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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
REFERENCES EXAMINING
MEN AS VICTIMS OF WOMEN'S
SEXUAL COERCION
Martin S. Fiebert
Department of Psychology, California State University, Long
Beach, CA 90840
In parallel to women's concerns regarding sexual coercion, a
number of investigators have recently examined the issue of men
as victims of women's sexual coercive behavior. Listed below are
40 empirical studies and 2 reviews that demonstrate that men also
experience sexual coercion.
Aizenman, M. & Kelley, G. (1988). The incidence of violence and acquain-
tance rape in dating relationships among college men and women. Jour-
nal of College Student Development, 29, 305-311. (A survey of unmarried
college students at Rutgers University <204 women and 140 men> in
which 29% of women and 14% of men reported that they "were forced to
have intercourse against their will.")
Anderson, P. B. (1996). Correlates of college women's self-reports of hetero-
sexual aggression. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 8,
121-I 31. (A sample of 212 women completed a 13-item Sexually Aggres-
sive Behavior scale. Overall, "42.6% reported initiating sexual contact by
using sexually aggressive strategies...and 7.1% reported using physical
force")
Anderson, P. B. (1998). Women's motives for sexual initiation and aggres-
sion. In P. B. Anderson & C. Struckman-Johnson (Eds.), Sexually aggres-
sive women: Current perspectives and controversies, (pp. 79-93.) New
York: Guildford. (In this survey of 461 college women, "between 26% and
43% of respondents reported engaging in strategies that would be tradi-
tionally defined as coercive if applied to male respondents." Also, "20% of
the women reported using physical force, 27% the threat of physical force,
and 9% a weapon to obtain sexual contact with a male partner.")
Anderson, P. B. & Aymami, R. (1993). Reports of female initiation of sexual
contact: Male and female differences. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 22,
81
82 Sexuality & Culture
335-343. (Findings from sample of 128 college men indicated "that 15.6%
had experienced female sexual contact initiated by physical force, 15.6%
by threat of force, and 4.7% by threat with a weapon.")
Baier, J. L., Rosenzweig, M. G. & Whipple, E. G. (199l). Patterns of sexual
behavior, coercion and victimization of university students. Journal of
College Student Development, 32, 310-322. (A college sample of 340
men and 362 women responded to a modified version of the Sexual Expe-
rience Survey. Findings reveal that 14.9% of men and 24.9% of women
"had engaged in sexual intercourse at least once when they did not want to
because of psychological or verbal coercion.")
Burke, P. J., Stets, J. E. & Pirog-Good, M. A. (1988). Gender identity, self-
esteem, and physical and sexual abuse in dating relationships. Social Psy-
chology Quarterly, 51, 272-285. (In a sample of 505 college students
<298 women, 207 men>, 9% of the men and 18% of the women reported
sustaining sexual abuse. Abuse was defined as unwanted breast fondling,
genital fondling, attempted intercourse and intercourse.)
Chadwick, B. A. & Top, B. L. (1993). Religiosity and delinquency among
LDS adolescents. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 32, 51--67.
(Data were collected from Mormons between the ages of 14 and 19. In a
sample of 636 males and 754 females, 5% of both genders reported that
they "forced or pressured someone to engage in sexual activities.")
Cochran, C. C., Frazier, P. A. & Olson, A. M. (1997). Predictors of responses to
unwanted sexual attention. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21,207-
226. (Data were collected from 1,192 men and 2,742 women at a large
Midwestern university. Subjects--who included undergraduates, gradu-
ates, faculty and staff were assessed regarding unwanted sexual atten-
tion. Results indicate that 49% of women and 24% of men had experienced
at least one unwanted sexual behavior.)
Erickson, P. I., Rapkin, D. P. H. & Rapkin, A. J. (1991). Unwanted sexual
experiences among middle and high school youth. Journal of Adolescent
Health, 12, 319-325. (In a sample of 1,198 students <610 boys, 488 girls>,
18% of females and 12% of males reported having an unwanted sexual
experience. Authors report that "of the ethnic groups, Asians (7%) reported
having had an unwanted sexual experience less frequently than non-His-
panic white (16%), Hispanic (16%) or black (19%) students.")
