Search Results (32)

Adolescent sexual assault survivors have myriad post-assault needs. However, if and how they access resources to attend to those needs can be complicated due to their legal status as minors and child abuse mandatory reporting policies. Such policies that require specific entities to be notified when a sexual assault involving a minor has occurred might deter adolescents from seeking post-assault care. However, no studies to date have examined how mandatory reporting laws inform adolescents’ post-assault decisions and experiences. Through semi-structured qualitative interviews with twenty-one survivors of adolescent sexual assault in one Northeastern US state, we found that mandatory reporting actively deterred sixteen survivors from seeking formal help; would have deterred two survivors from seeking formal help had they known about it; and was a nonissue for three survivors who chose to seek formal help in an attempt to have very specific needs met. Survivors of adolescent sexual assault had serious concerns about losing agency and control and about unwanted involvement from police, parents, and child protective services. Individual providers, organizations, and whole communities must seriously consider the potential harm of mandatory reporting policies and think creatively and collaboratively alongside adolescent survivors to ensure they can access the care they need and deserve. Full article

Background and Objectives: Sexual violence constitutes a major public health concern that undermines safety, bodily integrity, and autonomy. This study aimed to assess the prevalence, risk factors, and preventive strategies related to sexual misconduct in party-related social settings in Poland. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted between 18 and 27 March 2025 among a representative sample of 1000 adults using computer-assisted web interviews. The questionnaire covered perceived risk, preventive measures, and personal or witnessed experiences of sexual violence. Data were analyzed using chi-square tests and multivariable logistic regression. Results: More than half of respondents reported unwanted touching (53.8%) or persistent harassment (46.9%), and 54.1% had encountered sexual comments. Drug-facilitated assaults were reported by approximately 10% of participants, while 12.3% indicated forced sex. Despite frequent reliance on precautionary measures (e.g., returning home with friends in 64.2% of cases), concerns about sexual victimization were widespread. Multivariable analysis showed that women (aOR 1.91), young adults (aOR 2.80 for those aged 18–24 years), and sexual minorities were disproportionately affected. Conclusions: This study highlights that sexual violence in party-related settings is a structural rather than marginal problem in Poland. Women, young adults, and sexual minorities are disproportionately affected. Effective prevention requires multilevel interventions, including bystander programs, venue-level safety policies, and broader public health strategies to reduce tolerance for sexual harassment and violence. Full article

International adoptees share the experience of unwanted separations as well as exposure to racism. Previous research has a general focus on adoptees’ infancy, childhood, and adolescence rather than adoptees in adulthood, which makes their own contributions and voice in research insufficient. The purpose of this study is to address the gap in research around sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHRs) for adoptees in adulthood. By interviewing 35 international adoptees in Sweden and with the use of semi-structured interviews, the connection between Sexual Health and being adopted was explored. Anchored in a decolonial approach, this study draws on Hooks’ Critical Race Theory and Simon and Gagnon’s script theory when analysing the informants’ answers. Findings show that adoptees’ sexual health is partly shaped by structural racism, internalised norms, and the tension between expectations and adoption narratives. The knowledge gained from this study is expected to be of importance to people in the care sector as well as people working with adoptees because of its importance in understanding and exploring the lived experience of adoptees. Although the study is conducted in a Swedish context, it is relevant in a wider environment as it contributes to how colonial and historical contexts may inform and continue to impact adult adoptees’ sexual health, reflecting the complex interplay between societal expectations, personal identity, and sexual and reproductive health and rights. Full article

Sexual harassment, globally recognized as a complex phenomenon, presents gaps regarding its characteristics and diversity of impacts, particularly in the Portuguese context. This study aims to better understand sexual harassment in Portuguese universities, namely the prevalence of these experiences, their types, perpetrators, and settings, as well as the psychosocial factors associated with them, specifically distress, intrusive negative thoughts, academic engagement, and resilience. Positive correlations were found between unwanted sexual experiences, distress, intrusive negative thoughts, and academic engagement. These findings highlight the need for more effective policies to prevent sexual harassment and for psychological support programs for victims of sexual harassment. Full article

