Introduction
Background
Social Scripts and Women Perpetrated SV
Prevalence Rates
Relevance of the Research Topic
Current Study
Method
Participants
Procedures
Data Analysis
Results
Main themes | Subthemes | Codes | Description | Verbatim Examples |
---|---|---|---|---|
Descriptions | ||||
Woman aggressor | ||||
Childish | Perceived as immature or childlike | She’s a bit of a child, ah… She’s not mature | ||
Defies stereotypes | Perceived as defying gender stereotypes | It’s usually the reverse situation | ||
Homophobic | Perceived as disliking or having prejudice against homosexuals | This language is already being homophobic, is it not? | ||
Hostile and impulsive | Perceived as aggressive or impulsive, i.e., someone that acts without further thinking consequences | She is a bit more lax (…). Okay, she’s a bad person | ||
Manipulative | Perceived as exercising unscrupulous control or influence over a person or situation | Meticulous and capable of… doing something… anything, even going over other people ah… humiliating other people… putting psychological pressure or blackmail, to get what she wants | ||
Seductive | Perceived as someone bold and enticing or as a “slut.” | She is more extroverted, she is less shy; a bit slutty, rash | ||
Man receiving abuse | ||||
Assertive | Perceived as having a confident personality or that expressing himself affirmatively | He starts to be more secure | ||
Defies stereotypes | Perceived as defying gender stereotypes | I think it’s unusual [that men have this posture] | ||
Introvert and submissive | Perceived as shy or reserved, and as compliant or subservient to others/non-assertive | He’s having a bit of a passive attitude | ||
Normal | Perceived as someone normal or adequate | Seemed like a normal person to me | ||
Thoughtful | Perceived as caring and considerate to others, a “good person” | Being a sincere guy (…) a good person, in general | ||
Identification of sexual violence strategies used by the women aggressor | ||||
Physical | ||||
Genital stimulation | The woman stimulates the recipient’s genitals without his consent or will | Marta goes so far as to take João’s pants in her hands, that is, there is already a sexual touch and an attempt to initiate a sexual act | ||
Non-genital unwanted touching | The woman touches or gropes the recipient without his consent or will | Is also criticized for having grabbed and groped even after he said he didn’t want to and was uncomfortable | ||
Physical coercion | The woman uses physical force so that the recipient acts involuntarily | Acting violently and the other person wants to stop, and it doesn’t stop | ||
Using an unconscious person | The woman takes advantage of an unconscious or intoxicated person | When they get extremely drunk people or, on any type of substance and, oops, the person goes, doesn’t say no, doesn’t oppose yes, but is not completely aware | ||
Psychological | ||||
Blackmailing | The woman threats to publicly reveal something compromising about the recipient | A story of blackmail | ||
Harassment | The woman pressures the recipient to go beyond his limits | The psychological pressure she put on him | ||
Humiliation | The woman degrades or humiliates the man | The fact that she insulted him and said that she put it on Facebook, I don’t think anything justifies that | ||
Gendered consequences of sexual violence perpetrated by a woman | ||||
Man | ||||
Anger | The man will become angry | I think João got upset with Marta, and probably kicked her out | ||
Devaluation | The impact the woman’s strategies will be devalued | [He] wouldn’t mind that much if she shared it on Facebook. Despite being a defamation and being wrong | ||
Discomfort | The man feels uncomfortable | João is not comfortable with a situation and says peremptorily that he does not want to proceed with the act | ||
Give in to sex | The man will give in to the pressure and have unwanted sex | This passivity can lead to hum… To accept it and actually do it | ||
Inconsequential | The woman’s strategies will have no impact | I don’t know if the friends believed it because, for a person that’s on the internet… You can see that they’re upset, angry | ||
Social stigma | The abuse will negatively affect the man’s further experiences | João would feel very bad and insecure, mocked, everything else | ||
Social support | The man will be supported by his network and community | If João had good friends, obviously they would defend him | ||
Victim blaming | The man’s attitudes contributed to what happened to him | He could have explained better why I didn’t want to, so she wouldn’t feel so bad. Knowing that girls are very insecure | ||
Woman | ||||
Impunity | The woman does not suffer consequences or does not anticipate suffering consequences | If it was a man, on the contrary, it would be the end of the world and maybe with a woman nobody cares, you know? | ||
Negative public image | The woman may face losses in terms of her public image | Posting intimate things about other people online is never seen well, I think (…) First she would be frowned upon by his friends, and then by her own friends | ||
Official charges | The woman may risk a criminal charge against her | It’s a crime and it must be punishable | ||
Distress | The woman might experience negative feelings and social repercussions | Marta would be upset about this situation and the rest would depend on the people around her | ||
Social support | The woman will be supported by her network and community | Of course, there were going to be people who believed in João, others in Marta | ||
Retaliation | The woman suffers violence | Another possibility was for João to go into violence with her | ||
Motivations and contexts for women perpetrating sexual violence | ||||
Intrapersonal | ||||
Coping with rejection | The woman tried to cope with negative feelings stemming from being rejected | [She felt] initially sexual desire ah… After that frustration with the response. Didn’t know how to react well | ||
Homophobia | The woman has homophobic views of men | Could also question his sexuality, as she did | ||
Personality | The woman’s behavior is a consequence of her personality or individual characteristics | People are people. There are some people who will always end up doing this, I don’t know what can change in society for this to end | ||
Re-enacting past abuse | Either the woman or the man is reenacting past abuse | It may be because of the family environment lived since childhood, having watched a lot | ||
Sex drive | The woman has a high sex drive at baseline | It might just be a matter of necessity | ||
Interpersonal | ||||
Dominance | The woman wishes to exert power/dominance over the man | She always managed to get what she wanted, so to speak. And he, maybe the fruit of his insecurity, or something, he never wanted to contradict her | ||
