The media play a powerful role in transmitting cultural values and norms. Some novels, films, videos, Internet websites, and computer games per­petuate the notion that women want to be raped. Often, fictionalized rape scenes begin with a woman resisting her attacker, only to melt into pas­sionate acceptance. In the rare cases where male-to-male rape is […]

In an effort to understand the underlying causes of rape, researchers have looked at a number of psychosocial and sociobiological factors. Psychosocial Basis of Rape Many researchers and clinicians view rape more as a product of social­ization processes that occur within the fabric of "normal" society than as a product of the individual rapist’s pathological […]

An important factor in explaining the high incidence of rape in our society is the preva­lence of misconceptions about this crime. False beliefs concerning rape, rapists, and rape victims abound (Heath et al., 2011; McMahon & Farmer, 2011). Many people believe that roughing up a woman is acceptable, that many women are sexually aroused by […]

Despite the fact that rape is a significant problem in our society, it has been difficult to obtain accurate statistics on its frequency. One reason is that many individuals do not report this crime. A recent study suggests that ethnic minority women may be especiallylikely not to disclose or report sexual assault (Ullman et al., […]

■ The concept of sexual addiction suggests that some people who engage in excessive sexual activity are manifesting symptoms of a psychological addiction, in which feelings of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and worthlessness are tempo­rarily relieved through a sexual high. ■ Many sexologists do not believe that sexual addiction should be a distinct diagnostic category, because […]

■ Coercive paraphilias are invasive, in that they involve unwill­ing recipients of behavior such as voyeurism or exhibition­ism. Coercive acts may harm their targets, who may be psychologically traumatized by the experience. ■ Exhibitionism, obscene phone calls, voyeurism, frotteur — ism, zoophilia, and necrophilia are all varieties of coercive paraphilias. ■ Exhibitionism is behavior in […]

■ Noncoercive paraphilias are often solo activities or behav­iors that involve the participation of adults who agree to engage in, observe, or just put up with the particular variant behavior. ■ Fetishism, transvestic fetishism, sexual sadism, sexual mas­ochism, autoerotic asphyxia, klismaphilia, coprophilia, and urophilia are all varieties of noncoercive paraphilias. ■ Fetishism is a form […]

Both the professional literature and the popular media have directed considerable attention to a condition commonly referred to as sexual addiction. The idea that people can become dominated by insatiable sexual needs has been around for a long time, as exemplified by the terms nymphomania, applied to women, and satyriasis or Don Juanism, applied to […]

Necrophilia (ne-kruh-FILL-ee-uh) is an extremely rare sexual variation in which a person obtains sexual gratification by viewing or having intercourse with a corpse. This paraphilia appears to occur exclusively among males, who may be driven to remove freshly buried bodies from cemeteries or to seek employment in morgues or funeral homes (Tollison & Adams, 1979). […]

Zoophilia (zoh-oh-FILL-ee-uh), sometimes called bestiality, involves sexual contact between humans and animals (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). You may wonder why we classify this as a coer­cive paraphilia, because such behavior does not involve coercing other people into acts that they would normally avoid. In many instances of zoophilia, it is reasonable to presume that the […]