Quantifying Criminal Sexual Acts: The Illegal Sexual Exploitation Module of the Revised Sexual Experiences Survey-Victimization (SES-V) Measure.

Since the initial development of the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES) four decades ago, the SES has been designed to measure a range of forms of sexual exploitation, including acts that are coercive but not legally sanctioned as well as acts that legally qualify as crimes. That feature was retained in the revised Sexual Experiences Survey-Victimization (SES-V) measure. This article reviews the theoretical and empirical literature that guided the development of the Illegal Sexual Exploitation module of the SES-V, which measures experiences of nonconsensual exploitation resulting in sexual contact and which is designed to correspond to legal definitions across multiple jurisdictions. This article addresses research and applied contexts in which the distinction between legal and illegal sexual exploitation is important and the challenges and limitations involved in writing survey items that correspond to legal definitions. It also discusses revisions made to the items that make up the Illegal Sexual Exploitation module of the SES-V as compared to the illegal items in prior versions of the SES, including a new operationalization of non-consent and an expansion of the sexual acts and exploitative tactics that are included. Finally, the article discusses directions for future research on the Illegal Sexual Exploitation module of the SES-V.

Words Can Hurt: A Taxonomy of Verbally Pressured Sexual Exploitation in the SES-V.

This article describes the development of the Verbally Pressured Sexual Exploitation module of the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES)-Victimization (introduced by Koss et al., 2024). This module assesses the use of verbal or nonphysical, paraverbal pressure to obtain sexual acts without freely given permission. An interdisciplinary team of seven sexual exploitation researchers collaborated to create this module, with consultation from the full 15 member SES-V revision collaboration team. In this paper, we describe our process for developing this module. We briefly review empirical literature and theoretical frameworks (e.g., rape scripts, normative sexual scripts, intersectionality, and sex-positivity) that informed this work. Summary tables compare the SES-V items to verbal pressure items in prior versions of the SES and to other existing measures of violence. The comprehensive taxonomy developed herein includes six domains of Verbally Pressured sexual exploitation across 11 item stems. The components of the taxonomy include: positive verbal pressure, neutral verbal pressure, negative verbal pressure, substance-related pressure, postural violence, and threats to critical resources. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research, with priority on intersectional research that can illuminate the phenomenology and contexts of sexual exploitation against marginalized groups.

Preliminary Prevalence Estimates of Sexual Exploitation as Measured by the Sexual Experiences Survey-Victimization (SES-V) in a National US Sample.

The new Sexual Experiences Survey-Victimization (SES-V) was designed to capture a larger range of sexual exploitation and to be applicable to more diverse populations than prior measures. This study represents the first administration of the SES-V in a national sample of adults (N = 347). Participants were recruited from a crowdsourcing platform and selected to reflect the national distribution in terms of age, sex, and race/ethnicity. Rates of sexual exploitation since age 14 were very high in this sample (90%), providing evidence that the SES-V was successful in capturing experiences on the low end of the severity continuum. Using the items corresponding to the FBI definition of rape, 60% of women and 29% of men endorsed rape on the SES-V. Compared to men, women reported higher rates of sexual exploitation overall, and higher rates of every type of sexual exploitation except technology-facilitated. The new SES-V also asks participants to estimate the number of separate instances of four types of sexual exploitation that they have experienced; results provided support for the value of these incident estimates in understanding the scope of sexual exploitation. Finally, this study evaluated new sexual acts and exploitative tactics that were added to the SES-V and found that they demonstrated utility and validity. These findings offer preliminary support for the validity and functionality of the SES-V, although the high prevalence of sexual exploitation on the SES-V is discussed as both a strength and limitation. Future research should evaluate prevalence and demographic differences in a larger national sample.

Preliminary Evidence of Validity for the Verbally Pressured and Illegal Sexual Exploitation Modules of the Sexual Experiences Survey-Victimization.

The Sexual Experiences Survey-Victimization (SES-V; see Koss et al., 2024) revises the prior 2007 Sexual Experiences Survey-Short Form Victimization (SES-SFV) in many ways, including expanded measurement of verbally pressured and illegal sexual exploitation, as well as the addition of items that assess being made to perform a sexual act or to penetrate another person sexually. The current article describes two initial validity studies of the SES-V. Study 1 compared rates of self-reported verbal pressure and illegal sexual exploitation (e.g. rape) on a preliminary version of the SES-V and the SES-SFV in a sample of higher education students who completed both questionnaires online in a randomized order (N = 460). As expected, the preliminary SES-V produced higher rates than the SES-SFV, and continuous scores were strongly correlated. Responses to the made-to-penetrate (MTP) items suggested that some cisgender men and women may have misunderstood those items. Study 2 explored responses to the MTP items further by randomly assigning participants to complete items with either the Study 1 MTP language (n = 269) or revised language (n = 245). The revised language produced fewer implausible responses and was adopted in the final version of the SES-V. These findings provide initial support for the validity of the SES-V and the value of expanding the conceptualization of victimization to include a wider range of sexual exploitation. A research agenda for future validity research is suggested.

