Abstract
There is a severe lack of knowledge about sexual assault on Canadian college campuses. This exploratory study of 259 Canadian undergraduate women (mostly white, of British or European heritage, with about half from families of total incomes of over Can $50,000) provides evidence that although Canada generally has a lower crime rate than the United States, sexual aggression against women does not seem to be lower. Further, there is an extraordinary victimization rate for the stranger sexual advances that are legal or barely illegal, but which form a major component of women's fear. Most surveyed women have in the past year been victimized by uncomfortable stranger aggression in public places, while approximately one-third of those who date reported at least one episode of physical, verbal, or psychological sexual coercion. Close to 25% of the women said they had sexual intercourse when they did not want to during the past year.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Barnes, G. E., Greenwood, L., & Sommer, R. (1991). Courtship violence in a Canadian sample of male college students. Family Relations, 40, 37–44.
Brinkerhoff, M., & Lupri, E. (1988). Interspousal violence. The Canadian Journal of Sociology, 13, 407–434.
DeKeseredy, W. S. (1988). Woman abuse in dating relationships: The role of male peer support. Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press.
DeKeseredy, W. S. (1989). Woman abuse in dating relationships. Atlantis: A Women's Studies Journal, 14, 55–62.
DeKeseredy, W. S., & Hinch, R. (1991). Woman abuse: Sociological perspectives. Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing.
DeKeseredy, W. S., & MacLean, B. D. (1991). Exploring the gender, race, and class dimensions of victimization: A left realist critique of the Canadian Urban Victimization Survey. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 35, 143–161.
DeKeseredy, W. S., & Schwartz, M.D. (1991). Left realism and woman abuse: A critical analysis. In H. E. Pepinsky & R. Quinney (Eds.), Criminology as Peacemaking. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Fenstermaker, S. (1989). Acquaintance rape on campus: Attributions of responsibility and crime. In M. Pirog-Good and J. Stets (Eds.), Violence in Dating. Lexington: Praeger.
Gilbert, N. (1991). The phantom epidemic of sexual assault. Public Interest, 103, 54–65.
Gordon, M., & Riger, S. (1989). The female fear. New York: Free Press.
Hanmer, J., & Saunders, S. (1984). Well-founded fear: A community study of violence to women. London: Hutchinson.
Harris, D. W. (1991). Keeping women in our place: Violence at Canadian universities. Canadian Women's Studies, 11, 37–41.
Hoff, L. (1990). Battered women as survivors. London: Routledge.
Hotaling, G. T., & Sugarman, D. B. (1986). An analysis of risk markers in husband to wife violence. Violence and Victims, 1, 101–124.
Johnson, J. M., & Ferraro, K. J. (1988). Courtship violence: Survey vs. empathic understandings of abusive conduct. In N. Denzin (Ed.), Studies in Symbolic Interaction. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Jones, T., MacLean, B. D., & Young, J. (1986). The Islington Crime Survey. Aldershot, England: Gower.
Kanin, E. J. (1957). Male aggression in dating-courtship relations. American Journal of Sociology, 63, 197–204.
Kelly, L. (1987). The continuum of sexual violence. In J. Hanmer and M. Maynard (Eds.), Women, Violence and Social Control. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities International Press.
Kelly, L. (1988). Surviving Sexual Violence. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Kelly, L., & Radford, J. R. (1987). The problem of men: Feminist perspectives on sexual violence. In P. Scraton (Ed.), Law, Order and the authoritarian state. Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press.
Kennedy, L., & Dutton, D. (1989). The incidence of wife assault in Alberta. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 21, 40–54.
Koss, M. P. (1985). The hidden rape victim: Personality, attitudinal, and situational characteristics. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 9, 193–212.
Koss, M. P. (1988). Hidden rape: Sexual aggression and victimization in a national sample of students in higher education. In A. Burgess (Ed.), Rape and Sexual Assault. New York: Garland.
Koss, M. P., & Gidycz, C. A. (1985). Sexual experiences survey: Reliability and validity. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53, 422–423.
Koss, M. P., & Oros, C. J. (1982). Sexual experiences survey: A research instrument investigating sexual aggression and victimization. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 50, 455–457.
Koss, M. P., Gidycz, C. A., & Wisniewski, N. (1987). The scope of rape: Incidence and prevalence of sexual aggression and victimization in a national sample of higher education students. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 162–170.
Lupri, E. (1990). Male violence in the home. In C. McKie & K. Thompson (Eds.), Canadian Social Trends. Toronto, Ontario: Thompson Educational Publishing.
Makepeace, J. M. (1986). Gender differences in courtship violence victimization. Family Relations, 35, 383–388.
Mercer, S. L. (1988). Not a pretty picture: An exploratory study of violence against women in high school dating relationships. Resources for Feminist Research, 17, 15–23.
Muehlenhard, C., & Linton, M. (1987). Date rape and sexual aggression in dating situations: Incidence and risk factors. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 6, 20–37.
Renzetti, C. M. (1992). Violent betrayal: Partner abuse in lesbian relationships. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Rivera, G., & Regoli, R. (1987). Sexual victimization experiences of sorority women. Sociology and Social Research, 72, 39–42.
Russell, D. E. H. (1990). Rape in marriage (rev. ed.). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Schwartz, M. D. (1991). Humanist sociology and date rape on the college campus. Humanity and Society, 15, 304–316.
Sheatsley, P. B. (1983). Questionnaire construction and item writing. In P. H. Rossi, J. D. Wright & A. B. Anderson (Eds.), Handbook of Survey Research. Toronto: Academic Press.
Smith, M. D. (1987). The incidence and prevalence of woman abuse in Toronto. Violence and Victims, 2, 173–187.
Smith, M. D. (1988). Women's fear of violent crime. Journal of Family Violence, 3, 24–38.
Smith, M. D. (1990a). Sociodemographic risk factors in wife abuse. The Canadian Journal of Sociology, 15, 39–58.
Smith, M. D. (1990b). Patriarchal Ideology and wife beating. Violence and Victims, 5, 257–273.
Smith, M. D. (1991a). Male peer support of wife abuse. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 6, 512–519.
Smith, M. D. (1991b). Enhancing the quality of survey research on violence against women. Paper presented at the annual meetings of the Association for Humanist Sociology, Ottawa.
Stanko, E. A. (1990). Everyday violence: How women and men experience sexual and physical danger. London: Pandora.
Straus, M. A., Gelles, R., & Steinmetz, S. (1980). Behind closed doors: Violence in the American family. New York: Anchor Books.
Sudman, S. (1983). Applied sampling. In P. H. Rossi, J. D. Wright, & A. B. Anderson (Eds.), Handbook of survey research. Toronto: Academic Press.
Sugarman, D. B., & Hotaling, G. T. (1989). Dating violence: Prevalence, context, and risk markers. In M. A. Pirog-Good & J. E. Stets (Eds.), Violence in Dating Relationships: Emerging Social Issues. New York: Praeger.
Ward, S. K., Chapman, K., Cohn, E., White, S., & Williams, K. (1991). Acquaintance rape and the college social scene. Family Relations, 40, 65–71.
Warshaw, R. (1988). I never called it rape. New York: Harper & Row.
Weis, J. G. (1989). Issues in family violence research methodology and design. In L. Ohlin & M. Tonry (Eds.), Crime and justice: An annual review of research (Vol. 11). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
DeKeseredy, W.S., Schwartz, M.D. & Tait, K. Sexual assault and stranger aggression on a candian university campus. Sex Roles 28, 263–277 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00289885
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00289885