FEMALE SUBMISSIVENESS, NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR, AND BODY BOUNDARY DEFINITION

Previous studies in the United States have suggested that submissive w omen may be more vulnerable to criminal victimization because they pre sent certain cues of vulnerability. Richards, Rollerson, and Phillips (1991) observed that submissive women exhibited more controlled body m ovements and more body-concealing clothing than did dominant women. Ou r purpose here was to determine whether such variability might be due to differences in body boundary definition. The results revealed no si gnificant difference in the body boundary indicators of dominant and s ubmissive subjects but did suggest that highly feminine women are more likely to have weak body boundaries than are more androgynous women.