Women's self‐defense and sexual assault resistance: The state of the field

Public attention to sexual assault has increased dramatically over the last decade, spurring questions about how it can be prevented. One approach that has received scant attention is women's self‐defense training (sometimes known as sexual assault resistance training). This neglect is curious because empowerment‐based women's self‐defense (ESD) training is so far the only approach that has produced substantively significant decreases in victimization rates. In this article, I review the research evidence on women's self‐defense training. Does resisting a sexual assault affect the outcome of sexual violence? Does self‐defense training further reduce women's risk of violence? What are the other consequences of self‐defense training? How does self‐defense work for different groups of women—for example, those who have survived prior victimizations? Are the critiques of women's self‐defense training valid? Finally, what do we still need to learn about women's self‐defense? Overall, I argue that this evidence presents a compelling case that women's self‐defense training should be central to any efforts to prevent sexual violence.     

College Women's Sexual Decision Making: Cognitive Mediation of Alcohol Expectancy Effects

Abstract

Objective: Alcohol has been linked to a variety of risky sexual practices, including inconsistent condom use. Due to the high rates of alcohol consumption among underage college women, greater understanding of the role of alcohol in young women's sexual decision making is warranted. Participants and Methods: Female underage (18- to 20-year-old) social drinkers (N = 94) participated in an experiment in which they projected themselves into a written hypothetical sexual situation with a new partner. One half of the situations portrayed alcohol consumption; one half did not involve alcohol consumption. Their appraisals of the situation's sexual potential, impelling and inhibiting cognitions, and sexual behavior intentions were assessed. Results: Results revealed that alcohol's expectancy effects on young women's unprotected sexual intentions were mediated by their cognitive appraisals of the situation. Conclusions: These findings indicate that alcohol expectancies and their influence on women's sexual decisions should be incorporated into sexual risk reduction efforts.     

Gender-Specificity of Women's and Men's Self-Reported Attention to Sexual Stimuli

Men's sexual arousal is largely dependent on the actor's gender in a sexual stimulus (gender-specific), whereas for women, particularly androphilic women, arousal is less dependent on gender (gender-nonspecific). According to information-processing models of sexual response, sexual arousal requires that attention be directed toward sexual cues. We evaluated whether men's and women's self-reported attention to sexual stimuli of men or women were consistent with genital responses and self-reported arousal. We presented gynephilic men (n = 21) and women (n = 22) and androphilic men (n = 16) and women (n = 33) with audiovisual stimuli depicting men or women engaged in sexual activities. Genital responses were continuously recorded and, following each stimulus, participants reported the amount of attention paid to the video and feelings of sexual arousal. Self-reported attention was gender-specific for men and gender-nonspecific for women, and generally mirrored genital responses and self-reported arousal. Gender-specificity of genital responses significantly predicted gender-specificity of self-reported arousal; however, for men only, this effect was significantly mediated by gender-specificity of self-reported attention. Gender differences in gender-specificity of sexual arousal may be partially accounted for by differences in gender-specificity of self-reported attention, although attention may play a greater role in men's sexual arousal than women's.     

Individual Differences in Women's Salivary Testosterone and Estradiol Following Sexual Activity in a Nonlaboratory Setting

Objectives: The current study evaluated women's salivary testosterone and estradiol levels before and after exposure to sexual stimuli in a U.S. sex club. Methods: Behavioral data and salivary samples were collected from 19 women during semistructured interviews. Results: Findings demonstrate substantial individual differences in the magnitude and direction of women's hormonal changes following sexual activity. Conclusions: In an age of individualized medicine, these findings highlight the need to better understand factors shaping variation in physiological responses to sexual activity. Findings contribute to a relatively small and contradictory literature on women's hormonal responses to sexual stimuli.     

The Fourth Wave of Feminism: Psychoanalytic Perspectives Introductory Remarks

This introductory paper traces a century of 4 waves of feminism from a psychoanalytic perspective. The first phase focused on political change as the suffragette movement was undertaken at the turn of the 20th century by feminist activists who lobbied successfully for women's right to vote; the second phase, a broad sociopolitical-cultural movement located in the 1960s and 1970s, focused on consciousness-raising around gender issues, women's liberation (Betty Friedan, Kate Millet, Simone de Beauvoir, Bela Abzug, Gloria Steinem), and job and economic parity. With sexual freedom and job opportunities more established for women, the third phase evolved in the 1980s and 1990s, emphasizing women exploring gender pluralities; “having it all”; and juggling career, sex, and motherhood. The fourth wave moved into the 21st century as women turned toward spiritual concerns about the planet and all its beings, putting themselves in the service of the world, ecology, and the downtrodden.     

