* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download Hyperfemininity - Inter
Sexual assault wikipedia , lookup
Body odour and sexual attraction wikipedia , lookup
Sexual fluidity wikipedia , lookup
Sexual abstinence wikipedia , lookup
Sexual addiction wikipedia , lookup
Sex-positive feminism wikipedia , lookup
Hookup culture wikipedia , lookup
Ego-dystonic sexual orientation wikipedia , lookup
Heterosexuality wikipedia , lookup
Sexological testing wikipedia , lookup
Sexual dysfunction wikipedia , lookup
Sexual racism wikipedia , lookup
Penile plethysmograph wikipedia , lookup
Sexual objectification wikipedia , lookup
Ages of consent in South America wikipedia , lookup
Sexual slavery wikipedia , lookup
Age disparity in sexual relationships wikipedia , lookup
Sexual stimulation wikipedia , lookup
Sexual selection wikipedia , lookup
Sexual reproduction wikipedia , lookup
Age of consent wikipedia , lookup
Human mating strategies wikipedia , lookup
Sex and sexuality in speculative fiction wikipedia , lookup
Exploitation of women in mass media wikipedia , lookup
Erotic plasticity wikipedia , lookup
Sex in advertising wikipedia , lookup
Human sexual response cycle wikipedia , lookup
Sexual ethics wikipedia , lookup
Human male sexuality wikipedia , lookup
Rochdale child sex abuse ring wikipedia , lookup
History of human sexuality wikipedia , lookup
Human female sexuality wikipedia , lookup
Lesbian sexual practices wikipedia , lookup
Sexual attraction wikipedia , lookup
Evil Women and Hyperfemininity: Hyper-gender role and sexual offending by women Theresa Porter & Jacquelyn Bent Abstract Western culture has seen a growth in post-genderism since the 1960’s, with both sexes refusing to be reduced to socially constructed gender roles. Many people choose to be defined by their humanity, rather than their masculinity or femininity. This is not a universal decision, however and both sexes may adhere to gender roles to varying degrees. While Psychological research has investigated the extreme end of masculinity (Hypermasculinity) for many years, research into women on the extreme end of femininity is relatively new. A subset of women assimilates gender roles as primary to their identities. Research on this population of women, defined as Hyperfeminine, indicates that they base their concept of personal success on their ability to obtain and maintain a heterosexual relationship, utilizing their sexuality and manipulation as the key tools to achieve this goal. While Hyperfemininity is not generally considered problematic, recent research has found a striking association between Hyperfemininity and sexually coercive behavior. Hyperfeminine women were more likely to use coercive sexual tactics with their adult male partners than women who did not subscribe to exaggerated gender roles. This paper will examine this recent research on Hyperfemininity, its relationship to adversarial relational styles, rape myth acceptance and sexual compulsivity. Finally, it will explore the difficulty a gendered society has in seeing gendered behaviour, even when looking at it. Key Words: Gender, femininity, sexual coercion, love-styles. ***** Hypergender Hyperfemininity is a sociological term describing the exaggerated adherence to a feminine gender role as it relates to heterosexual relationships and identity development.1 Hyperfeminine women believe that their success in life is determined by creating and maintaining relationships with men. Women who are part of this sub-group perceive their primary value in a relationship as sexual and so they use sexual behavior to obtain their goals of relationship attainment and maintenance. 2 Hyperfeminine women view men as always interested in sex and as only valuing women for sexual purposes. In one study that investigated the perception of the cause of sexual desire, 30% of the women attributed a man’s sexual desire simply to his ‘maleness’. In other words, by virtue of being a male, he is inevitably aroused and desiring sex.3 Hypermasculinity is the corollary to Hyperfemininity and includes sexual attitudes towards women and beliefs around danger and violence. Hypergender can be measured with scales such as the Hypergender Ideology Scale4, The Hyperfemininity Scale5 and the Hypermasculinity Inventory6. Hypermasculinity is associated with social problems including sexual aggression, belief in rape myths, increased risk of physical aggression towards both women and homosexual men and decreased communication skills. Hyperfemininity has been 2 found to be associated with an attraction to males who engage in bullying behavior,7 with higher use of alcohol and lower use of contraception during sexual activity, 8 with more rape myth acceptance 9and with higher rates of consensual sexual activity compared to non-hyperfeminine