed by unwanted sex. This heterogeneity of men’s experiences explains some, but not all, differences in effects. Our analysis reveals that in experiences described as mild to severe, men talk about unwanted sex in highly contradictory ways. We argue that these contradictions are evidence of broader cognitive and emotional work done by men to convince themselves that unwanted sex does not matter to them. Our findings raise the possibility that when men use hegemonic notions of masculinity to understand their unwanted experiences, these interpretations serve to minimize the emotional damage that men might otherwise report.     

Evaluations of aggressive women: the effects of gender, socioeconomic status, and level of aggression

Research finds gender differences in aggression and suggests that female violence is viewed differently from male violence. Participants were 94 female and 38 male students from a mid-size public university in the Southeast. Participants read a mock trial and answered questions about their attitudes concerning an aggressor in the scenario. The study was a 2 (male or female) by 2 (high socioeconomic status or low socioeconomic status) by 2 (verbal aggression or physical aggression) between-subjects factorial design. The participants responded to a revised version of the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (Nelson, 1988). As hypothesized aggressive women were evaluated more negatively than aggressive men and participants evaluated the female aggressor who used physical aggression more negatively than the female who used verbal aggression. The hypothesis that the female aggressor would be perceived as more in need of counseling than the male aggressor was not supported. Contrary to another hypothesis, respondents did not evaluate higher socioeconomic status aggressors more negatively than those of lower status. As hypothesized people with traditional views of women evaluated the female aggressor more negatively than people with more liberal views of women, and liberal participants evaluated the male and female aggressors similarly. The more negative evaluation of female aggressors and, in particular, females who use physical aggression, may result in unfair treatment of such females. These social biases may cloud perceptions of aggressive females, suggesting that their actions are more inappropriate than those of a male who committed the same act.     

Smoking among New England College Men and Women

Abstract

Smoking behavior was examined among college students at 34 New England colleges. Women were more often smokers (44%) than men (32%) and were also more likely to smoke daily than men (23 vs. 16%). Men in private colleges were significantly less likely to smoke (22%) than those in public colleges (26%). At both public and private colleges, women were more likely to smoke than men. Smoking was inversely related to health habits for both men and women.

The percentage of college women who smoked is similar to that reported for the general population, while that for men is less. Prevention programs should be targeted to girls in the primary and secondary grades, as well as to college women, and support for smoking cessation should be made available on college campuses.     

The Role of Gender in Local Campaign Financing:

Little is known about the role of gender in money politics. We examined the official campaign finance reports and election results for all local candidates in Charlotte, North Carolina, between 1975 and 1980. For candidates in 1978 and 1979, we also did a detailed study of all the contributors. Women obtain their campaign funds from somewhat different sources than men. Women collect money in smaller average amounts than men and list more of their contributors as "anonymous." Contributors to female candidates are more diverse in geographical and racial terms. Most importantly, contributing is aligned by gender: women are more likely to give to women candidates. Female candidates are able to raise and spend money for campaigns as well as men. However, women are a lot less likely to give money to campaigns than are men.