The Revised Sexual Experiences Survey Victimization Version (SES-V): Conceptualization, Modifications, Items and Scoring.

The Sexual Experiences Survey [SES] is considered the gold standard measure of non-consensual sexual experiences. This article introduces a new victimization version [SES-V] developed by a multidisciplinary collaboration, the first revision since 2007. The 2024 SES-V is designed to measure the construct of sexual exploitation since the 14th birthday. Notable revisions are adoption of a freely given permission standard for non-consent, introduction of new tactics and acts, including made to perform or to penetrate another person's body, tactics-first wording order, and emphasis on gender and sexual orientation inclusivity. The SES-V is modularized to allow whole or partial administration. Modules include Non-contact, Technology-facilitated, Illegal (largely penetrative), and Verbally pressured sexual exploitation. Tables provide item text, multiple scoring approaches, module follow-up, specific incident description and demographics. Future plans include developing a scoring algorithm based on weighting our hypothesized dimensions of sexual exploitation severity: invasiveness, pressure, and norm violation combined with frequency. This article is the first in a special issue on the SES-V. Subsequent articles focus on the taxonomies and literature that informed each module. The issue concludes with two empirical papers demonstrating the feasibility and validity of the SES-V: (1) psychometric comparison with the 2007 SES-SFV; and (2) prevalence data from a census-matched adult community sample.

Women's Experiences of Sexual Harassment in Online Gaming.

To better understand the types of sexual harassment women experience in online gaming, their labeling of such experiences, and the relationship between the perpetrator and the victim, we surveyed women gamers to inquire about their experiences. Participants were 182 women from North America who played online video games. Overall, 56.6% of participants reported experiencing one or more types of sexual harassment during online gaming. Additionally, 45.6% of participants reported witnessing one or more types of sexual harassment perpetrated against other women. About half (50.5%) of participants who had experienced harassment labeled their own experiences as "sexual harassment," and 42.2% labeled the behaviors that they witnessed against someone else as "sexual harassment." Results speak to the need for prevention interventions to protect women gamers.

Different Components of Sexual Narcissism Are Differentially Associated With Specific Sexual Aggression Strategies: An Exploratory Study Among Male and Female College Students.

Objectives: This study investigated whether components of sexual narcissism are associated with different types of sexual aggression (e.g., verbal pressure or force) among students because this is a prevalent problem on college campuses. Methods: College students (N = 508) were recruited for a cross-sectional online study. Results: Results showed that components of sexual narcissism were related to different strategies of sexual aggression, with sexual entitlement being associated with not providing the victim an opportunity to object and exploiting intoxication. Gender moderated some of the associations, with women showing a stronger relationship than men. Conclusions: These findings suggest that sexual narcissism represents a risk factor for sexual aggression in men and women and highlight the need for gender-inclusive and tailored interventions to prevent sexual aggression.

"I Can Tell You Wanna F***": A Content Analysis of Sexual Communication in Popular Song Lyrics.

Given that exposure to sexual messages in song lyrics can influence sociocultural norms and expectations surrounding consent communication between partners, we sought to understand the types of messages regarding sexual initiation and consent language that are available to media consumers. Through the lens of sexual script theory, we conducted a quantitative content analysis of sexual consent in pop (n = 197), hip-hop (n = 193), and country songs (n = 194) from 2016 to 2019. Differences in these messages were examined across singer gender, music genre, and time (pre- vs. post-#MeToo). Results indicated that references to sexual demands (e.g., "Strip that down") and sexual preferences (e.g., "I want it slow") were the most common types of sexual communication, appearing in approximately one-third of the singing parts included in the sample. Sexual suggestions (e.g., "Let's get nasty") and sexual requests (e.g., "Can I hit it?"), on the other hand, were the least common. References to inferred consent (e.g., "I can tell you wanna f***") appeared in approximately one-fifth of the singing parts. Both sexual demands and sexual preferences were more likely to appear in pop compared to hip-hop and country songs; however, these sexual communication messages did not significantly differ by male and female singers. Sexual requests were significantly more likely to appear in pre-#MeToo song lyrics. The messages embedded in popular songs may help to reinforce problematic scripts around sexual consent.