women.10 Sexual coercion While the public discourse on sexual aggression tends to focus on violent forms such as rape, less violent forms of sexual aggression such as sexual coercion are more common. The term sexual coercion includes behaviors that are used to pressure a potential partner into having sex despite that person’s disinclination or outright refusal. It usually takes the form of verbal pressure. Common coercive practices include nagging and making insistent arguments, insulting the refuser’s appearance or sexual prowess, threatening to end the relationship, lying and making false promises or threatening to spread lies or rumors. In other words, sexual coercion often involves bullying behavior. However, it can also take the form of exploitation of one’s power or authority, such as having sex with a student, a minor, a prison inmate or other person who cannot freely consent to sex due to inherent power imbalances.11 While a 15 year old student may view herself as consenting to sex with her teacher, her potential difficulty refusing consent to someone with power over her makes this situation inherently coercive. Another form of sexual coercion involves inducing or encouraging intoxication for the purpose of sexual access. While the intoxicated partner is not physically forced into sexual activity, neither is he or she able to give informed consent due to incapacitation. Adversarial beliefs and rape myth acceptance Hypergender has also been associated with adversarial attitudes towards intimate relationships, often termed love styles.12 In the original research there were six relational styles: Eros (romantic) Agape (altruistic) Mania (obsessive) Pragma (practical) Storge (affectionate) Ludic (adversarial) People who hold adversarial attitudes towards relationships expect their relationships to involve exploitation and for their partners to be manipulative and untrustworthy. Tools that measure adversarial relational attitude include items indicating that males only want to be with females for sexual purposes and females attempting to ensnare males through deception. Adversarial relational styles have been found to correlate with high scores on femininity measures suggesting that hyperfeminine women are more likely to engage in manipulative, game-playing tactics in relationships.13 The research on adversarial relational attitudes laid the groundwork for later research on rape myth acceptance since rape can be viewed as existing on the extreme end of an adversarial, exploitative attitude.14 Studies have found a strong correlation in heterosexual males who hold adversarial relational styles and who accept rape myths.15 Those males who endorsed adversarial relationship beliefs were more likely to report engaging in coercive sexual behaviors compared to males who ascribed to other relational styles.16 17 18 Putting these pieces of research together, we see that hypermasculine men are more likely to hold adversarial heterosexual beliefs, agree with rape myths and to engage in sexually coercive behaviors.19 In Evil women and hyperfemininity other words, hypergender (‘I’m a manly man’) is connected to specific beliefs (‘I need to have sex with a woman in order to be a man; women say no when they mean yes’) that increase one’s risk of sexual aggression (‘coercion’). While researchers in the 1990’s pulled these separate pieces of research together regarding hypermasculinity, it was only recently that researchers began examining adversarial relationships, hypergender and sexual coercion in women. One might expect that women who hold adversarial relationship beliefs are also likely to accept rape myths and research substantiates this expectation.2021 Just as rape myth acceptance by males is connected to their view of women, rape myth acceptance by females is connected to their view of men. In this case, men are always interested in sex and always sexually available. Hyperfemininity, sexual coercion and sexual compulsivity Because a hyperfeminine woman sees mate attainment as a primary goal and views her sexuality as a tool for attaining and retaining a male partner, problems can arise if a male declines to have sex with her. After all, her perception of men is that they’re always interested in having sex. Research has found that when hyperfeminine women experienced sexual rejection from their male partners, they felt significant levels of anger and embarrassment because their view of themselves, of men and of relationships generally was violated. Rather than questioning their underlying gender-related beliefs (i.e. men only want sex from women, a woman must have a man in her life), they experience such a refusal as a threat to their self-conception. 