Open AccessTHROUGH HER EYES:
Author(s) -
Norris Jeanette,
Nurius Paula S.,
Dimeff Linda A.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
psychology of women quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.416
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1471-6402
pISSN - 0361-6843
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-6402.1996.tb00668.x
Subject(s) - psychology , aggression , fraternity , social psychology , context (archaeology) , cognition , sexual assault , developmental psychology , poison control , human factors and ergonomics , psychiatry , paleontology , political science , law , biology , medicine , environmental health
A major component of a woman's ability to resist assaults by strangers versus acquaintances lies in the social and cognitive context in which she is engaged with the perpetrator and within which she must recognize potential threat before engaging in a behavioral response. This paper presents questionnaire and focus group findings of heterosexual college sorority women's social contexts, perceived risks, responses, and psychological barriers to protecting themselves from sexual aggression threat by fraternity acquaintances. Several social and cognitive factors, including alcohol consumption and psychological barriers, were related to projected responses to sexual aggression. Participants in general held a high sense of invulnerability to victimization and an optimistic belief in their ability to resist sexual aggression. Several differences between previously victimized and nonvictimized women also emerged.