Strategic Submission to Rape is not Consent: Sexual Violence in the Colombian Armed Conflict

Academic literature is only beginning to understand victims’ rational calculations and agency related to sexual violence in war and conflict. This article deepens that analysis, emphasizing calculated action rather than passive victimization. This is a systematic study of victims’ strategic responses to sexual violence, and reports findings from an in-depth analysis of women who were raped in the context of Colombia's armed conflict (1964-present), revealing that this context triggers a strategic response by victims of rape. Specifically, some women calculate that submitting to unwanted sex is more likely to protect them and others, such as family members, from significant harm than resisting rape. However, while their strategic responses may protect them and allow them to keep their families safe from greater harm, the methods adopted by women in these situations may complicate their efforts at being recognized as victims, undercutting their access to legal and social rights in the aftermath of war and conflict.

“I Felt Powerful and Confident”: Women’s Use of What They Learned in Feminist Sexual Assault Resistance Education

Research on women’s response and resistance to sexual assault risk has informed the development of interventions to improve women’s ability to effectively resist sexual assault. However, little is known about how women anticipate, navigate, and respond to risk following participation in sexual assault risk reduction/resistance education programs. In this study, we examined the information and skills used by university women who had recently completed the effective Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) sexual assault resistance program. We analyzed responses from 445 women using descriptive statistics and content and thematic analysis. Just under half (42%) of women used at least one EAAA strategy in the following 2 years. Most women reported that their efforts were successful in stopping an attack. Women’s responses included strategies both to preempt sexual assault threat (e.g., avoiding men who display danger cues, communicating assertively about wanted and unwanted sex) and to interrupt or avoid an imminent threat (e.g., yelling, hitting, and kicking). Women’s use of resistance strategies worked to subvert gendered social norms and socialization. The results suggest that counter to criticisms that risk reduction/resistance programs blame women or make them responsible for stopping men’s violence, women who took EAAA typically positioned themselves as agentic and empowered in their resistance.

Consent, Rape, and the Criminal Law

This article explores the impact of rape law reform, both within and beyond the criminal law. The story of U.S. criminal rape law reform tends to be told as one of remarkable feminist success followed by widespread stagnation. Despite comprehensive changes in the law, reporting rates, prosecution rates, and conviction rates for rape increased only slightly. This article resists that binary account of success and failure by offering a more nuanced assessment. It argues that, by changing rape’s definition to an inquiry focused on whether the victim consented, the law has facilitated a shift in cultural and institutional norms governing unwanted sex. It is naïve to think that a change in law would, on its own, end rape culture, but there is ample evidence to support the conclusion that rape law reform has played a central role in reducing society’s tolerance of the rape prerogatives that have held sway for millennia.

Violence and sexual violence between partners: A qualitative analysis of female victims’ experiences

Subject: In the 1970s, domestic violence was put on the political agenda as a societal problem. Since then, research exploring the dynamics of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) has multiplied, but the study of sexual violence between partners is still topical. This article examines female victims’ experiences of intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV). Method: This qualitative study uses a thematic approach to explore how IPV victims perceive sexual violence within their couple. Semi-structured interviews, which include the use of qualitative life calendars, were conducted with 20 women. Results: The thematic analysis of the 20 interviews highlighted several themes and sub-themes that address (1) sexual violence experienced by victims within the couple, (2) their perception of sexual violence, and (3) the reasons why they submitted to unwanted sex in an abusive relationship. Conclusion: Experiences of sexual violence are the result of different dynamics; however, IPSV is a form of violence that is still difficult to identify and is more often defined by victims as an impulse or aggression than a rape. Within the couple, the impact of violence, but also the influence of gender stereotypes, affect the perception of violence, assertiveness capacities, and, therefore, the ability to express free consent. Victims submitt to their partner because they are afraid of him; they want to protect themselves or their children; or they do not have the capacity to express their non-consent.