22 This puts them at risk of engaging in sexual aggression.23 An initial study on femininity and sexual aggression noted that those women who felt rejected by a potential sex partner were 2.39 times more likely to engage in sexually coercive behaviors. 24 Rejection increased the women’s sexual aggression towards men. A second study found that the women who engaged in sexually coercive behavior also reported experiences of sexual compulsivity. Sexual compulsivity involves the experience of sexual urges that feel out of control and overpowering and is related to sensation-seeking behaviours, boredom sensitivity and sexual urges.2526 The connection between sexual coercion and sexual compulsivity is somewhat intuitive and there have been several studies of male sex offenders which indicated that they have high levels of compulsive sexual behaviour. However, when the researchers published their findings that sexual coercion in women was associated with sexual compulsivity, rather than discussing sexual compulsivity as a sensation or drive issue, they theorized that the sexually coercive women were engaging in the sexual aggression for the purpose of interpersonal connection and intimacy-seeking.27 In other words, when confronted with data that showed that women having compulsive sexual urges that correlated to sexual aggression, the researchers reframed this as really a drive towards intimacy. This reframing occurred despite the existence of other studies on sexual compulsivity have found that women and men have similar levels of sexual compulsivity. 28 A follow up study found that hyperfemininity was a major component of the sexual coercion, along with sexual compulsivity but again, the researchers theorized that the hyperfeminine women were engaging in the sexual aggression as a form of intimacy seeking.29 Why would the researchers view the hyperfeminine women’s sexual compulsivity and coercion as a form of intimacy-seeking? This may be due to the gendered sexual scripts for women are pervasive in our culture, even among psychological researchers. Denov, an early theorist on 2 sexual offending by women, wrote that when confronted by evidence of sexual aggression by women, people automatically convert the behaviour into something that fits cultural norms.30 This can be done by denying any malice to the women’s actions, by claiming that their motivations were harmless.31 By claiming that sexual coercion and sexual compulsion are really intimacy-seeking behaviours in hyperfeminine women, the sexual aggression is transformed. However, intimacy is a form of communion and mutuality, a shared experience which occurs under conditions of trust and reciprocity32 and in no way corresponds to the situation of bullying someone or getting them drunk in order to have sex with them. Yet intimacy is what our culture claims women want, rather than sex by any means. Female sexual coercion The topic of sexual coercion has been studied since the early 1980’s and is a relatively common tactic used by women. A quick review of the available research shows just how widespread sexual coercion by women is. Studies at U.S. universities show that between 10-25% of the women report engaging in sexual coercion including inducing intoxication in potential sex partners.333435 The issue of sexual coercion by women isn’t just a U.S. problem. There have been several multinational studies which show similar levels of sexual coercion by women in cultures as diverse as Brazil and Poland.36 37 Victim reports of sexual coercion by women show an even higher prevalence, with 38% to 58% of university males reporting these experiences, 3839 and intentional intoxication as one of the most common tactics used.4041 When we add in sexual coercion by women who abuse their positions of power over minors, we find that the prevalence is even higher. Sexual between an adult woman and a minor is typically termed Statutory Rape in the U.S. and Unlawful Sex with a Minor in much of Europe. This is one of the most common forms of sexual coercion by women, with approximately 13% of adult men reporting past experiences at age 14 that met the criteria for statutory rape and 91% of the perpetrators were women.42 While there is not yet any research connecting Hyperfemininity and statutory rape, existing research can provide some direction. Two separate studies of female child molesters in British found that the women held cognitive biases that all men were dangerous and the women tended to misinterpret ambiguous actions by men as threatening. When researchers provided ambiguous stimuli of male behaviors, the women interpreted it as signifying pending violence by the males. However, the women didn’t interpret all information that way, just information about males. Not only did women who co-offended with men display this bias; women who were solo offenders or who offended with other women also