TexasScholarWorks
    • Login
    • Submit
    View Item 
    •   Repository Home
    • Student Works
    • Honors Theses
    • View Item
    • Repository Home
    • Student Works
    • Honors Theses
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Female sexual arousal response to implied sexual violence

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    lessels_thesis.pdf (1.746Mb)
    Date
    2012
    Author
    Lessels, Elisabeth
    Share
     Facebook
     Twitter
     LinkedIn
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Department
    Psychology
     
    Biological Sciences, School of
     
    Description
    Background: There are major physiological and psychological differences between the sexual arousal experiences of men and women. While men generally experience genital and mental arousal simultaneously, these responses seem to act independently from each other in women. It has also been suggested that female genitalia respond to all sexual stimuli, no matter how uninteresting or even aversive the woman finds them. The prevailing theory suggests that this reflexive arousal is a defensive mechanism evolved to protect the genitals during sexual activity with lubrication. This is quite significant in cases of sexual violence. A lack of physical evidence on the survivor's genitalia - or testimony by the rapist that their victim responded, sometimes even to orgasm - can make prosecution of rapists difficult. Additionally, female rape survivors may find their body's response distressing, or think that they somehow "wanted it". Methods: We examined female genital response to implied sexual violence. We recruited sexually active University of Texas students with no history of sexual abuse or current sexual dysfunction and measured their mental and physical arousal during two sets of visual erotic stimuli. In the control condition, women were shown displaying positive affect during sexual activity (smiling, actively participating in sex); conversely, the experimental condition featured women showing negative affect (frowning, struggling). Each participant indicated their mental feelings of arousal continuously throughout the stimuli, and vaginal blood flow was recorded as an indicator of physical arousal. Because patterns of vaginal arousal vary greatly between individuals, each participant's control session was used as a baseline to compare with that participant's experimental session. Analyses included comparing control and experimental sessions on the amount of time taken to reach maximum arousal and the magnitude of maximum arousal, the amount of time spent at relatively high levels of arousal, and the average magnitude of arousal throughout the erotic stimuli. Results: We found that participants spent significantly more time aroused while viewing the control (positive affect) stimuli than they did while viewing the experimental (negative affect) stimuli. This was the only significant difference in arousal response between the two conditions. Conclusions: Our data may support the theory that genital arousal behaves like a reflex, occurring quickly and strongly immediately after exposure to a sexual stimulus and, if the stimulus is not a preferred sexual cue, dropping off quickly.
    Subject
    physiology
    sexuality
    human sexuality
    female sexuality
    rape
    sexual assault
    biology
    psychology
    arousal
    sexual arousal
    women
    Dean's Scholars
    College of Natural Sciences
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/2152/18981
    Collections
    • Honors Theses

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Thumbnail

      The effects of childhood sexual abuse and childhood sexual experiences on sexual orientation and sexual identity 

      Gordon, Aqualus Mondrell (2009-12)
      Anecdotal observations among clinicians and laypersons suggest that some men who have been sexually abused by men as children experience more homosexual sexual attraction and engage in more homosexual sexual behavior than ...
    • Thumbnail

      ‘What I have to say is important’ : including youth voices in conversations about sexual violence 

      Buchanan, Taylor Marie (2018-05-03)
      Sexual violence – rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse – impacts youth at an alarming rate. One in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday, according to the National Sexual Violence ...

    University of Texas at Austin Libraries
    • facebook
    • twitter
    • instagram
    • youtube
    • CONTACT US
    • MAPS & DIRECTIONS
    • JOB OPPORTUNITIES
    • UT Austin Home
    • Emergency Information
    • Site Policies
    • Web Accessibility Policy
    • Web Privacy Policy
    • Adobe Reader
    Subscribe to our NewsletterGive to the Libraries

    © The University of Texas at Austin

     

     

    Browse

    Entire RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsDate IssuedAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDepartmentsThis CollectionDate IssuedAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDepartments

    My Account

    Login

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Information

    About Contact Policies Getting Started Glossary Help FAQs

    University of Texas at Austin Libraries
    • facebook
    • twitter
    • instagram
    • youtube
    • CONTACT US
    • MAPS & DIRECTIONS
    • JOB OPPORTUNITIES
    • UT Austin Home
    • Emergency Information
    • Site Policies
    • Web Accessibility Policy
    • Web Privacy Policy
    • Adobe Reader
    Subscribe to our NewsletterGive to the Libraries

    © The University of Texas at Austin