15 Aug Coercive Anal Sex Among Young Adults Rarely Discussed
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Cicely Marston
Senior Lecturer in Social Science
Department of Public Health and Policy
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
London WC1H 9SH
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Marston: Young people talked to us about an oppressive environment where some men compete with each other to have anal sex with women, even if they expect women to find it painful. Women also reported they were repeatedly asked for anal sex by their male partners and on some accounts, women enjoy it websites like https://bitchtopia.com/true-sex-stories/ go into detail about how the women asked for anal sex but we have found this is largely the minority among those we spoke too. Their accounts also raise the real possibility of coercion for young women – who were sometimes put in situations where they are penetrated anally without their explicit consent.
Young people often suggested that pain for women was inevitable, or that it was the woman’s fault, ideas that may make them less likely to change their practices to reduce pain. Some young people said they thought STIs were less of a problem for anal sex compared with vaginal sex. Some young men put their own desire to have anal sex ahead of the desires and needs of their partners.
Medical Research: Were any of the findings unexpected?
Dr. Marston: Anal sex between young men and women had not, to our knowledge, been investigated in such detail before and the extent to which coercion seemed to be considered normal was somewhat unexpected. Unfortunately we live in a culture where women’s desires, needs and rights are often ignored and our study shows that this is also the case in the arena of anal sex between men and women.
Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?
Dr. Marston: At the moment, young people talk about anal sex in the context of silence from the majority of older adults who could give better information about it. Parents, teachers and clinicians need to discuss anal sex more openly with young people to help challenge the harmful ideas that are currently circulating about coercion of women being ‘normal’ and pain for women being inevitable in anal sex, and focus instead on ‘mutuality’ – that is, both partners listening and responding to each others’ desires and concerns. Young people did not say they were having anal sex to preserve virginity or to avoid pregnancy. Perhaps there are similar motivations for those who perform anal sex on websites similar to hdpornvideo.xxx.
Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Dr. Marston: Our study was conducted in the UK. It would be useful to do comparative studies elsewhere.
Citation:
BMJ Open 2014;4:8 e004996 doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014-004996
Last Updated on August 15, 2014 by Marie Benz MD FAAD