Fiebert, M. S. & Tucci, L. M. (1998). Sexual coercion: Men victimized by
women. Journal of Men's Studies, 6 (2) 127-133. (A 12 item inventory,
designed to assess mild, moderate and severe forms of sexual coercion,
was administered to 182 college men. Results reveal that 70% of subjects
responded to at least one item reflecting sexual coercion within past five
years. Younger men were more likely than older men to report being sexu-
ally coerced.)
Garcia, L., Milano, L. & Quijano, A. (1989). Perceptions of coercive sexual
behavior by males and females. Sex Roles, 21,569-577. (Thirty-seven
male and 36 female college students responded to continuum of sexual
coercion as portrayed in six vignettes that presented both genders as ag-
gressors and victims. Male participants saw the sexual advances as more
Examining Men as Victims of Women's Sexual Coercion 83
coercive when the victim was female, while female participants saw the
advances as more coercive when the victim was male.)
Hannon, R., Kuntz, T., Van Laar, S. & Williams, J. (1996). College students'
judgments regarding sexual aggression during a date. Sex Roles, 35, 765-
778. (In a sample of 138 female and 57 male college students, 65% of the
women and 38.5% of the men reported being victims of unwanted sexual
behavior by their heterosexual partners. For example, 20.4% of women
and 10.5% of men indicated that they were sexually coerced, 23.4% of
women and 10.5% of men revealed that they were raped, and 6.6% of
women and 10.5% of men reported that they were victims of attempted
rape. Authors state that, "all but one of the rape experiences reported by
men involved having unwanted intercourse because someone gave them
alcohol or drugs.")
Hogben, M., Byrne, D. & Hamberger, M. E. (1996). Coercive heterosexual
sexuality in dating relationships of college students: Implications of dif-
ferential male-female experiences. Journal of Psychology and Human Sexu-
ality, 8, 69-78. (The Sexual Experience questionnaire was administered to
214 students <113 women, 101 men>, and 79% of women and 52% of men
reported "having at least once been coerced by a partner sexually.")
Lottes, I. L. (1991). The relationship between nontraditional gender roles and
sexual coercion. Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality, 4(4) 89-
109. (A sample of 398 undergraduates <171 men, 227 women> at an east-
ern university responded to items assessing sexual coercion. Results
indicate that 71% of females compared to 45% of males indicated that
they were subjected to at least one sexually coercive strategy that did not
result in intercourse while 35% of women and 24% of men reported being
victims of at least one coercive strategy that resulted in intercourse. Nine-
teen percent of men and 20% of women reported being victims of sexual
coercion, which resulted in unwanted sex, because their partner got them
drunk or stoned.)
Lottes, I. L. & Weinberg, M. S. (1996). Sexual coercion among university
students: A comparison of the United States and Sweden. Journal of Sex
Research, 34, 67-76. (A sample of 570 Swedish students <211 men, 359
women> and 407 U.S. students <129 men, 278 women> responded to
items assessing sexual coercion. Results indicate that 50% of U.S. men
compared to 22% of Swedish men were subjected to at least one sexually
coercive strategy; 69% of U.S. women compared to 41% of Swedish women
reported that they were subjected to at least one sexually coercive strat-
egy.)
Macchietto, J. G. (1998). Treatment issues of adult male victims of female
sexual aggression. (Pp. 187-204) In P. B. Anderson & C. Sturckman-Johnson
(Eds.), Sexually Aggressive women: Current Perspectives and controver-
sies. New York: Guildford. (Reviews issues relevant to male victims of
female sexual aggression and suggests treatment approaches.)
Margolin, L. (1990). Gender and the stolen kiss: The social support of male
and female to violate a partner's sexual consent in a noncoercive situation.
Archives of Sexual Behavior, 19, 281-291. (Responses to a vignette, in
84 Sexuality & Culture
which one dating partner indicates that he/she doesn't want to be kissed
and the other partner doesn't listen, was obtained from 194 female and 171
male university students. Results indicate that there was significantly more
support for women to violate men's sexual consent and less support for
men than women to withhold sexual consent.)
McConaghy, N. & Zamir, R. (1995). Heterosexual and homosexual coercion,
sexual orientation and sexual roles in medical students.