scored high with this fear of men. The researchers theorized that the women who held this cognitive bias of male dangerousness probably developed it in response to personal experiences of victimization such as domestic abuse or child abuse.43 44 Hyperfemininity may play a role in the sexual coercion against minor age males in conjunction with the belief of male dangerousness. If a woman believes that her success in life, that her identity, requires her to be in a relationship with a male and if she also believes that adult males are inherently dangerous, then minor-age males may be viewed as a safer alternative. Beliefs of the adversarial nature of relationships generally and of rape myths specifically may permit women who hold these beliefs to see their actions as both necessary and acceptable. Hyperfemininity as camouflage Evil women and hyperfemininity Despite the significant rates just mentioned, there is a systematic bias in the academic and human rights discourse against focusing on female perpetrators of sexual aggression. Colleges and universities routinely discuss rape prevention in terms of male perpetrators and female victims but a discussion of the reverse is extremely rare. Despite numerous studies showing a significant prevalence of sexual aggression by women, the common view is that women don’t do such things and if they do, the victims weren’t harmed. To some degree, this may be due to the fact that, by being hyperfeminine, these women are fulfilling (or over-fulfilling) cultural demands of gendered behavior and therefore don’t stand out. These women aren’t defying community standards by engaging in physical force or by using a weapon. Instead, their use of the supposedly ‘seductive’ or ‘manipulative’ tactics allows them and their actions to be framed as less important, less harmful. In a society where the ultimate rape myth is that all sexual aggressors are hypermasculine, the hyperfeminine sexual aggressor has the perfect disguise. Notes 1 Melannie Matschiner & Sarah K. Murnen, ‘Hyperfemininity and influence’, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 23 (1999) 631-642. 2 Sarah K. Murnen & Donn Byrne. ‘Hyperfemininity: Measurement and initial validation of the construct’, Journal of Sex Research, 28 (1991) 479-489 3 Pamela C. Regan & Ellen Berscheid, ‘Gender differences in beliefs about the causes of male and female sexual desire’, Personal Relationships 2 (1995) 345-358) 4 Merle E. Hamburger, Matthew Hogben, Stephanie McGowan, and Lori J. Dawson. "Assessing Hypergender Ideologies: Development and Initial Validation of a Gender-Neutral Measure of Adherence to Extreme Gender-Role Beliefs." Journal of Research in Personality 30 (1996) 157-178. 5 Sarah K. Murnen, "The Hyperfemininity Scale." Handbook of sexuality-related measures (1998): 258-261. 6 Donald L. Mosher, "Hypermasculinity inventory." Handbook of sexuality-related measures (1998): 472-474. 7 Julaine E. Field, Laura M. Crothers & Jered B. Kolbert, ‘Adolescent female gender identity and attraction to male bullies and victims’, Journal of emotional abuse 7 (2007)1-15. 8 TK Logan, Michele Staton & Carl Leukefeld, ‘Hyperfemininity, HIV Risk Behavior, and Victimization Among College Aged Females’," Salud y drogas 1 (2001) 161-181 9 Katherine Black & Kathy A. McCloskey, "Predicting Date Rape Perceptions the Effects of Gender, Gender Role Attitudes, and Victim Resistance." Violence against women 19(2013) 949-967. 10 Melissa McKelvie & Steven R. Gold, ‘Hyperfemininity: Further definition of the construct’, Journal of Sex Research 31 (1994(219-228. 11 Michal Buchhandler-Raphael, ‘Sexual Abuse of Power’, University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy 21 (2010): 77-107. 12 John A. Lee (1973). Colours of love: An exploration of the ways of loving. Toronto: New Press. 13 Brenda L. Russell & Debra L. Oswald, ‘Strategies and dispositional correlates of sexual coercion perpetrated by women: An exploratory investigation’, Sex Roles 45 (2001) 103-115. 14 Martha Burt. "Cultural myths and supports for rape." Journal of personality and social psychology 38 (1980) 217 15 Martha R. Burt, ‘Cultural Myths and Supports for Rape’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 38 (1980) 217-230. 16 David B. Sarver, Seth C. Kalichman, Jennifer R. Johnson, Jamie Early & Syed Akram Ali. "Sexual aggression and love styles: An exploratory study." Archives of sexual behavior 22 (1993) 265-275. 2 17 Seth Kalichman, David B. Sarwer, Jennifer R. Johnson, Syed Akram Ali, Jamie Early & J. Terrell Tuten. "Sexually coercive behavior and love styles: A replication and extension." Journal of psychology & human sexuality 6 (1994) 93-106. 18 Brenda L. Russell & Debra L. Oswald. "Sexual Coercion and Victimization of College Men the Role of Love Styles." Journal of Interpersonal Violence 17 (2002) 273-285. 