Emotional detachment | The woman does not feel emotionally connected with the recipient | She was determined to have relations with João and by the way she does it, she only seems to show interest in that and nothing more | ||
Non-coupledom | The characters are not a couple (hence the behavior is justifiable) | It’s sexual violence, but as they already knew each other and this could happen between them, hum… I think not in this case, but if they were strangers or if they knew each other poorly, I think in this case, yes | ||
Revenge | The woman wants to retaliate against the man | Two motives: either out of revenge to embarrass João because João didn’t want the same | ||
Romanticism | The woman is in love or passionate for the man | From what I realized she likes him and, at that moment, wanted to be with him | ||
Sex drive discrepancy | The woman feels a strong sexual desire for the man (but he does not) | I know of several cases where… In which girls have more sexual desire than men | ||
Sexual attraction | The woman feels strong sexual attraction for the man | João was extremely attractive, and she wanted to get involved with him | ||
Sociocultural | ||||
Changing times | The situation occurs because societal values are changing | I think they are more and more frequent | ||
Disinformation | The situation occurs due to poor sexual education | Maybe Marta always grew up getting everything she wanted; | ||
There started to be a lot more information | ||||
Facilitating contexts | In which the abuse is more likely to occur due to alcohol/drug use | These types of situations occur in certain environments, at home, or sometimes in a situation in a bar or out at night | ||
Gender roles | The situation is the result of as in internalized stereotyped gender roles or in "natural" gender tendencies | We try to strive for equality, however we still continue to say that the stronger sex is the man and normally this type of behavior is adopted by the strongest link | ||
Homophobic assumptions | The situation is a result of toxic masculinity | He’s the one who’s worthless or not, that’s it, who doesn’t like women | ||
Recurrent situation | The situation is frequent or realistic | I believe they are frequent actions | ||
Sexual objectification | The situation is a consequence of degrading ideas about people’s bodies and sexuality | I saw João as a person and not as a sexual object, although I may feel extremely attracted to the boy, he is not a sexual object to favor me |
Descriptions of Woman Aggressor and Man Receiving Abuse
I believe that there are many girls who, in situations like this, try to have something with boys, of course they do, but then they realize that they are not comfortable and will not force the situation. In the part of forcing the situation, I believe it is more frequently done by boys (…) No, I just found it curious because it is usually the opposite situation, but I think that maybe the girls in this interview might be the opposite situation. (LV, man)
Woman Aggressor
Man Receiving Abuse
…there at some point he starts being more secure and saying, “you know perfectly well I’m not that, I just want to finish watching the movie” and that’s it, I want to believe that he was going to keep the same stance, or even, okay, send her away or whatever. (…) I don’t believe he would submit to that.
Identification of Sexual Violence Strategies Used by Woman Aggressor
Physical Strategies
Ok. I think this could be [sexual violence] … Because of this: because he says no, Martha continues to encourage the situation, John continues to say no, he just wants to see the movie and Martha goes so far as to take John’s pants in her hands, that is, there is already a sexual touch and already the attempt to initiate a sexual act. [...] Against John’s will. In other words, for me it is, it’s already sexual violence. (HB, man)
Psychological Strategies
It’s like that, I think the most objectionable part there is after he says two or three times no, she continues. That’s the worst, because there it is, everyone has their desires, and she had desires at first and there’s no harm in trying... After a while it starts to be too much, there it is, passes that barrier and it is already too much. For me it’s just that and the fact that she wants to put it on Facebook, that he didn’t get an erection. I think it’s the worst thing about her. (NB, woman)
Gendered Consequences of Sexual Violence Perpetrated by a Woman
Women Aggressor
Man Receiving Abuse
He should have considered the possibility that this could happen… When I bring a girl home, it is likely that it happens. […] I think it is sexual violence, however, they already knew each other, and this could happen between them hum… I think that in this case it isn’t, but if they were strangers or if they barely knew each other, it would be [sexual violence]. […] It depends on their relationship. (BC, man)
Probably John, if he used his head, would take Martha to court for having exposed such a situation because it is cyberbullying… Martha would be upset about this situation and the rest would depend on the people around her. If John had good friends, obviously they would defend him. If Martha had good friends, good people, they would say “Are you silly? This can’t be done!” or else there would be very bad people who would make fun of John, and he would start to be a victim of bullying, he would be humiliated, and he could kill himself. (PF, woman)
Motivations and Contexts for Woman Perpetrating Sexual Violence
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Sociocultural
“First of all, education at home (…) and then at school. I think at school this is not talked about. Ok, a boy aged 7 or 8 knows it is wrong to touch a girl without her authorization, but that is about it. People are not informed enough.” (FM, woman).
If I was in Martha’s position, I would see John as a person, not as a sexual object, although I might have felt extremely attracted to him. He is not a sexual object that needs to satisfy me. He is a person and has a person, I have to respect him. (FM, woman)
In my time when I was younger (…) 6 or 7 years ago it would be... I’m aware that it would be like I’m saying: men either put much more pressure on women and that women had… ah... they felt much more pressured and manipulated than exactly in this moment now we live in because now women are having relationships at an earlier age and as I said also because of social pressure. It’s happening a lot more than it used to because, maybe, before, seeing women with 18 years old virgin was more normal than it is now. Without drawing any conclusion like that, because I can’t draw without a statistical basis… But drawing a conclusion like that theoretically I think that now there are more situations as described in the text and there is more and more balance. (IR, man)