Examining the Psychometric Properties of the Sexual Initiation Strategies Scale (SISS): A New Self-Report Measure of Sexual Aggression Perpetration History.

Psychometrically-sound measures of sexual aggression are essential for identifying risk factors for perpetration and examining the behavioral impact of prevention interventions. This project reports on the psychometric evaluation of a new measure of sexual perpetration-the Sexual Initiation Strategies Scale (SISS)-which was designed to correct for weaknesses in prior measures. In Study 1, scores on the SISS demonstrated reasonable convergent and divergent validity and test-rest reliability among a sample of mixed gender college students (N = 575). Participants were more likely to endorse having engaged in sexually aggressive behavior on the SISS than on two other measures of sexual aggression. In Study 2, rates of endorsement on the SISS also were higher than on the most commonly-used measure of perpetration in a community sample of men and women (N = 551) in which gay, lesbian, and bisexual participants were oversampled. In general, the SISS seemed to perform well as a measure of sexual aggression perpetration in both men and women and in those reporting both same- and other-gender sexual aggression. Advantages and disadvantages of the SISS as compared to other measures are discussed.

Psychological Symptoms Associated with Sexual Victimization Experiences: Differences as a Function of the Type and Number of Sexual Acts and Aggressive Tactics.

Different types of sexual victimization are associated with different outcomes; for example, on average, physically forced sex is associated with worse psychological outcomes than verbally coerced sex. This study evaluated outcomes associated with sexual victimization as a function of sexual act and aggressive tactic, expanding upon the acts and tactics examined in prior studies. Participants who had experienced sexual victimization (N = 402) completed a survey about their most upsetting victimization experience, identifying the sexual act(s) and aggressive tactic(s) that occurred. They completed measures of PTSD, depression, anger, and trauma-related cognitions. Relationships between symptom severity and most upsetting act and tactic, as well as the number of acts and tactics, were analyzed. Related to the sexual act, non-penetrative sexual acts were associated with the lowest symptom severity on several measures. Related to the aggressive tactic, sex obtained through anger/criticism and physical force were associated with the greatest symptom severity on some measures. A larger number of tactics were associated with more severe symptoms on all measures, whereas number of acts only explained unique variance in PTSD symptom severity. The pattern of severity for outcomes differed from previous conceptualizations, suggesting that current hierarchies of victimization severity may require revision.

The Impact of Sexual Arousal and Emotion Regulation on Men's Sexual Aggression Proclivity.

Extant literature supports a relationship between sexual arousal and increased likelihood of sexually coercive behavior in men. The present study investigated the impact of sexual arousal on sexual coercion proclivity and the degree to which emotion regulation moderated this relationship in the context of two separate affect inductions. We predicted that sexual arousal would more strongly predict sexual coercion likelihood for men scoring lower on emotion regulation ability compared with men with above average emotion regulation abilities. Male participants with (n = 38) and without (n = 40) self-reported histories of sexual coercion were recruited from urban sexually transmitted infection testing clinics. Participants completed a measure of emotion regulation, underwent a positive and negative affect induction, viewed an erotic video, and reported on their level of sexual arousal immediately prior to completing a hypothetical sexual coercion likelihood laboratory task. Relationships between emotion regulation, sexual arousal, and sexual coercion likelihood were examined using moderation analyses. Sexual arousal was associated with greater reported sexual coercion likelihood. For men with poorer emotion regulation, sexual arousal significantly and positively predicted sexual coercion likelihood in the positive affect condition. Sexual arousal did not significantly predict sexual coercion for men with above average emotion regulation. Findings may have implications for the assessment of individual risk for coercive sexual behavior as well as primary prevention efforts.

Self-Persuasion: An Experimental Evaluation of a Sexual Aggression Preventive Intervention for U.S. College Men.

Grounded in the self-persuasion paradigm (an indirect persuasion approach, which places people in situations that motivate them to change their behavior), this study evaluated a brief, online intervention to reduce sexual aggression perpetration and increase prosocial bystander behaviors among heterosexual male college students (N = 241) in the United States. Students were randomly assigned to three conditions: (a) a self-persuasion intervention, (b) a social norms control condition, and (c) a control condition focusing on sense of belongingness. The self-persuasion intervention integrated three social psychological theoretical perspectives on attitudinal and behavioral change-cognitive dissonance (e.g., creating a personalized video message for incoming male college freshmen to explain the importance of consent in sexual contact), self-affirmation (e.g., reflecting on one's core values and how they are congruent with sexual consent), and personal relevance (e.g., writing about personally relevant reasons to always seek consent when having sexual contact). Participants in the self-persuasion condition reported greater prosocial bystander behaviors (e.g., intervening in situations to prevent sexual aggression) 6 months after the intervention as compared with those in the other two conditions; however, there were no significant difference in the rate of self-reported sexual aggression perpetration across conditions. The positive effect of the self-persuasion intervention on prosocial bystander behaviors was mediated by reduced self-perceived likelihood to commit sexual aggression and moderated by in-group solidarity with other college students. That is, the intervention had the most positive effect on prosocial bystander behaviors among participants with a lower sense of in-group solidarity. These findings are discussed in light of the promise of self-persuasion for future sexual aggression prevention work.

