Sexual Coercion and Assault

Abstract

Primary credit for recognition of the importance of sexual coercion and assault in the United States must be given to the feminist politics of the 1960s stimulating the establishment of consciousness-raising groups and “speak-outs” against rape. Burgess (1985) pointed out that at that time almost all jurisdictions defined rape as “illicit carnal knowledge of a woman, forcibly and against her will,” with “carnal knowledge” customarily interpreted as vaginal penetration by the penis. One of the first achievements of the antirape movement was the introduction of the Michigan Criminal Sexual Code, which broadened the criteria of assaultive sexual acts, extended protection to separated spouses and males, eliminated requirements of resistance, and restricted use of the victim’s sexual history. By 1976, 49 other states were revising or had revised their rape statutes. The U.S. federal government established the National Center for the Prevention and Control of Rape, broadening the definition to include criminal sexual assaults, heterosexual or homosexual, that involved the use or threat of force and the coercion or bribery of children. Some clinical researchers have further broadened the concept to include more subtle forms of sexual pressuring from persons in positions of power relative to the victim.