Body Size and Sexual Behavior in a Community-Based Sample of Women

ABSTRACT. Women's body size is closely related to their social and sexual experiences. Clinical research has found that women's lifetime sexual behaviors may vary based on body mass index (BMI). Objectives: This study examined the relationship between BMI and recent solo and partnered sexual repertoire in a community-based, non-clinical sample of women. Methods: Two hundred thirty-eight sexually active women completed an online survey measuring age, sexual relationship status, BMI, gender of sexual partners, and engagement in sexual behaviors in the previous 4 weeks. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine whether BMI predicted engagement in behaviors after controlling for age and sexual relationship variables. Results: Participant age ranged from 18 to 56 years (M = 30.4, SD = 7.8). Participants were predominantly in exclusive sexual relationships (62.9%, n = 146) with men (82.8%, n = 197). Mean BMI for the sample was 29.33 (SD = 9.28). Participation in self-masturbation, masturbating a partner, performing oral sex on a partner, receiving oral sex from a partner, and penile–vaginal intercourse were not predicted by BMI after controlling for age and partner variables. Conclusions: BMI did not impact sexual repertoire during the previous 4 weeks, with the exception of an increased odds ratio for penile–anal intercourse (OR = 1.06; 95% CI [1.02, 1.10]). Researchers and practitioners working with women should not assume limitations on women's sexual repertoires because of larger body size.     

Prevalence and Risk Factors for Dyspareunia and Unsatisfying Sexual Relationships in a Cohort of Primiparous and Secondiparous Women After 12 Months Postpartum

ABSTRACT

Dyspareunia is a common short-term pregnancy complication, rarely lasting longer than 1 year after delivery. Our study aims to determine postpartum dyspareunia prevalence and its impact on women's sexual health. In this retrospective study, we asked 602 women about dyspareunia and the quality of sexual intercourse through telephone interviews. The influence of dyspareunia on the quality of sexual intercourse and couple relationship is scored on a 4-point verbal scale according to its severity. Data were analyzed by R (version 2.8.0), considering significant p < .05. Nearly 100% of women (99.9%) resumed their sexual activity; 16.2% of them reported dyspareunia significantly compromising their sexual intercourse and couple relationships. In univariate analysis, severe perineal tears are associated with persistent dyspareunia (p < .05). By multivariate analysis, postpartum dyspareunia results independently influenced by operative delivery, previous dyspareunia, recurrent urogenital infections and urge incontinence (p < .05), as well as by the Kristeller maneuver and partoanalgesia (p = .084) in the case of women who had a vaginal delivery. Dyspareunia significantly compromises women's sexual health postpartum, mostly caused by perineal trauma by means of delivery management and recurrent urogenital infections.     

‘We are not Victims,we are Protagonists of this History’

This article centers on the Mexican and Argentinean ‘Dirty Wars’, examining the limitations inherent in human rights and women's human rights responses to these epochs of violence. I situate Argentina's report on the dictatorship, Nunca más (1984), in conversation with Elena Poniatowska's text on the 1968 Mexico City massacre, La noche de Tlatelolco (1971), to trace the rise of a global human rights discourse that has become the dominant manner of conceptualizing human rights violations and gender violence in the latter half of the twentieth century. While feminist critiques of human rights have centered on the lack of gender-specific focus of violence committed against women, this article questions whether the women's human rights discourse disengages the historical, economic and geopolitical realities from which these violations were committed and instead focuses on women's sexual violations to garner international condemnation of gender violence. By turning to these texts, this article centers on the possibilities and limitations of women's human rights discourse and the impact this has on the shaping of women's political agency. This article calls for a critical feminist approach to women's human rights in order to document narratives of women survivors of human rights abuses without obfuscating their political subjectivities.     