An Exploratory Study of Sexual Aggression Tactics as a Function of Perpetrator Gender and Victim Gender.

Objectives: This study sought to examine the association between perpetrator gender and victim gender and the use of sexually aggressive tactics (e.g., persistent enticement, verbal pressure, taking advantage of the inability to consent, and ignoring explicit non-consent). Methods: Participants were recruited from research panels to complete an online survey. They were asked to indicate which, if any, of 39 sexually aggressive tactics-representing four categories and nine subcategories-they had used to obtain sex, answering based on the gender with whom they most often have sex. Participants included 132 men who answered based on experiences with men (MSM), 131 men who answered based on experiences with women (MSW), 232 women who answered based on experiences with men (WSM), and 56 women who answered based on experiences with women (WSW). Results: MSM were more likely than all other groups to use enticement and more likely than WSM to engage in explicitly nonconsensual sex. WSM were more likely than MSW and WSW to take advantage of their partner's impaired ability to consent. There was no difference among groups in use of verbal pressure. Conclusions: Gendered sexual stereotypes may contribute to the types of tactics used by men and women against men and women.

Female Sexual Satisfaction and Sexual Identity.

This study addressed three goals related to better understanding the factors that contribute to female sexual satisfaction: (a) exploring differences in factors that contribute to perceptions of sexual satisfaction among women with varying sexual identities, (b) evaluating an existing measure of sexual satisfaction among women with diverse sexual identities, and (c) developing potential items for a future expanded measure of the factors contributing to sexual satisfaction. Participants were 996 heterosexual women, 333 bisexual women, and 204 lesbians. They completed an online survey that included a demographic questionnaire, an item measuring sexual satisfaction, an open-ended question about factors contributing to sexual satisfaction, the newly-developed Potential Sexual Satisfaction Factors, and the New Sexual Satisfaction Scale (NSSS). A multinomial regression, an internal consistency analysis, and qualitative analyses were performed to examine the three research questions. Several important differences in factors related to sexual satisfaction were found as a function of sexual identity. In particular, several of the factors that contributed to bisexual women's sexual satisfaction were different than those that contributed to heterosexual and lesbian women's satisfaction. These findings point to the importance of considering sexual identity when researching sexual satisfaction and when providing interventions to improve sexual satisfaction.

Negative Cognitions Following Distressing Unwanted Sex: The Role of Coercion Severity and Perceived Consent.

Findings from past research suggest that unwanted sex (i.e., sex that is not fully desired) can result in a variety of outcomes, ranging from positive to negative. Some research has demonstrated that more severe coercion within unwanted sex is associated with more negative cognitions (particularly self-blame) following the unwanted sex, but findings are inconsistent. Previous research also has demonstrated that individuals' perceptions of how much they consented to sex-regardless of the level of coercion-are associated with negative cognitions. In this study, we aimed to explore the potential moderating role of perceived consent in the relationship between sexual coercion severity and negative cognitions following unwanted sex. Participants (N = 196) who had had a distressing unwanted sexual experience provided descriptions of their most distressing experience, rated their perceptions of how much they consented to this experience, and completed a questionnaire measuring the amount and content of negative cognitions they experienced following this experience. Two independent raters coded descriptions to determine coercion severity. Results demonstrated that perceived consent significantly moderated the relationship between coercion severity and two types of negative cognitions: characterological self-blame and negative thoughts about the world. This suggests that individuals' perceptions of their consent are often as important as the level of coercion involved in predicting cognitive outcomes of unwanted sex.

Sexual Consent at First-Time Intercourse: Retrospective Reports from University Students in Canada and the United States.

Objectives: We investigated whether the context of first-time intercourse (FTI) was associated with internal consent feelings and external consent communication at FTI. Method: College students (n = 1020) from universities in Canada and the United States retrospectively reported on their FTI. Results: Using structural equation modeling, we found that the context of participants' FTI (e.g. age, contraceptive use) predicted their internal consent, which in turn predicted their external consent communication. Conclusions: Sexual health education should highlight these contextual correlates of sexual consent at FTI. Despite the cultural primacy of FTI, consent should also be prioritized for other early sexual experiences.

