When the author started graduate school in the late 1970s, she was drawn to studying sexual assault. She had been a declared feminist since high school as the Women's Movement even reached the coal region of eastern Pennsylvania! Attending college in New York City, with its myriad opportunities for more exposure to what feminists were up to, made…

Research has consistently found that a history of previous sexual victimization increases risk for future sexual assault, which might be due to women with a history of sexual victimization having difficulty identifying risky cues and not perceiving their own vulnerability for future assaults. This study investigated how acknowledgment of previous…

Assessed alcohol's role in sexual assaults by male college students. Interactions of alcohol use with assault variables did not suggest any role of alcohol use in predicting sexual aggression severity. Offender propensity to abuse alcohol and victim preassault alcohol use directly and indirectly related to sexual aggression severity. Offender…

In this study we examined the ability of a modified Sexual Experiences Survey (SES; Koss, Gidycz, & Wisniewski, 1987) to assess sexual victimization among a local community sample of women (n= 1,014). Women who reported sexual victimization were interviewed regarding the most recent incident. Those who responded negatively to all SES items…

Using a longitudinal design, the current study explored intimate partner violence perpetration among 1,300 college women within the context of one's history of physical and sexual victimization across 4 years of college. Structural equation modeling indicated that sexual victimization does not predict concurrent use of women's intimate partner…

Investigated reactions to a woman who presumably had been raped by a stranger or an acquaintance. Undergraduates read one of two rape descriptions prior to watching a videotape of the woman who (they were led to believe) had been the victim of the rape. Females and males showed markedly different reactions to stranger and acquaintance rape and…

Examined rape by strangers and by acquaintances, including nonromantic acquaintances, casual dates, steady dates, and family members in 489 rape victims. Acquaintance rape typically involved single offender and multiple episodes, was less often perceived as rape or revealed to anyone, and, except for rapes by family members, was rated less…

Only a few studies have examined the characteristics of sexual assault based on the tactics used by the perpetrator. In this study we compared the experiences of women who were forced to engage in vaginal, anal, or oral intercourse due to verbal coercion, physical force, or intoxication. Random-digit dialing was used to obtain a sample of 272…

Examines the acceptance of, and expectations of, sexual aggression in common dating situations for 546 college students who completed a measure of rape acceptance beliefs. Results suggest that a consensus on definitions of unacceptable behavior is emerging among males and females, although differences in expectations remain. (SLD)

Past research had found that one-half or more of all women who have had an experience that might meet the definition of rape do not label themselves rape victims. The present study examined the actual rape experiences of 33 women who labeled their assault experience as rape and 56 women who did not label their assault experience as rape through…

Male violence is an enduring feature of women's lives from childhood through old age. The review covers child sexual abuse, rape, and partner violence with emphasis on the prevalence of violence, its mental health consequences, the course of recovery, and mediators and moderators of traumatic impact. The primary focus is depression and…