Sex Identification of in vitro Plants of Carica papaya L. MSXJ Hybrid through Molecular Markers

Objective: To identify the sex of in vitro plants of papaya (Carica papaya L.) MSXJhybrid obtained via somatic organogenesis, through SCAR type molecular markers. Design/Methodology/Approach: Eight-month old MSXJ papaya hybrid plants in thefructification stage were collected in Cotaxtla, Veracruz, Mexico. They weresuperficially disinfected with abundant running water, detergent during 30 min, andthen alcohol at 70% was added for one minute, commercial chlorine at 30% for 30min, and they were rinsed with sterile distilled water; then the meristems werecultivated in MS medium and after 30 d a subculture was made. The DNA extractionwas made with the CTAB method, and the DNA PCR was done with the Deputy et al.(2002) method, and the primers T1, T12 and W11 were used.Results: The T1 primer was the positive control and the T12 and W11 primersallowed the amplification of fragments that identify hermaphrodite, feminine and maleplants, while the T12 and W11 primers were specific for hermaphrodite plants.Study Limitations/Implications: It is required to standardize the method for it to beinexpensive.Findings/Conclusions: The sexuality of papaya plants can be differentiated until thestage of flowering, which is why the implementation of molecular markers wouldfacilitate plant selection if it is implemented at a large scale. Costs, maintenance timeand elimination of plants of unwanted sex are reduced this way.

Intimate Partner Abuse Among Rohingya Women and Its Relationship With Their Abilities to Reject Husbands’ Advances to Unwanted Sex

Currently, around a million Rohingya refugees live in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Displacement from homelands and restrictions on movement in the refugee camps may exacerbate intimate partner abuse (IPA) against refugee women and their abilities to reject husbands’ advances to unwanted sex. This study examines Rohingya refugee women’s attitudes toward and experience of intimate partner abuse (IPA) and their impact on the abilities to reject husbands’ advances to unwanted sex. A survey was conducted among Rohingya refugee women in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Women’s attitudes toward IPA, and experience of IPA were the exposure variables. Women’s abilities to say “no” to husbands’ advances to unwanted sexual intercourse was the outcome variable. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to examine the relationships. Participants’ median age was 22 years (range: 13-41). Most women perceived hitting/beatings by their husbands in certain situations as justifiable, 72% had experienced such abuse and 56.5% had to engage in unwanted sexual intercourse with their husbands. Women with increasing leniency towards hitting/beatings and those who had experienced such abuse were less likely to be able to say “no” to husbands’ advances to unwanted sexual intercourse. Rohingya women’s attitudes toward and experience of IPA are associated with their abilities to say “no” to husbands’ advances to unwanted sex. Intervention is needed to denormalize the current practice of IPA, create awareness against IPA, and ensure formal education for girls.

Women’s Experience of Sexual Coercion and Reactions to Intimate Partner Sexual Violence

Sexual coercion is one of the most subtle manifestations of gender-based violence and may profoundly affect victims’ sexuality. This research analyzed the association of previous experiences of sexual coercion by an intimate partner (intimate partner sexual coercion [IPSC]) with women’s reactions and responses to a scenario of sexual violence. Female college undergraduates ( N = 207) completed a computer task in which they watched a video about a couple that ended in a woman having unwanted sex with her male partner. Participants answered several questions about tolerance (risk recognition, risk response, delays in behavioral response, and probability of leaving the relationship). They also responded about their level of commitment to their current partner, as well as their previous experience of sexual coercion. Results showed no differences between victims and nonvictims on the time they took to perceive the situation of sexual violence as threatening (risk recognition). However, victims of current sexual coercion took more time deciding to leave the abusive situation of the video (risk response), required a greater time lag between risk recognition and risk response, and they would be less likely to leave the relationship than victims of past sexual coercion and nonvictims. Finally, commitment predicted later risk recognition and risk response only for victims of past sexual coercion. Overall, the results suggested that previous sexual coercion by an intimate partner and being committed to the relationship may be risk factors associated with the increase of women’s tolerance toward situations involving the risk of sexual victimization.