Background: Loneliness is both a social and a health-related problem, and among LGBT people, feelings of loneliness are often exacerbated. According to the minority stress theory, stress and loneliness can be directly related to the discrimination and stigma that are experienced over time in a heteronormative society. Exposure to social stigma causes mental health problems, stress, and loneliness, coupled with increased social and economic vulnerability. Method: The aim of this study was to conduct an exploratory analysis of homosexual men’s feelings of loneliness and their relationship with experiences of discrimination throughout their life. A qualitative methodology involving focus groups and individual interviews was utilized. Results: The results show the double or overlapping discriminations that gay men experience as a result of their age and sexual orientation and, in some cases, their HIV status, and the relationship between said discrimination and the feeling of unwanted loneliness. Exposure to such intolerance is more common among those with a reduced social network, which limits their social participation and has a negative impact on their well-being. Conclusion. The aging process of LGBT people implies a new context of intervention and research that must be addressed to prevent episodes of unwanted loneliness that negatively affect the quality of life among this demographic. Full article

(1) Background: Sexual harassment in the workplace is a problem that particularly affects women and is not an exception in the world of work. Factors such as power asymmetry, the predominantly masculinized culture in many organizations, and the potential impunity of perpetrators increase the associated risks. This study aims to analyze the psychometric properties of the Sexual Experiences Questionnaire-Workplace (SEQ-W) to measure sexual harassment at work and assess its validity in Spanish. (2) Methods: A total of 120 active female workers (67.5% European and 32.5% South American) participated, completing validated instruments to measure sexual harassment, workplace bullying, self-perceived health, and job satisfaction. The questionnaires were administered online, ensuring anonymity and explaining the study’s objectives. (3) Results: An exploratory factor analysis revealed a bifactorial structure with the dimensions “Sexual Harassment by Coercion” and “Harassment by Unwanted Sexual Attention.” Both dimensions demonstrated adequate internal consistency, concurrent validity with workplace bullying and well-being scales, and discriminant validity with job satisfaction. Additionally, a pronounced floor effect was observed, indicating a low prevalence of sexual harassment in the sample. (4) Conclusions: the SEQ-W scale is a useful tool for assessing sexual harassment among active Spanish-speaking female workers, considering its validated bidimensional structure in Spanish. Full article

Victims of sexual harassment report facing barriers and retaliation for reporting their sexual harassment. The current study assessed one potential reason for these issues: perceptions of sexual harassment events. Participants (N = 427) read about different sexual harassment events and were told that the woman in the event worked with a masculine (e.g., EMT, school police officer, plumber) or feminine job (e.g., nurse, teacher, cleaning staff). Across three different sexual harassment claims (e.g., unwanted romantic attention, physical groping, being shown sexually explicit images), participants reported that women in masculine jobs were less prototypical women than women in feminine jobs. Furthermore, these perceptions of prototypicality impacted how participants viewed the victim’s sexual harassment event. The less a person views a victim as a typical woman, the less likely they are to label the victim’s experience as sexual harassment. The results suggest that perceptions of sexual harassment are directly impacted by how people view a victim. Implications around prototypes of women and sexual harassment claims are discussed. Full article

People are increasingly turning to online settings to disclose very personal experiences, such as unwanted sexual encounters. Whilst the barriers to disclosure of such experiences and the positive effects of disclosure are well documented, little is known about the online disclosure experiences of survivors and victims of sexual violence, and no research has assessed differences between online and offline disclosures. This study assessed experiences of online and offline disclosures (N = 369; 86.4% female), focusing on people’s reasons for (non-)disclosure, the severity of people’s unwanted sexual experiences, the reactions they received to their disclosures, and how they felt about the disclosure. The results indicated differences between online and offline disclosures, with offline disclosures more strongly associated with negative responses than online disclosures. Moreover, people felt more positively about an online disclosure than they did about an offline disclosure. The interplay between these various factors and how people felt about their disclosure showed a different pattern across online and offline contexts. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. Full article