Archives of Sexual
Behavior,
24, 489-502. (A sample of 182 <101 men, 81 women> second
year medical students at a New Zealand University responded to items
from a modified Sexual Experience Survey. Results indicate that similar
proportions of men and women were victims of sexual coercion. Specifi-
cally, 26% of men and 31% of women reported that they were victims of
"constant physical attempts to have sexual activity" by members of the
opposite sex. Four percent of women and men were victimized by mem-
bers of the same sex. Sixteen percent of women and 7% of men indicated
that they were sexually coerced by partners who used some degree of
physical force. More men (17%) than women (10%) reported that their
partners "were so aroused they felt it was useless to stop (them) even though
they did not want to have sexual intercourse")
Muehlenhard, C. L. & Cook, S. W. (1988). Men's self reports of unwanted
sexual activity.
The Journal of Sex Research,
24, 58-72. (A questionnaire
examining unwanted sexual activity was administered to 507 men and
486 women. Findings reveal that 97.5% of women and 93.5% of men had
experienced some form of unwanted sexuality activity with significantly
more men (62.7%) than women (46.3%) reporting having engaged in un-
wanted sexual intercourse. The main reasons men engaged in unwanted
sexual behavior compared to women were peer pressure and the desire for
popularity.)
Murphy, J. E. (1988). Date abuse and forced intercourse among college stu-
dents. In G. P. Hotaling, D. Finkelhor, J. T. Kirkpatrick & M. A. Straus
(Eds.),
Family Abuse and its Consequences: New Directions in Research
(pp. 285-296). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. (In a sample of 485 single college
students <230 men and 255 women>, 12% of the men and 29% of the
women indicated that they had succumbed to "forced intercourse on a
date")
O'Sullivan, L. F. & Byers, E. S. (1993). Eroding stereotypes: College women's
attempts to influence reluctant male sexual partners.
Journal of Sex Re-
search,
30, 270-282. (In a sample of actively dating Canadian college
students <99 men and 111 women> authors found that 56% of participants
reported a disagreement, within the prior year, in which a woman attempted
to influence a reluctant male partner to engage in sex. In response to male
refusal, 29% of men indicated that their female partner behaved in a
"noncompliant" sexually coercive manner.)
Poitras, M. & Lavoie, E (1995). A study of the prevalence of sexual coercion
in adolescent heterosexual dating relationships in a Quebec sample. Vic-
tims and Violence,
10, 299-313. (A sample of high school students be-
tween the ages of 15 and 19 <336 girls and 308 boys> responded to a
Examining Men as Victims of Women's Sexual Coercion 85
modified Sexual Experience Survey. Here, 54.1% of girls and 13.1% of
boys reported being victims of some form of sexual coercion; 14.3% of
boys and 6.3% of girls reported initiating sexual coercion.)
Poppen, P. J. & Segal, N. J. (1988). The influence of sex and sex role orienta-
tion on sexual coercion. Sex Roles, 19, 689-701. (One hundred female and
77 male college students indicated whether they had engaged in or re-
sponded to coercive sexual behaviors. Seventy four percent of women and
44% of men reported that they were victims of at least one coercive behav-
ior perpetrated by their partners. For example, 22% of men and 34% of
women indicated that their partners attempted to make them "feel inad-
equate.")
Rouse, L. P. (1988). Abuse in dating relationships: A comparison of Blacks,
Whites, and Hispanics. Journal of College Student Development, 29, 312-
319. (An aspect of sexual coercion was examined in a diverse sample of
college students. Subjects consisted of 130 whites <58 men, 72 women>,
64 Blacks <32 men, 32 women>, and 34 Hispanics <24 men, 10 women>.
Men were significantly more likely than women to report that their part-
ners "pressured them for sex" and "got angry if refused" This gender dif-
ference was present for Whites and Blacks but not for Hispanics.)
Ryan, K. A. (1998). The relationship between courtship violence and sexual
aggression in college students. Journal of Family Violence, 13, 377-394.
(A sample of 656 college students <245 men, 411 women> completed the
Sexual Experience Survey (SES). Twenty five percent of the women and
9% of the men reported being sexually victimized by their partners. As a
specific finding, 4% of the women and 3% of the men reported anal or oral
sexual victimization by force.)
Sandberg, G., Jackson, T. L. & Petretic-Jackson, P. (1987). College students'
attitudes regarding sexual coercion and aggression: Developing educa-
tional and preventive strategies. Journal of College Student Personnel 28,
302-311. (Sexual behaviors and attitudes were examined in a sample of
247 college women and 161 college men. Of note is the finding that 25%
of men and 48% of women responded affirmatively to the statement: "have
you ever been sexually assaulted by a dating partner consisting of being
touched, held, or kissed against your will?" In addition, 48% of the men
and 74% of the women indicated that they had verbally been pressured to
have sex by a dating partner.)