Micro‐ and Macrolevel Determinants of Women's Employment in Six Arab Countries

We analyzed determinants of women's employment with data for 40,792 women living in 103 districts of 6 Arab countries. We tested a new theoretical framework that addresses the roles of needs, opportunities, and values at multiple levels. At the microlevel (individual, family), socioeconomic factors, care duties, and traditionalism were important; at the macrolevel (district), economic development and societal norms were important. Women's education seemed most influential. Interaction analyses showed that returns on women's education depended on their partner's education and on the economic development, labor market structure, urbanization, and strength of traditional norms in the district in which women live. Our results stress the importance of a comprehensive approach toward women's employment in these countries.     

‘Pain on Top of Pain,Hurtness on Top of Hurtness’: Social Discrimination,Psychological Well-Being,and Sexual Risk Among Women Living With HIV/AIDS

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study explored how a subsample (n = 26) of participants in Protect and Respect (N = 184), a safer-sex intervention for women living with HIV/AIDS (WLH/A), discussed their experiences of social discrimination and the impact of discrimination on their lives, psychological well-being, and risk behaviors during group intervention sessions. The majority of participants was Black (83%), earned less than $10,000 per year (80%), and acquired HIV through heterosexual sex (58%). Analyses demonstrated that social discrimination manifested in the women's lives as poverty, HIV/AIDS-related stigma, and gender inequality. These experiences caused intense psychological distress and limited WLH/A's ability to implement the safer-sex skills that they learned during the intervention. We discuss the applied and theoretical implications of our findings, advocating for HIV and sexual risk-reduction interventions that are based on an ecological framework that addresses holistically the individual, relational, and sociostructural factors that affect women's sexual risk behaviors.     

Sexual Cognition Guides Viewing Strategies to Human Figures

Gaze patterns to figure images have been proposed to reflect the observer's sexual interest, particularly for men. This eye-tracking study investigated how individual differences in sexual motivation tendencies are manifested in naturalistic gaze patterns. Heterosexual men and women (M = 21.0 years, SD = 2.1) free-viewed plain-clothed male and female figures, aged 10, 20, and 40 years old, while their eye movements were recorded. Questionnaires were used to measure sexual cognitions, including sensation seeking and sexual compulsivity, sexual inhibition and excitation, and approach and avoidance responses to sexual stimuli. Our analysis showed a clear role of sexual cognitions in influencing gaze strategies for men. Specifically, men who scored higher on sexual compulsivity dedicated more gaze to the waist–hip region when viewing figures of their preferred sexual partners than men who scored lower on sexual compulsivity. Women's sexual cognitions showed no clear effect on the gaze pattern in viewing figures of their preferred age and gender of sexual partners, suggesting women's gaze is unlikely to be a straightforward reflection of their sexual preferences. The findings further suggest that men's gaze allocation is driven by sexual preferences and supports the utility of eye tracking in the assessment of male sexual interest.     

The effect of urinary incontinence on sexual functioning in turkish women of reproductive and menopausal ages

Objectives: The primary objective was to investigate the effects of urinary incontinence (UI) on Turkish women's sexual functioning. Methods: We evaluated 396 women and divided them into 4 groups: reproductive-aged women without UI (Group A), reproductive-aged women with UI (Group B), menopausal-aged women without UI (Group C), and menopausal-aged women with UI (Group D). Results: The mean Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) score was significantly higher and the Beck's Depression Inventory scores were significantly lower in Group A. FSFI scores showed a strong negative correlation with age and parity and a strong positive correlation with years of education. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that UI is an independent risk factor for female sexual problems.     

Mapping Strategic Engagements: WOMEN'S MOVEMENTS AND THE STATE

Abstract

Given that all women's movements share a unique relationship to the State – their exclusion from political power, often legally and occasionally constitutionally underpinned, has this exclusion shaped women's movements' strategies, which have had as their general goal women's political inclusion? Some similarities are evident across types of women's movements and across nations. In this article, I discuss the ‘strategic dilemmas’ that women's movements are likely to face, and I attempt to identify the range of strategic responses employed by feminist movements. I begin with a definitional distinction between women's movements and feminist movements, followed by a discussion of women's relationship to the State. I identify similarities across feminist movements in four strategic dimensions: (1) movement autonomy vs state involvement; (2) insider vs outsider positioning; (3) separatist vs coalitional stances; and (4) discursive and influence-seeking politics. These strategic dimensions shape different opportunities for women's movements across different state configurations, offering openings for some types of women's movements that may be unrecognized or unexploited by others. The article concludes with speculations concerning women's movements' strategic action in the context of state reconfiguration.     

