Eroding stereotypes: College women's attempts to influence reluctant male sexual partners

Abstract

Guided by descriptions of the traditional sexual script, researchers have examined men's, but not women's, attempts to influence a reluctant dating partner to engage in sex. In the current study, we examined both men's and women's experiences of women's attempts to influence a reluctant male dating partner to engage in sexual activity. Ninety male and 111 female participants completed a series of questionnaires assessing sexual/dating histories and attitudes toward sexuality. Participants also completed the Sexual Situation Questionnaire designed to assess the situational and behavioral characteristics of disagreements in which a woman attempted to influence a reluctant man to engage in sex. Fifty‐six percent of the participants reported having experienced such a disagreement interaction in the year prior to the study. In accordance with attribution theory, men were expected to be more likely than were women to make personal attributions for their reluctance, whereas women were expected to be more likely than were men to make situational attributions for men's refusals. Our findings supported these predictions. Most participants indicated that the woman complied with the man's indication of reluctance and used no influence behaviors. Somewhat fewer indicated that the woman complied but also used some form of influence, whereas a distinct minority indicated that the woman did not comply with the man's refusal. No influence strategy was rated consistently as having had a positive, negative, or neutral impact on the man, which indicates that influence behaviors can have varying impacts depending on the context in which the influence occurs. In general, few negative emotional or relational consequences were found to be associated with these disagreements. As most disagreements did not result in engaging in the disputed level of sexual activity, women appear to have had little success in their attempts to orchestrate sexual encounters (traditionally men's role in sexual dating interactions).