In China, an emerging social issue involves a subset of rural women who, because of family and culture, become inadvertently matched up with and married to closeted men who have sex with men (MSM). These women—referred to as Tongqi—often discover they are in a loveless marriage, but any effort to change their situation results in intense backlash, discrimination, and stigma from families, village communities, and even government and healthcare institutions. This study explores the experiences of Tongqi, examining the influence of social interaction, community relationships, and macrostructural factors that coalesce to create an environment of chronic enacted stigma. In-depth interviews were conducted with 59 rural Tongqi, 11 of whom contracted human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) from their spouses. The findings reveal the significant role of extended kinship networks and macrostructural elements, such as hukou (household registration) and government officers, as well as village-level lineage structures. Informant data highlights how lineage relationships, interwoven with gender practices, contribute to the enacted stigma impacting the physical and psychological health of Tongqi. Tongqi report psychological effects such as an array of symptoms reflecting post-traumatic stress, chronic depression, and attempted suicide. Tongqi also report adverse physical health concerns involving reproductive health, unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and pregnancy complications. These findings helped produce possible policy recommendations to address the most pressing issues faced by Tongqi. Full article

This study compared the level of workplace violence experienced by personal healthcare workers in a district in Seoul, Republic of Korea, with those experienced by workers in office or service jobs. We matched 150 personal care workers with 150 office workers and 150 service workers using a propensity score. Workplace violence was categorized into psychological violence and physical violence. Of the surveyed personal care workers, 53.3% reported experiencing psychological violence, and 42.0% reported experiencing physical violence. After adjusting for self-reported work-related symptoms, personal care workers had significantly higher odds of experiencing psychological violence than office workers (OR = 5.01; 95% CI: 2.80–8.97) or service workers (OR = 7.54; 95% CI: 3.93–14.47). The adjusted odds for physical violence were also significantly higher for personal care workers compared with those for office workers (OR = 5.83; 95% CI: 2.96–11.50) and service workers (OR = 6.00; 95% CI: 2.88–12.49). In terms of specific types of workplace violence, personal care workers were 7–10 times more likely to experience unwanted sexual attention, sexual harassment, and physical violence than office or service workers. We found that personal care workers were more prone to workplace violence than office or service workers, with gender-based or physical violence being the most common types. Considering the negative impact of workplace violence on workers’ well-being and health services, policy updates and interventions focusing on personal care workers are needed to reduce workplace violence, safeguard workers’ rights, and establish a secure working environment. Full article

This study explores female university students’ attitudes toward and concerns about pornography, based on their experience watching it and on sexual encounters with men. It used a qualitative descriptive design. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 participants between March and April 2020. Thematic data analysis was performed using COREQ reporting guidelines. Three themes emerged from the data: (1) the sexual learning process, (2) the role of pornography in women’s sexuality, and (3) sexual experiences. Participants reported how they learned about sexuality and how pornography influenced sexual experiences. Self-esteem issues and societal norms regarding hair removal and difficulty saying “no” to unwanted or humiliating sexual practices were found. The young women were not comfortable with women’s representations in mainstream pornography. They blamed pornography for negative sexual experiences and claimed it influenced them and young men. Participants usually assumed submissive roles during sex and permitted aggressive sexual behaviors. The study reveals valuable information on how young women learn about sex and their difficulty in refusing unwanted sexual activities and even aggressive practices. Sexual education programs should include assertiveness training to improve sexual health, consent, and well-being. Full article

This study investigated trauma prevalence amongst collegiate student-athletes and openness towards trauma-informed coaching practices among athletes and coaches at two small Division III colleges. Surveys gathered quantitative data from athletes (n = 91) and coaches (n =18) and qualitative data from athletes (n = 33). Quantitative results indicated that 52.7% of athletes experienced at least one potentially traumatic event during their lifetime. The most prevalent trauma was unwanted sexual contact. Additionally, 50.5% of athletes experienced sport-based harassment or abuse during their lifetime, with 21.7% of affected athletes experiencing said abuse in college sports. Athletes reported that 8 out of 10 trauma-informed coaching techniques included in the study were already implemented or desired for implementation at rates between 73.2–93.1% on their teams. Coaches also showed support for trauma-informed coaching, with 88.2% indicating they believed the practice was necessary in college athletics and a large majority of coaches agreeing or strongly agreeing with 8 out of 10 techniques. Qualitative results highlighted the variety of impacts that traumatic experiences have on athletes. The most reported themes were negative psychological and performance effects. Findings support the idea that trauma-informed coaching is necessary and desired in collegiate athletics. Full article