Sarrel, P. & Masters, W. H. (1982). Sexual molestation of men by women.
Archives of Sexual Behavior, 11, 117-131. (In a pioneering study authors
demonstrate, by citing 11 case studies, that it is possible for men to re-
spond sexually when subjected to physical molestation by women.)
Sigelman, C. K., Berry, C. J. & Wiles, K. A. (1984). Violence in college stu-
dents' dating relationships. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 5, 530-
548. (In a survey of 504 college students <116 men, 388 women>, 34.8%
of women and 20.9% of men reported being targets of sexual aggression
by their partners.
Smith, R. E., Pine, C. J. & Hawley, M. E. (1988). Social cognitions about adult
male victims of female sexual assault. Journal of Sex Research, 24, 101-
86 Sexuality & Culture
112. (In a study of Sexual Coercion in which the sex of assailants and
victims were manipulated, 77 male and 89 female college students made
judgments about male and female victims of heterosexual and homosexual
assault. Findings indicate that male victims of female sexual assaults were
judged more likely to have encouraged the sexual acts, were assumed to
have enjoyed it more and believed to be less stressed than other victims.)
Sorenson, S. B., Stein, J. A., Siegel, J. M., Golding, J. M. & Bumam, M. A.
(1987). The prevalence of adult sexual assault: The Los Angeles epide-
miologic catchment area project.
American Journal of Epidemiology,
126,
1154-1164. (A representative sample study was conducted in Los Angeles
in which 1,480 men were interviewed and 7.2% indicated that above the
age of 16 they were sexually coerced. At most risk were white, college age
men between the ages of 18 and 39, 16% of whom reported being sexually
assaulted. Struckman-Johnson (1991) obtained additional analyses from
Sorenson and her colleagues, which revealed that the majority of assaults
on men were perpetrated by female acquaintances or lovers. The most
prevalent coercive tactic was psychological pressure.)
Stets, J. E. & Pirog-Good, M. S. (1989). Pattems of physical and sexual abuse
for men and women in dating relationships: A descriptive analysis.
Jour-
nal of Family Violence,
4, 63-76. (Found in a college sample of 118 males
and 169 females that 22% of the men and 36% of the women reported
being sexually abused by one or more dating partners during the past year.
The most frequent coerced behavior for both men <18%> and women
<19%> was "against my will my partner initiated necking")
Straus, M. A., Hamby, S. L., Boney-McCoy, S. & Sugarman, D. B. (1996). The
revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2). Development and preliminary psy-
chometric data.
Journal of Family Issues,
17, 283-315. (A sample of 204
female and 113 male college students completed the CTS2. Nine of the 39
items explicitly dealt with sexual coercion. Results reveal that, within the
past 12 months, 38% of the men experienced at least one instance of
sexual coercion while 30% of the women experienced at least one instance
of sexual coercion. In terms of perpetrated sexual coercion, 37% of the
men and 18% of the women reported engaging in such behavior.)
Struckman-Johnson, C. (1988). Forced sex on dates: It happens to men, too.
Journal of Sex Research,
24, 234-241. (Participants in a survey examin-
ing forced sexual behavior were 355 female and 268 male college stu-
dents. Author found that "22% of the women reported that they had been
forced to engage in sexual intercourse on date at least once in their life-
time" and "16% of the men reported at least one forced sex episode in their
lifetime." Most men <52%> were coerced into sex by psychological pres-
sure.)
Struckman-Johnson, C. (1991). Male victims of acquaintance rape. In A. Par-
rot & L. Bechofer (Eds.),
Acquaintance Rape, The Hidden Crime
[pp. 192-
214]. New York: Wiley.). (A review article that examines prevalence rates
of sexual assault on American men as well as discusses the dynamics and
consequences of assaults on men. States that "our society has no place for
the male victim of sexual assault" and that "our culture's ignorance of
Examining Men as Victims of Women's Sexual Coercion 87
male rape is compounded by the fact that most male victims do not report
their experience to the police, health officials or even to friends and fam-
ily." <p. 193>)
Struckman-Johnson, C. & Struckman-Johnson, D. (1993). College men and
women's reactions to hypothetical sexual touch varied by initiator gender
and coercion level. Sex Roles, 29, 371-385. (A sample of 152 female and
152 male college students responded to a vignette in which they imagined
an uninvited genital touch, either gentle or forceful, from either a male or
female college acquaintance. Findings reveal that women anticipated strong
negative effects from receiving a genital touch, whether gentle or forceful,
while men anticipated little negative effect from a gentle or forceful touch
from a female acquaintance. Both genders responded negatively to oppo-
site gender touching.)