19 William O'Donohue, J. Sean McKay, and Paul A. Schewe, ‘Rape: The roles of outcome expectancies and hypermasculinity’, Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment 8 (1996) 133-141. 20 Elizabeth A. Schatzel-Murphy, Danielle A. Harris, Raymond A. Knight & Michael A. Milburn, ‘Sexual Coercion in Men and Women: Similar Behaviors, Different Predictors’, Archives of Sexual Behavior, 38(2009), 974-986. 21 Elizabeth A. Schatzel-Murphy, ‘Expanding a model of female heterosexual coercion: Are sexually coercive women hyperfeminine?’, Ph.D. diss., University of Massachusetts Boston, 2012. 22 Margaret O’Dougherty Wright, Dana L. Norton & Jill Anne Matusek, ‘Predicting verbal coercion following sexual refusal during a hookup: Diverging gender patterns’, Sex Roles 62 (2010) 647-660. 23 Kim S. Menard, Gordon C. Nagayama Hall, Amber H. Phung, Marian F. Erian Ghebrial & Lynette Martin, ‘Gender Differences in Sexual Harassment and Coercion in College Students Developmental, Individual, and Situational Determinants’, Journal of Interpersonal Violence 18 (2003) 1222-1239. 24 Margaret O’Dougherty Wright, Dana L. Norton & Jill Anne Matusek, ‘Predicting verbal coercion following sexual refusal during a hookup: Diverging gender patterns’, Sex Roles 62 (2010) 647-660. 25 Nathan W. Stupiansky, Michael Reece, Susan E. Middlestadt, Peter Finn & Catherine Sherwood-Laughlin, ‘The role of sexual compulsivity in casual sexual partnerships among college women’, Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity 16 (2009) 241-252. 26 http://www.midsa.us/pdf/MIDSA_clinical_manual.pdf 27 Elizabeth A. Schatzel-Murphy, Danielle A. Harris, Raymond A. Knight & Michael A. Milburn, ‘Sexual Coercion in Men and Women: Similar Behaviors, Different Predictors’, Archives of Sexual Behavior, 38(2009), 974-986. 28 Brian Dodge, Michael Reece, Sara L. Cole Theo GM Sandfort, ‘Sexual compulsivity among heterosexual college students’, Journal of Sex Research 41 (2004) 343-350. 29 Elizabeth A. Schatzel-Murphy, ‘Expanding a model of female heterosexual coercion: Are sexually coercive women hyperfeminine?’, PhD diss., University of Massachusetts Boston, 2012. 30 Myriam S. Denov, Culture of Denial: Exploring Professional Perspectives on Female Sex Offending’, Canadian Journal of Criminology 43 (2001) 303-329. 31 Hilary Allen, ‘Rendering them harmless: The professional portrayal of women charged with serious violent crimes’, Gender, crime and justice (1987) 81-94. 32 Dan P. McAdams, ‘A thematic coding system for the intimacy motive’, Journal of Research in Personality, 14 (1980), 413-432. 33 Peter Anderson, ‘Correlates of College Women’s Self-Reports of Heterosexual Aggression’, Sexual Abuse: a Journal of Research and Treatment 8 (1996) 121-131 34 Peter Anderson, ‘Variations in College Women's Self-Reported Heterosexual Aggression’ Sex Abuse 10 (1998) 283-292 35 Janine M. Zweig, Bonnie L. Barber, and Jacquelynne S. Eccles, ‘Sexual Coercion and Well-Being in Young Adulthood Comparisons by Gender and College Status’, Journal of Interpersonal Violence 12(1997) 291-308. 36 Manuel Gamez-Guadix & Murray Straus, ‘Childhood and adolescent victimization and sexual coercion and assault by male and female university students’, Journal of Marriage and Family (in press). 37 Krystyna Doroszewicz & Gordon B. Forbes, ‘Experiences With Dating Aggression and Sexual Coercion Among Polish College Students’, Journal of Interpersonal Violence 23 (2008) 58-73. 38 Cailey Hartwick, Serge Desmarais, & Karl Hennig, ‘Characteristics of male and female victims of sexual coercion’, Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality 16 (2007)31-41. 39 Martin Fiebert & Lisa Tucci, ‘Sexual coercion: Men victimized by women’, Journal of Men's Studies, 6(1998), 127-133. 40 Peter Anderson & William Sorenson, ‘Male and female differences in report of women’s heterosexual initiation and aggression’, Archives of Sexual Behavior, 28(1999), 285-295. 41 Barbara Krahe, Renate Scheiberger-Olwig & Steffen Bieneck, ‘Men’s Reports of nonconsensual sexual interactions with women: Prevalence and impact’, Archives of Sexual Behavior, 32(2003), 165-175 42 Adrian Coxell, Michael King, Gillian Mezey, and Dawn Gordon, ‘Lifetime prevalence, characteristics, and associated problems of non-consensual sex in men: cross sectional survey’, British Medical Journal 27 (1999): 846– 850. Evil women and hyperfemininity 43 Anthony R. Beech, Natalie Parrett, Tony Ward, and Dawn Fisher, ‘Assessing female sexual offenders’ motivations and cognitions: An exploratory study’, Psychology, crime & law 15 (2009) 201-216. 44 Theresa A. Gannon & Marianne R. Rose, ‘Offense-Related Interpretative Bias in Female Child Molesters A Preliminary Study’, Sexual abuse: a journal of research and treatment 21(2009) 194-207.