Gender and Sexuality

Same-sex Sexual Coercion among Women The Impact of Minority Stress on Perpetration and Victimization Experiences of Women of Diverse Sexual Identities

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The purpose of the current study was to investigate women’s experiences with same-sex
sexual coercion perpetration and victimization. Specifically, I sought to explore the role
that the stress of living as a sexual minority plays in these experiences as well as to
determine whether the psychological variables of perceived powerlessness, psychological
distress, social support, and alcohol use mediate the relationship between minority stress
and perpetration and victimization experiences. Data were collected online from selfidentified women and individuals assigned female at birth who reported experiencing
genital sexual contact with another woman (N=339). Of the cisgender women in the
sample, 31.6% reported same-sex sexual coercion victimization and 19.2% reported
same-sex sexual coercion perpetration. Among cisgender sexual minority participants,
experiencing heterosexist discrimination was related to same-sex sexual coercion
victimization but not perpetration. Internalized heterosexism was not related to either
perpetration or victimization. For cisgender sexual minority participants, feelings of
powerlessness and psychological distress did not mediate the relationship between
minority stress and perpetration. Similarly, social support and alcohol use did not mediate
the relationship between minority stress and victimization. Results indicate that, although
same-sex sexual coercion does indeed occur in women’s sexual encounters, the pathways
through which minority stress may predict these experiences remain relatively unclear

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Detail Information

Publication Information

: Journal of International Women\'s Studies., 2019

Number of Pages

-

ISBN

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Language

English

ISSN

https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertatio

Subject(s)

Women
Sexual Coercion
minority stress
sexual minority

Description

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Citation

Kirschbaum, Allison,

Other Information

Type

Article

Part Of Series

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DOI Identifier

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