Unwanted Sex

Despite three decades of intense scrutiny and repeated attempts at ambitious reform, the laws regarding rape and sexual harassment still fail to protect women from sexual overreaching and abuse. This original, provocative, and enlightening work shows the need to refocus on laws against rape and to create a new system of legal safeguards against interference with sexual autonomy.

More than 100,000 copies sold “Without rival, the best book on broken sexuality I have ever read.” —Dan B. Allender, PhD Many of us feel ashamed and undesirable after years of sexual brokenness and addiction. The guilt and stigma surrounding sexual struggles can paralyze us and keep us from seeking help and healing. Author Jay Stringer approaches these sensitive subjects with gentleness and understanding. Based on original research from over 3,800 men and women, Unwanted is a groundbreaking resource that explores the “why” behind self-destructive sexual choices in order to help readers work towards freedom. Addressing difficult issues with compassionate insight, this book discusses: Abandonment and broken relationships Trauma and sexual abuse The sex industry and pornography Violence against women Learning to love and care for yourself Healthy conflict and repair in your relationships Investing in community Creating healthy boundaries A perfect resource for those seeking self-help or those working to minister to the sexually broken people around them, Unwanted offers life-changing, practical guidance rooted in clinical evidence to light the way on a path to wholeness. “If you’re hungry for deep healing or searching for practical ways to help others heal . . . this will be an incredibly sharp tool in your tool belt!” —Shannon Ethridge, MA, author of Every Woman’s Battle “Unwanted demonstrates a depth of insight and wisdom that I found stunning! It will truly help many come out of their shame and finally be free.” —Dr. Ted Roberts, cofounder of Pure Desire Ministries “Unwanted is a courageous, insightful work that will undoubtedly equip many on the journey to freedom.” —Dr. Juli Slattery, cofounder of Authentic Intimacy and author of Rethinking Sexuality

Despite three decades of scrutiny and repeated attempts at reform, our laws against rape and sexual harassment still fail to protect women from sexual abuse. What went wrong? In this bold work, Schulhofer, a distinguished scholar in criminal law, shows the need to create a new system of legal safeguards against interference with sexual autonomy.

Published in 1997. Literature is reviewed relating to those behaviours which have traditionally been referenced as date rape, acquaintance rape, or rape by a friend or someone known to the victim. Forced sexual intercourse in intimate relationships is placed in both an historical context and a conceptual context. Limited published and unpublished data from the authors research are included in appropriate chapters. The theory chapter ends with the presentation of a rudimentary model for examining forced sexual intercourse in intimate relationships developed by the authors. The topics of domestic violence, courtship violence and forced sexual intercourse are highly controversial and tend to be dominated by those who are promoting specific political agendas. Much of the work in this field has been written from the 'feminist' perspective with recent works appearing which oppose the feminist perspective. This work is neither 'feminist' nor anti-feminist in its approach. It is analytical and, as much as possible in a politized environment, analytical and neutral.

An introduction to issues of sexual consent, covering key strands of feminist thought, how sexual consent is negotiated in practice, the influence of popular culture, and more. The #MeToo movement has focused public attention on the issue of sexual consent. People of all genders, from all walks of life, have stepped forward to tell their stories of sexual harassment and violation. In a predictable backlash, others have taken to mass media to inquire plaintively if “flirting” is now forbidden. This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers a nuanced introduction to sexual consent by a writer who is both a scholar and an activist on this issue. It has become clear from discussions of the recent high-profile cases of Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, and others that there is no clear agreement over what constitutes consent or non-consent and how they are expressed and perceived in sexual situations. This book presents key strands of feminist thought on the subject of sexual consent from across academic and activist communities and covers the history of research on consent in such fields as psychology and feminist legal studies. It discusses how sexual consent is negotiated in practice, from “No means no” to “Yes means yes,” and describes what factors might limit individual agency in such negotiations. It examines how popular culture, including pornography, romance fiction, and sex advice manuals, shapes our ideas of consent; explores the communities at the forefront of consent activism; and considers what meaningful social change in this area might look like. Going beyond the conventional cisgender, heterosexual norm, the book lists additional resources for those seeking to improve their practice of consent, survivors of sexual violence, and readers who want to understand contemporary debates on this issue in more depth.