Understanding Adolescents' Attitudes Toward Affirmative Consent.

A clear understanding of sexual consent is important for sexual violence prevention. To date, most research has focused on how college students understand and negotiate consent. Although adolescence is a critical period for the development of sexual attitudes, identity, and intimate relationships, the perspectives of high school-aged youth have been largely absent from the consent literature. The current study investigated adolescents' attitudes toward affirmative consent in a sample of 226 high school students (58% female; 46% White, 24% Black, 25% Hispanic) from the southeastern U.S., as well as associations between affirmative consent attitudes and gender, gender role beliefs, and sexual activity status. Additionally, we tested whether gender role beliefs were a mediator between gender and affirmative consent attitudes. Overall, adolescents reported supportive attitudes toward affirmative consent. On average, girls and adolescents with more egalitarian gender role beliefs had more positive attitudes toward affirmative consent than boys and those with less egalitarian gender role beliefs, though no differences by sexual activity status were found. Gender role beliefs mediated the relationship between gender and attitudes toward affirmative consent. The results suggest that adolescents are generally supportive of affirmative consent practices, although some important group differences emerged.

Use of a Bogus Pipeline to Detect Men's Underreporting of Sexually Aggressive Behavior.

Researchers rely on men's self-reports of sexually aggressive behavior to identify the prevalence and correlates of men's perpetration (i.e., their use of verbal or physical coercion to obtain sex from a nonconsenting partner). However, results from research based on men's self-reported sexual perpetration are suspect because men may intentionally conceal their sexually aggressive behavior. The current study used a Bogus Pipeline (BPL) methodology to determine whether young, community men (N = 93) intentionally underreport their use of sexually aggressive strategies on two self-report measures of perpetration. Compared with men in a Standard Testing (ST) condition, men in an experimental BPL condition-who believed that the honesty of their responses was being monitored-had 6.5 times greater odds of endorsing the use of illegal sexual assault strategies on a widely used measure. Indeed, over a third of men in the BPL condition admitted to using such strategies. However, there was no significant difference in men's reports of verbally coercive strategies in the BPL versus the ST condition on the same measure. There were also no significant differences in reporting on the other, less commonly used measure of sexual aggression as a function of condition. Based on these preliminary findings, men's use of sexual assault strategies may be far more common than is suggested by most self-report studies. Self-reports of verbal coercion, however, may be more trustworthy.

Women's Sexual Initiation in Same- and Mixed-Sex Relationships: How Often and How?

Past research has demonstrated that women initiate sex less frequently than men in mixed-sex relationships, perhaps due to traditional sexual scripts that promote rigid gender roles in sexual interactions. However, there is no existing research on sexual initiation among women in same-sex relationships. This study investigated women's frequency and proportion of sexual initiation behaviors within mixed-sex and same-sex relationships, as well as the strategies women commonly used for initiating sex. Data were collected through retrospective reports (N = 351; 242 women with male partners and 109 with female partners) and two-week daily diaries (N = 60; 29 women with male partners and 31 with female partners). Results indicated that, across relationship type, women reported fairly balanced sexual initiation with their partners, with women in same-sex relationships reporting higher rates of initiation than women in mixed-sex relationships based on retrospective reports but not based on daily diaries. Women in mixed-sex relationships reported using a higher proportion of direct initiation strategies than women in same-sex relationships in the retrospective portion but not the daily diary portion of the project. These results challenge a number of gender and sexuality-related stereotypes about women in general and women in same-sex relationships specifically.

From Freewill to Force: Examining Types of Coercion and Psychological Outcomes in Unwanted Sex.

Unwanted sex is sex that is not fully desired, whether an individual agrees to it or not. It can be coerced-when one person compels another unwilling person-or not coerced-when a person willing agrees to participate. Experiencing unwanted sex, especially when coerced, has been associated with negative psychological outcomes. Researchers have created severity continua of coerced sex based on type of coercion used, but relative severity of outcomes across the range of unwanted sex has not been fully evaluated. This study aimed to identify types of coercion experienced in unwanted sex and evaluate differences in psychological outcomes as a function of type of coercion experienced. Participants (N = 276) provided narrative descriptions of an unwanted sexual experience. Three categories of coercive tactics and two categories of unwanted but non-coerced sex were identified. Differences across categories emerged for the following outcomes: PTSD symptoms, perpetrator blame, situational blame, societal blame, negative thoughts about the self, negative thoughts about the world. Individuals who experienced actively forced sex reported significantly more symptoms than individuals who experienced other types of unwanted sex on most measures. These results are a first step in better understanding the psychological influence of the entire range of unwanted sexual experiences.