Synopses & Reviews
Review
"
Sexually Aggressive Women is a revelation--even for someone who spends a lot of her time studying sex! The voices in this well-written and well-researched volume are intelligent and the coverage is very broad. The variety of approaches do justice to the complexity of the subject. Researchers will get pointers on how to study some subtleties of sexual interaction they may have missed, and students will get a better idea of the full continuum of female sexual behavior. Many readers will be shocked to find that women are capable of the same kinds of illegitimate acts that men commit. If anyone ever thought women were immune to the allure of power and control, this book will disabuse them of that notion. I commend the editors and authors for their contribution." --Pepper Schwartz, PhD, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Washington
"Long-overdue, challenging, and controversial. Sexuality professionals and students will find new, often surprising insights in this presentation of solid, cutting-edge research and theory about sexually aggressive women." --Robert T. Francoeur, editor of Sexuality in America: Understanding Our Sexual Values and Behavior
Synopsis
This pioneering volume is the first to examine in depth the sensitive and controversial topic of female sexual aggression. Working from a range of theoretical perspectives, contributors challenge prevailing stereotypes of women as passive or resistant participants in heterosexual interaction, and men as initiators or aggressors. Like men, the book proposes, many women are clearly interested in sex and some are sexually aggressive. Bringing much-needed attention to ethical, political, and conceptual questions surrounding this neglected area of inquiry, this volume is rich with insights that will enhance clinical work and set new directions for future research.
About the Author
Peter B. Anderson, PhD, is an associate professor of health and human sexuality education in the Department of Human Performance and Health Promotion at the University of New Orleans. Dr. Anderson received his doctorate from the human sexuality program of the Department of Health Education at New York University. He and Deborah Richie, MA (health educator at the McKinley Health Center, University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana), are the only alumni of the program who later became leaders of the international study portion of NYU's program in human sexuality. In the summers of 1992 and 1994, Dr. Anderson and Ms. Richie (with Dr. Robert Francoeur in 1992) took students from NYU to Copenhagen, Denmark, to study cross-cultural issues in human sexuality. This is Dr. Anderson's second edited volume. Dr. Anderson has worked, published, and studied in the area of human sexuality for the past 25 years.
Cindy Struckman-Johnson, PhD, received her doctorate in social psychology from the University of Kentucky at Lexington. She is presently a professor of psychology at the University of South Dakota, where she teaches courses in social psychology, sex roles, and sexuality. Dr. Struckman-Johnson is the recipient of numerous teaching awards and has gained special recognition for her course, "Understanding the Sexes." In collaboration with David Struckman-Johnson, she presently conducts research on sexual coercion of men in campus and prison settings, persuasive appeals for condom use, and seat-belt safety. Dr. Struckman-Johnson has served as a consulting editor for the Journal of Sex Research. In 1997, the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex awarded Cindy and David Struckman-Johnson the Beigel Award for research excellence for their work on sexual coercion of men and women in prison.
Table of Contents
Introduction, Peter B. Anderson and Cindy Struckman-Johnson
I. Research and Conceptual Issues in Studying Sexually Aggressive Women
1. "Men Do and Women Don't": Difficulties in Researching Sexually Aggressive Women, Cindy Struckman-Johnson and Peter B. Anderson
2. The Importance and Danger of Studying Sexually Aggressive Women, Charlene L. Muehlenhard
3. Theories, Politics, and Sexual Coercion, Elizabeth Rice Allgeier and Jennifer Lamping
II. Traits and Motives of Sexually Aggressive Women
4. Women's Motives for Sexual Initiation and Aggression, Peter B. Anderson
5. When the Tables Are Turned: Verbal Sexual Coercion among College Women, Mary E. Craig Shea
6. Why Some Sexual Assaults Are Not Committed by Men: A Biosocial Analysis, Lee Ellis
III. Comparisons of Male and Female Experiences of Sexual Coercion
7. The Dynamics and Impact of Sexual Coercion of Men by Women, Cindy Struckman-Johnson and David Struckman-Johnson
8. Similar But Different: Men's and Women's Experiences of Sexual Coercion, E. Sandra Byers and Lucia F. O'Sullivan
9. Female Sexual Coercion of Males: A Feminist Analysis, Wendy Stock
IV. Treatment and Prevention of Female Sexual Aggression
10. Treatment Issues of Adult Male Victims of Female Sexual Aggression, John G. Macchietto
11. Meaningful Sexual Assault Prevention Programs for Men, Andrea Parrot
Postscript: Where Do We Go from Here?, Peter B. Anderson and Cindy Struckman-Johnson