A Study of Women\u27s Experiences with Verbal Sexual Coercion

This research aims to understand how women label or acknowledge unwanted sexual experiences that occurred due to verbal coercion or pressure, and the role of their relationship with the man whom they had this experience with. Past research on acknowledgement shows that between 15 and 85% of women do not label unwanted sexual experiences that meet the legal definition of sexual assault as an assault or as rape. The woman’s relationship to the perpetrator has been found to be influential in the labelling process, however, the current literature is lacking in-depth examinations of the role of the relationship. In addition, research has shown that verbal forms of coercion are less commonly acknowledged as rape or sexual assault. Due to this effect on the labelling process, and the commonality of coercion in heterosexual scripts, questions regarding how women understand or acknowledge experiences of verbal coercion in different types of relationships need to be addressed. Participants will be approximately 30 undergraduate women, who indicated in a screening questionnaire that they had experienced an act of verbal coercion by a man, and that they had not ever been raped or sexually assaulted. Data will be collected across the Winter 2016 semester using qualitative methods, through an online survey of open-ended questions about the woman’s relationship (or lack thereof) to the perpetrator, a narrative about the verbally coerced experience, and questions about their labelling and understanding of the event. This ongoing research forms the author’s undergraduate thesis. Results will be reported in April 2016