Sexual Aggression and Violence
Human sexuality is a very vast field of study in the scope of human life, behaviour and interactions .human sexuality covers an essential area of the lives of human beings right from intimacy and relationships, gender and sexuality. It also includes sexual behaviours and orientation, sexual development as well as disorders and atypical sexual behaviours, contraception, sexual anatomy, among others. It involves both personal and social aspects of people’s lives which affects individuals psychologically, emotionally and interpersonally (Hock, 2015). Human sexuality by Roger hook brings real-life material and experiences to the learner making the study more relatable. It allows the learner to boldly engage and connect with the course and real-life issues in human sexuality.
Whereas human sexuality has a lot of positive aspect in human life such as intimacy, interpersonal relations, procreation and general sexual development of an individual, there is also the provoking aspects such as prostitution and pornography, sexual health and sexually transmitted diseases and sexual violence. Sexual violence can be viewed as a hostile, violent or aggressive use of force in compelling an individual to participate in sexual activity against his/her will. Sexual violence has mainly been in the form of rape, child sexual abuse and sexual harassment (Hiber, 2014). Data collected has shown that the more significant portion of sexual violence victims are female even though there are still cases where Men are the victims of sexual violence.
In the study of human sexuality, it has emerged that there are many causes of sexual violence. These may be categorized as social factors that include wars and military conquests, social and cultural factors. It also includes individual factors such as drug and alcohol abuse as well as deviant sexual preferences, personal physiological factors and prevailing social climate such as prostitution and pornography (Bergen, 1998).
Research has shown that prostitution and pornography are directly linked to rising levels of sexual violence, and in many cases they constitute sexual violence (Weitzer, R, 2010). Prostitution and production of pornography take advantage of existing inequalities with persons coming from backgrounds of abuse. They also experience multiple disadvantages such as race and gender discrimination, childhood sexual abuse as well as extreme poverty, making chances of survival very limited (Della Giusta, 2016). Statistics also show that the majority of consumers of the industry are adult males who tend to become substantially more aggressive sexually and increasingly support sexual violence against women (McCormack & Wignall, 2017).
Sexual violence has also been attributed to alcohol and substance abuse. Research shows that individuals who used alcohol or other substances had a higher likelihood to participate in sexual activities. This was true for both sexual violence victims and the perpetrators (Graham et al., 2014; Mumford et al., 2011). This is especially so for teenagers and college students where in over 50% of student sexual assaults there was alcohol involved, and in over 43% of sexual assaults, the victim is usually intoxicated while in 63% the perpetrator has used alcohol.
The research continues to show that in colleges, women who drunk more are twice likely to be assaulted than those who did not drink at all or drunk little(Abbey et al., 1998). Drugs and alcohol are therefore, a key factor contributing to sexual violence. Sexual violence offenders are known to target individuals considered weak or when victims are vulnerable, for instance when under the influence of drugs and alcohol .substance abuse however is not to be seen as a cause of sexual violence but more of a contributing factor .this is because substance abuse has the effect of reducing inhibitions, clouding judgement and encouraging behaviour that would be inhibited in an ordinary case scenario (Abby et al., 2000).
In the cases where neither the perpetrators nor the victims were under the influence of any substances, the reasons for sexual violence are mainly individual factors that are primarily psychological or a result of deviant sexual preferences. Study on deviant sexual preferences suggests that sexual violence perpetrators are usually sexually aroused more by non-consensual sexual interactions compared to consensual sexual interactions. There are also socio-cultural factors that constitute human interactions among different cultures .these may be in the form of patriarchal cultures withy male sexual entitlement where women cannot reject sexual advances by the man. This is regarded as sexual aggression as it is non –consensual (Fagan and Browne, 1994).
Having looked at a few causes of sexual violence, we also observe that sexual abuse has serious effects both to the individual survivor as well as the society/community in general. Sexual violence has physical, emotional as well as physiological effects on the victims. Some of the immediate effects may be shock and trauma, pain and fatigue, pregnancy, HIV and sexually transmitted diseases as well as other forms of physical injury. The victims may however experience emotional reactions such as embarrassment, sadness, fear and guilt, anger, confusion, shock, disbelief and even denial. These may, however, lead to more long term psychological effects such as anxiety and anxiety attacks, nightmares and sleeping disorders, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression substance abuse, sleep and eating disorders and even suicide (Morrison, Quadara, & Boyd, 2007).
This effects and side effects are not easy to cope and deal with, but with proper support and help they can be managed, and victims can be counselled back to being stable and fully functioning members of society. However, there are factors that influence or affect the extent of the impact and the time the victim will begin to cope with such a tragedy. One of the critical factors is the extent and severity of both the physiological and physical abuse, a victim’s relationship to the offender, the duration of the abuse as well as the presence and response of family members, friends and close associates.
Sexual violence is a negative but present aspect of human sexuality. Victims and survivors can be taken through physiological and counselling programs to assist their recovery. Sexual awareness programs will also be essential in Educating the general public on sexual violence as well as general human sexuality .through creating sexual awareness individuals with deviant sexual preferences can be identified and offered treatment. Creating awareness on sexual violence as well as drug and substance abuse, especially in colleges with be beneficial in reducing sexual violence and aggression.
References
Abbey, A., McAuslan, P., & Ross, L. T. (1998). Sexual assault perpetration by college men: The role of alcohol, misperception of sexual intent, and sexual beliefs and experiences. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 17(2), 167-195.
Abbey, A., Zawacki, T., & McAuslan, P. A. M. (2000). Alcohol’s effects on sexual perception. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 61(5), 688-697.
Bergen, R. K. (1998). Issues in intimate violence. Sage.
Della Giusta, M. (2016). Demanding sex: critical reflections on the regulation of prostitution. Routledge.
Devries, K. M., Child, J. C., Bacchus, L. J., Mak, J., Falder, G., Graham, K., & Heise, L. (2014). Intimate partner violence victimization and alcohol consumption in women: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Addiction, 109(3), 379-391.
Fagan, J., & Browne, A. (1994). Violence between spouses and intimates: Physical aggression between women and men in intimate relationships. Understanding and preventing violence, 3.
Hiber, A. (Ed.). (2014). Sexual Violence: Opposing Viewpoints. Greenhaven Press, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning.
Hock, R. R. (2015). Human sexuality. Pearson.
McCormack, M., & Wignall, L. (2017). Enjoyment, exploration and education: Understanding the consumption of pornography among young men with non-exclusive sexual orientations. Sociology, 51(5), 975-991.
Morrison, Z., Quadara, A., & Boyd, C. (2007). “Ripple Effects” of Sexual Assault. Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault.
Weitzer, R. (2010). The mythology of prostitution: Advocacy research and public policy. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 7(1), 15-29.