Discrepant Responding across Self-Report Measures of Men's Coercive and Aggressive Sexual Strategies

Researchers have worked to refine the measurement of women's experiences with sexual victimization. Less is known about the validity and reliability of measures that assess men's use of sexual coercion and aggression. These studies explore the consistency of men's responses to two distinct, but similar, measures of sexual coercion and aggression. The two measures both assess historical use of verbal coercion, sexual assault involving drugs or alcohol, and sexual assault through threat or force. Study 1 used college men as participants (N = 398), whereas Study 2 used a mixed sample of college and community men (N = 184). In both studies, participants’ responses were largely inconsistent across the two measures. This article explores potential measurement issues that may account for the observed reporting discrepancies and offers suggestions for future research.     

Transnational cultural flows: An analysis of women's magazines in China

This study examines the expansion process of women's magazines in China, particularly over the past few decades. From 1921 to 1976 only a few women's magazines were available in China and all were owned and published by the government. However, since the late 1980s, there has been a proliferation of women's magazines – both local and international. Today, Chinese language versions of Western women's magazines, such as Elle, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Harper's Bazaar, and Japanese magazines like Rayli can be found on the magazine racks of any major city in China. The introduction and competition from international magazines has changed the look and content of local women's magazines. This preliminary study uses historical analysis and political economy to examine the growth of women's magazines in China and to discuss how the changing face of women's media represents a shift in gender ideology in China.     

Observational Stance as a Predictor of Subjective and Genital Sexual Arousal in Men and Women

Observational stance refers to the perspective a person takes while viewing a sexual stimulus, either as a passive observer (observer stance) or an active participant (participant stance). The objective of the current study was to examine the relationship between observational stance and sexual arousal (subjective and genital) across a range of sexual stimuli that do or do not correspond with a participant's sexual attraction (preferred or nonpreferred stimuli, respectively). Regression analyses revealed that, for men (n = 44), participant stance significantly predicted subjective and genital arousal. Women's (n = 47) observer and participant stance predicted subjective arousal but not genital arousal. Analysis of variance showed that participant stance was greatest under preferred sexual stimuli conditions for all groups of participants, while observer stance scores revealed a less consistent pattern of response. This was particularly true for opposite-sex-attracted women, whose ratings of observer stance were lowest for preferred stimuli. Observational stance does not appear to account for gender differences in specificity of sexual arousal; for men, however, participant stance uniquely predicted genital response after controlling for sexual attractions. Similarities in the relationships between men's and women's observational stance and sexual responses challenge previous claims of gender differences in how men and women view erotica.     

Employment Practices and the Gendering of Air Canada's Culture during its Trans Canada Airlines Days

From the earliest days women have had active roles in the commercial aviation industry. Yet most airlines' employment practices have led to narrow definitions of what constituted women's work. This study, as a part of a broader study on employment practices and the gendering of organizational culture, mirrors a similar study of British Airways by Mills (1994) and takes a rules approach, within a sensemaking framework (Helms Mills and Mills, 2000), to analyze the data. In this case, the first three 'junctures' in the history of Air Canada/TCA will be explored to show how women's work was understood and how women were represented during each of these periods. The use of corporate documents will support the notion that women were mostly thought of and portrayed as idealised, sexualised objects, which were considered dispensable. This narrow definition of women's roles has not only diminished the opportunities for career advancement but it has also minimized the importance of the work women in the airline industry have done.     

Benefits of Hooking Up: Self-Reports from First-Year College Women

ABSTRACT

This study explored the benefits of hooking up among first-year college women. Two authors coded for the presence of 10 benefits (kappas: 0.76–0.97) in 262 women's responses to an open-response survey question regarding benefits of their most recent hookup. The most common benefits identified were sexual pleasure (23%), general positive emotions (21%), increased confidence (11%), and clarification of feelings (11%). Overall, 71% reported at least 1 benefit, but 29% reported no benefits. For some young women, hooking up has benefits that can include meeting their needs for social connection, sexual exploration and intimacy, and fun/enjoyment.