Healing Sex is the encouraging, sex-positive guide for all women survivors of sexual assault - heterosexual, bisexual, lesbian, coupled, and single - who want to delight in their own sexuality. While most books on the topic broach sexuality to reassure women that it's all right to say ''no'' to unwanted sex, Healing Sex encourages women to learn how to say ''yes'' - to their own desires and on their own terms

Winner of the Association for Women In Psychology 2006 Distinguished Publication Award! The past two decades have witnessed a significant shift in how rape is understood in Western societies. This shift in perception has revealed the startling frequency of occurrences of date rape, obscuring the divide between rape and what was once just sex. Just Sex? combines an overview of the existing literature with an analysis of recent research to examine the psychological and cultural implications of this new epidemic. The result is the conclusion that feminist theory on sexual victimisation has gone both too far and not far enough. The reader is presented with a challenging and original perspective on the issues of rape, sex and the body, incorporating subjects including: * rape as a social problem * the social constructionism of sex, subjectivity and the body * heterosexuality under the microscope This book succeeds in making a valuable contribution to feminist and social contructionist work on rape that will be of interest to those studying psychology, gender studies, cultural studies and sociology. Just Sex? The Cultural Scaffolding of Rape was selected as a 2005 winner of AWP's (Association for Women in Psychology) distinguished publication award.

A Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2017 From a highly regarded feminist cultural critic and professor comes a polemic arguing that the stifling sense of sexual danger sweeping American campuses doesn’t empower women, it impedes the fight for gender equality. Feminism is broken, argues Laura Kipnis, if anyone thinks the sexual hysteria overtaking American campuses is a sign of gender progress. A committed feminist, Kipnis was surprised to find herself the object of a protest march by student activists at her university for writing an essay about sexual paranoia on campus. Next she was brought up on Title IX complaints for creating a "hostile environment." Defying confidentiality strictures, she wrote a whistleblowing essay about the ensuing seventy-two-day investigation, which propelled her to the center of national debates over free speech, "safe spaces," and the vast federal overreach of Title IX. In the process she uncovered an astonishing netherworld of accused professors and students, campus witch hunts, rigged investigations, and Title IX officers run amuck. Drawing on interviews and internal documents, Unwanted Advances demonstrates the chilling effect of this new sexual McCarthyism on intellectual freedom. Without minimizing the seriousness of campus assault, Kipnis argues for more honesty about the sexual realities and ambivalences hidden behind the notion of "rape culture." Instead, regulation is replacing education, and women’s hard-won right to be treated as consenting adults is being repealed by well-meaning bureaucrats. Unwanted Advances is a risk-taking, often darkly funny interrogation of feminist paternalism, the covert sexual conservatism of hook-up culture, and the institutionalized backlash of holding men alone responsible for mutually drunken sex. It’s not just compulsively readable, it will change the national conversation.

"Consensual unwanted sex (or sexual compliance) is the act of saying "yes" to sexual advances when there is no desire to engage in sexual activity. While previous research has extensively investigated desired sexual behavior and rape, less is known about consensual, yet unwanted sexual activity. This study devised a scale to measure consensual unwanted sex and explored its relationship with several characteristics (i.e., sexual self-efficacy, sexual assertiveness, sex refusal skill, sex motives, and conflict style) that may contribute to consenting to sex contrary to one's desire. Participants recalled sexual compliance in adolescent dating relationships. Results revealed that decreased consent to unwanted sex was related to increased sexual self-efficacy, sex refusal, partner approval, and an obliging conflict style in females. For males, consensual unwanted sex in adolescence was associated with younger age at sex initiation and having sex for physical gratification."--Abstract from author supplied metadata.