Struckman-Johnson, C. & Struckman-Johnson, D. (1994a). Men pressured
and forced into sexual experience. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 23, 93-
114. (A sample of 204 college men reported on experience of forced sexual
touch or intercourse since age 16. Thirty-four percent of males reported at
least one coercive episode, with 24% of subjects experiencing female
contact only, 4% male contact, and 6% reporting both male and female
contact. Unwanted sexual touching by women was reported by 23% of
subjects and coercive intercourse was reported by 20% of subjects. The
most commonly used coercive tactics were persuasion and intoxication.)
Struckman-Johnson, C. & Struckman, D. (1994b). Men's reactions to hypo-
thetical female sexual advances: A beauty bias in response to sexual coer-
cion. Sex Roles, 31,387-405. (A sample of 277 college men responded to
a vignette in which they were to imagine receiving an uninvited sexual
advance from a casual female acquaintance. The degree of coercion was
varied as was the attractiveness of the female initiator. Results reveal that
men had significantly more negative reactio~ to high levels of sexual
coercion and more positive reactions to attractive initiators.)
Struckman-Johnson, D. & Struckman-Johnson, C. (1996). College Men's re-
actions to hypothetical forceful advances from women. Journal of Psy-
chology & Human Sexuality, 8, 93-105. (A sample of 263 college men
responded to a vignette in which they were to imagine receiving a forceful
sexual advance from a woman. Results reveal that subjects responded
more positively to the advance of an acquaintance than to a stranger.
Authors state, "conditions known to promote positive reactions to hypo-
thetical sexual advances are low force, high initiator sexual desirability,
and high level of romantic relationship with initiator.")
Struckman-Johnson, C. & Struckman-Johnson, D. (1997). Men's reactions to
hypothetical forceful sexual advances from women: The role of sexual
standards, relationship availability and the beauty bias. Sex Roles, 37,
319-333. (A sample of 142 college men responded to a vignette involving
a moderately forceful sexual advance from a female casual acquaintance.
The men's sexual standards, relationship availability, and the attractive-
ness of the sexual initiator was studied. The majority of men reacted nega-
tively to the coercive situation. More positive responses were obtained
88 Sexuality & Culture
from men with less restrictive sexual standards, who had no girlfriend and
who were told that the female initiator was attractive. Authors indicate that
results offer support for their Sexual Opportunity Model.)
Struckman-Johnson, C. & Struckman-Johnson, D. (1998). The dynamics and
impact of sexual coercion of men by women. In P. B. Anderson & C.
Struckman-Johnson (Eds.), Sexually Aggressive Women: Current Perspec-
tives and Controversies (pp. 121-143). New York: Guildford. (In a sample
of 314 college men, 43% reported having had at least one coercive sexual
experience with a women since the age of 16. Thirty-six percept reported
at least one incident of sexual touching and 27% reported at least one
incident of sexual intercourse.)
Waldner-Haugrud, L. K. & Magruder, B. (1995). Male and female sexual vic-
timization in dating relationships: Gender differences in coercion tech-
niques and outcomes, l/iolence and Victims, 10, 203-215. (A sample of
220 female and 202 male college students completed a survey examining
unwanted sexual behavior as a function of 12 coercive techniques includ-
ing intoxication, false promises, threats, and physical force. Men reported
457 incidents and women 628 incidents of unwanted sexual behavior. The
most common techniques experienced by both genders were intoxication
and persistent touching. Men were more likely than women to experience
unwanted sexual behavior when their partners used blackmail. In general,
authors found that women were coerced into more extreme sexual behav-
iors than men.)
Zweig, J. M., Barber, B. L. & Eccles, J. S. (1997). Sexual coercion and well-
being in young adulthood. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 12, 291-
308. (A sample of 872 women and 527 men, ages 19-22, who were 90%
Caucasian responded to items assessing how often intercourse occurred in
response to "pressure." Thirteen percent of men reported that they were
pressured, while 22% of indicated that they were pressured.)
