Sexually Aggressive Women: Current Perspectives and Controversies. - Review - book review

Journal of Sex Research, August, 1999 by Renee N. Saris

Sexually Aggressive Women: Current Perspectives and Controversies. By Peter B. Anderson and Cindy Struckman-Johnson (Eds.). New York: The Guilford Press, 1998, 244 pages. Cloth, $30.00.

   I went up to go to the bathroom and she followed me upstairs and I was then
   hiding and she forced me on the bed and started kissing me but I didn't
   kiss her and then I tried getting up but she pushed me back down but then I
   just threw her off me and ran down the stairs. (p. 130, male respondent
   quoted by Struckman-Johnson and Struckman-Johnson)

Peter Anderson and Cindy Struckman-Johnson have edited a provocative text on sexually aggressive women, a topic that has received limited attention. The text is intended to challenge the notion that women are only victims and never perpetrators of sexual aggression, present what is known about such women, and address both theoretical and political controversies surrounding research in this area. The book is subdivided into four sections: (a) Research and Conceptual Issues in Studying Sexually Aggressive Women, (b) Traits and Motives of Sexually Aggressive Women, (c) Comparisons of Male and Female Experiences of Sexual Coercion, and (d) Treatment and Prevention of Female Sexual Aggression. An impressive list of contributing authors shares diverse perspectives on the topic, resulting in a balanced text that would be of interest to researchers, educators, and, possibly, clinicians.

The editors note the mixed reactions they have received both within and outside of academe in response to their research on women's sexual aggression toward men. In several instances their work has been dismissed as trivial or has been deemed too controversial. Such reactions stem, in part, from stereotypes that men are always interested in pursuing sexual relations and are invulnerable to rape, and that women are disinterested in and incapable of being sexually aggressive. Others stem from a belief that a focus on women's sexual aggression deters from the more widespread problem of men's sexual aggression.

Throughout the text, evidence is provided to debunk the myth that women don't and can't use coercive tactics in their sexual interactions with men. Anderson and Struckman-Johnson conclude that up to 50% of men experience sexual coercion from women to varying degrees. In studies of college women, Shea (Chapter 5) found that 4-19% reported verbally coercing a partner into a sexual encounter. Anderson (Chapter 4) found that an even greater percentage of college women (23-46%) self-reported engaging in sexually coercive behaviors ranging from verbal arguments to threats with a weapon.

From the start, I had concerns with the definition of sexually aggressive women used by some authors. Although the editors clearly stated that they were applying the term sexual aggression to encompass "an act in which a woman uses pressure or force to obtain sexual contact" (p. 4), it is important to distinguish compliance-gaining strategies such as pressure tactics (i.e., saying "Oh, c'mon honey" to a partner who isn't particularly in the mood) from force tactics (i.e., holding a partner down and fondling their genitals). This is also a problem that plagues the broader sexual coercion literature. Some of the items on Anderson's Sexually Aggressive Behavior Scale seem to measure behavior that is not necessarily coercive. For example, is a report of initiating sexual activity when a partner is drunk or stoned or to gain something from someone in power necessarily describing an act of sexual aggression? How did women respondents interpret scale items, such as taking advantage of a compromising position? Although endorsement of some items on Anderson's scale may imply a woman used someone in some way (i.e., to make someone jealous), can we conclude that their sexual partner was coerced into the sexual interaction? Are manipulative or self-serving behaviors necessarily aggressive?

Fortunately, one of the most valuable contributions to the text, the chapter written by Allgeier and Lamping (Chapter 3), speaks to this issue of defining and measuring sexual aggression. Here, the authors review findings of the study by Ross and Allgeier (1996) in which interview data were obtained to clarify male respondents' interpretation of several items on the most commonly used instrument in sexual coercion research, the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES; Koss & Oros, 1982). These data indicate that a variety of different interpretations are made by respondents that do not necessarily fit the intent of the researcher. Other researchers have noted this problem of varied interpretation on other commonly used instruments in gender-related research (e.g., Landrine, Klonoff, & Brown-Collins, 1992). As these examples demonstrate, greater efforts to combine quantitative and qualitative methods of inquiry are needed to enhance our understanding of this phenomenon.

Allgeier and Lamping remind us that research on sexual coercion (like all research) is not value-free and that social scientists' beliefs and theoretical perspectives influence all aspects of the research process. Assessment biases, including the common practice of asking only women about victimization experiences and only men about perpetration experiences, may be driven by perspectives that only predict and allow for male-to-female sexual aggression. Other potential biases (e.g., interpretation of data) are also discussed, making this chapter a must read for anyone conducting research in this area.