Although an increasing body of literature focuses on sexual coercion committed by women in the general population, very few explanatory models have been put forward to explain the use of coercive strategies by women.

The main objective of this study is to test, using a wider and more culturally diverse sample, the first explanatory model suggested by Schatzel-Murphy, 2011Schatzel-Murphy E.A. Expanding a model of female heterosexual coercion: are sexually coercive women hyperfeminine?  Waltham, MA: Brandeis University (2011). [Thèse].

Cliquez ici pour aller à la section Références and tested on American women.

To this end, 274 Canadian, heterosexual and French-speaking university students completed the French version of the Multidimensional Inventory of Development, Sex and Aggression (MIDSA).

The results show that a greater proportion of Quebeckers (41%) than Americans (26%) use sexual coercion to force their partner to have sexual contacts. In general, the Schatzel-Murphy etiological model successfully explains Quebeckers’ use of sexual coercion, albeit not quite as well as for Americans, as can be seen by an explained variance which is three times smaller (12% as opposed to 34%). The lack of link between sexual abuse and sexual coercion, together with the different roles played by sociosexuality and hyperfemininity in the use of sexual coercion by Quebeckers, is discussed in light of the cultural differences between women from the two countries.

Some thought is also given to the two major paths leading to sexual coercion and suggestions are made for related clinical implications.