PERCEPTIONS OF SEXUAL VIOLATIONS - DENYING A KISS, STEALING A KISS

The purpose of this investigation was to compare female and male perce ptions of interactants in scenes involving a ''minor'' sexual violatio n-one in which a male denies consent for a kiss and a woman kisses him regardless, and another in which a woman denies consent and a man kis ses her regardless. Undergraduate students (n = 387-approximately 82.5 % White, 11% Black, 4.7% Hispanic, 1% Native American, and .8% other) completed scenarios adapted from L. Margolin [(1990) ''Gender and the Stolen Kiss: The Social Support of Males and Females to Violate a Part ner's Sexual Consenting Noncoercive Situation,'' Archives of Sexual Be havior, Vol. 19, pp. 281-2911, and evaluated scenario interactants usi ng two sets Of semantic differential items and two open-ended question s. Results of several analyses indicated that, first and most importan tly, violators' behaviors are considered less acceptable, more negativ ely aggressive, more complimenting, and less appropriate than deniers' behaviors. Second, violations of sex-role expectations (i.e., female aggressing and male denying consent) are seen as less predictable and more complimenting than interactions where sex role expectations are n ot violated. Finally, minor distinctions between female and male respo ndents also were found. In general, findings support Margolin's conclu sion that women have more social support than men for determining thei r sexual behavior and extend his findings to private interactions wher e motivations are not explicit. Also, trust was found to be an importa nt factor defining perceptions of ''minor'' sexual violations, which r aises the possibility that an initiation of a kiss and a violation of consent are viewed as different actions.