Sexual violence is an understudied issue in the population of gay and bisexual men, although the existing articles to date demonstrate that it is a problem that merits public attention. This study aims to approach the problem of invisibility around the matter, as well as presenting a number of variables that have been usually overlooked in Spanish research or have not been assessed at all. Lifetime sexual victimization, sociodemographic characteristics, situational characteristics and social support were examined among 550 gay and bisexual males living in Spain using a self-administrated questionnaire. Results analysis show that 90.00% (87.18–92.38%) of participants reported at least one experience of unwanted insinuation, 87.27% (84.19–89.94%) reported at least one experience of sexual coercion, 64.00% (59.83–68.02%) reported at least one experience of sexual assault, and specifically 19.82% (16.57–23.40%) reported being raped during their lifetime. Significant differences have been found between some categories regarding gender identity, sexual orientation, age, race/ethnicity and educational level. Overall, these results showcase sexual violence as a pervasive problem in the Spanish gay and bisexual community. Full article

The terms cyberbullying and nudes, when used by young people, generally overlap to categorise a range of online harms. Yet, when unpacked with girls, their co-opting of these terms can minimize image-based sexual harassment. This paper draws upon findings from a participatory project exploring implicit interpretations of cyberbullying and nudes. I narrow in on the voices of girls, aged 13–15, as they report embodied discomfort and violation from [i] unwanted dick pics from peers and [ii] stranger cyberflashing. To analyse their experiences, I re-work Pierre Bourdieu’s toolkit to a gendered digital habitus with social fields in integrated offline–online contexts in which the unexpected viewing of dick pics leaks across. This reworking illustrates the tensions the girls experience. Resourcefully, the girls draw on embodied postfeminist dispositions to manage their discomfort and safety. I conclude that their normalisations may illustrate symbolic violence, as their postfeminist dispositions attune them to rationalize image-based sexual harassment as naturalised masculine actions. These responses ‘make sense’ to the girls, a position held in preference to the consequences of reporting image-based sexual harassment. Reporting could increase the risk of confrontation with the sender in offline fields and/or potentially result in loss of access, due to adult intervention, to devices and social media. Full article

This mixed-method study aimed to better understand the prevalence and qualitative experiences of sexual harassment and assault (SHSA) among trail and ultrarunners. Over 1500 runners (1215 females; 259 males; 28 transgender, non-binary, gender-fluid) of ages ranging from 18 to 77 (M = 39) responded to an online survey assessing the frequency and types of SHSA incidents experienced and the extent to which SHSA changed running behavior and feelings of safety. Respondents reported between 0 and over 100,000 incidents of SHSA, including catcalls, spanking, flashing, unwanted verbal advances, stalking, forced sexual acts, and rape. Of the 1502 respondents, 61% reported SHSA while running. Significantly higher rates of SHSA were reported by female, transgender, non-binary, and gender-fluid runners compared to male runners: 70% of female respondents and 61% of transgender, non-binary, and gender-fluid respondents reported incidents of SHSA compared to 17% of male respondents (all p < 0.001). Utilizing Mahalanobis procedures, discriminant, and chi-square analyses, a group of 75 responders was identified as outliers, reporting significantly more incidents of SHSA (1000 to 300,000) than the more normative respondents (p < 0.0001). For each type of SHSA, the two groups differed significantly in the number of reported incidents (p < 0.001). There were significant differences in perceived safety and how SHSA changed their running behavior. Gender inequities and challenging false memory claims are discussed. The findings underscore the importance of empowering runners to create a shared vision for the running community to promote safety and well-being. Full article