Michael C. Seto

The role of alcohol in sexual aggression

Abstract Alcohol use is commonly associated with sexual aggression, with some surveys suggesting that rapists consume alcohol in over half of reported incidents; however, the precise role of alcohol is unclear. We reviewed the experimental human subject literature on the effects of alcohol on aggression and sexual arousal to rape as analogs of sexual aggression in order to elucidate alcohols causal effects. Alcohol increases aggression in the laboratory, whereas the effects of alcohol on sexual arousal to rape are equivocal. However, few studies have been published on the latter topic, and only three studies have tested alcohols effects on rapists. Interpretation of these findings is qualified by methodological limitations, including concerns about the validity of the typical balanced placebo design. A disinhibition model linking alcohol and sexual aggression is proposed, and suggestions for future research are made.

Comparisons Between Sexual and Nonsexual Rapist Subtypes Sexual Arousal to Rape, Offense Precursors, and Offense Characteristics

Sixty incarcerated rapists were subtyped according to the Massachusetts Treatment Center Rapist Typology as either “nonsexual” (i.e., the opportunistic and vindictive subtypes) or “sexual” (i.e., the nonsadistic and sadistic subtypes). Subjects were then tested using the circumferential penile plethysmograph, assessing their erectile responses to verbal descriptions of consenting sex and rape. Additionally, the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised was scored for each subject, and institutional files were summarized and coded. The index offenses committed by the nonsexual subtypes were more violent and resulted in greater victim damage; the offenses of the men in the nonsexual subtypes were more likely to be impulsive; the men in the sexual subtypes were more socially isolated at the time of the offense. Relative sexual arousal to rape descriptions was greater among the sexual subtypes than among the nonsexual subtypes. These results are discussed in terms of two separate cognitive-behavioral processes leading to rape.

A test of the mate deprivation hypothesis of sexual coercion

Abstract According to the mate deprivation hypothesis of sexual coercion, males are more likely to use sexually coercive tactics if they are disadvantaged in gaining access to desirable mates. This hypothesis was tested in a sample of 156 young, heterosexual, mostly single men enrolled in a Canadian university. Differential access to mates was indexed by self-perceived mating success, self-reported sexual history, and relative earning potential. Sexual coercion was assessed using the Kosss sexual experiences survey. Results did not support the hypothesis: men who identified themselves as sexually coercive tended to have higher self-perceived mating success, had significantly more extensive sexual histories, and did not report lower relative earning potential. Coercive men reported a greater preference for partner variety and casual sex. Sexual strategy theory is used to propose two alternative models of sexual coercion.

DECEPTION AND SEXUAL STRATEGY IN PSYCHOPATHY

Abstract Clinically, psychopaths are characterized by a number of features, including the habitual use of deception in social exchanges and a history of short-term, unstable sexual relationships. These characteristics can be understood within an evolutionary framework, in terms of game theory and sexual strategies theory, respectively. However, the nature and extent of this deceptive and sexual behavior in relation to psychopathy have not been well-described. Forty-seven heterosexual men were recruited from the community and assessed for psychopathy, their use of deception in sexual and non-sexual contexts, and their sexual histories. There were significant correlations between psychopathy and the two measures of deception, and between the use of sexual deception and some indicators of sexual experience and interest. Psychopathy was not related to the relative use of sexually deceptive tactics against female vs male targets, or the relative use of tactics judged to be effective vs ineffective. This finding, along with the partial correlations involving psychopathy and the two measures of deception, suggests that psychopathy is related to a general tendency to deceive.

Victim Blame and Sexual Arousal To Rape Cues in Rapists and Nonoffenders

This study examined the effects of victim blame on sexual arousal to depictions of rape in 18 men from the community and 18 incarcerated rapists, providing the first test of the inhibition model of rape (Barbaree, Marshall, & Lanthier, 1979) using an identified population of sexually aggressive men. Rapists were expected to show a stronger effect of victim blame. It was also predicted that rapists would score as less empathic than nonrapists, and that empathy scores would be related to indices of deviant sexual arousal (Rice, Chaplin, Harris, & Coutts, 1993). Victim blame did not have an effect on sexual arousal to rape, in contrast to an earlier study using university students (Sundberg, Barbaree, & Marshall, 1991). Rapists scored as less empathic on the Hogan Empathy Scale (Hogan, 1969) but not the Questionnaire Measure of Emotional Empathy (Mehrabian & Epstein, 1972); this group difference disappeared when education was covaried. Post hoc analyses were conducted on file information for 16 rapists to identify directions for future research. Compared to men who raped women they knew (n=9), men who victimized strangers (n=7) were younger at the time of the index offense, of lower socioeconomic status, and showed relatively larger responses to rape in the high blame condition. Implications for the inhibition model of rape and future phallometric research are discussed.

A Review of Anxiety and Sexual Arousal in Human Sexual Dysfunction

Clinical accounts have traditionally emphasized the importance of anxiety in the development and maintenance of sexual dysfunction (e.g., Masters & Johnson, 1970). However, a review of empirical research suggests anxiety, operationalized in a variety of ways, has no effect or facilitates genital responding in heterosexual men and women. The apparent contradiction between the clinical and empirical literature might be resolved if anxiety and sexual arousal are conceptualized as complex responses involving cognitive, behavioral, and physiological systems (Lang, 1968). Two models of sexual dysfunction (Barlow, 1986; and Palace & Gorzalka, 1990) are discussed in terms of this revised conceptualization, and directions for future research on the relationship between anxiety and sexual arousal are suggested.

Sex with Therapy Clients: Its Prevalence, Potential Consequences and Implications for Psychology Training

Abstract Sexual contact between psychotherapists and clients has received growing public and professional attention in the past 15 years. Although such contact is explicitly prohibited by the national psychological associations in Canada and the United States, some psychologists become sexually involved with their clients. A review of the literature suggests the potential consequences for clients can be serious and wide-ranging, including anxiety, depression, and other symptoms resembling post-traumatic stress disorder. Offending psychologists face a variety of professional and legal penalties if they are identified and prosecuted. The recent decision by the Supreme Court of Canada on Norberg vs Wynrib and the amended Ontario Regulated Health Professions Act of 1991 are discussed in terms of their possible impact on the legal status of therapist-client sex. Suggestions for psychology training programs on how to prepare students to appropriately handle sexual attraction to clients and deal with related ethical issues are summarized.Concerns about sexual contact between providers of health care and their clients were expressed as long ago as the fourth century B.C., as indicated in the Hippocratic Oath:In every house where I come, I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing and all seduction, and especially from the pleasures of love with women and men. (Dorlands Medical Dictionary, 1988, p. 768)Today, the national psychological associations of Canada and the United States completely prohibit sexual involvements with current therapy clients and partially prohibit sexual involvements with former therapy clients in their ethical codes. The Canadian Psychological Association (CPA, 1991) cautions its members to be acutely aware of the power relationship in therapy and, therefore, not engage in sexual intimacy with clients, neither during therapy nor for that period of time following therapy during which the power relationship could be expected to influence the clients personal decision making (Principle II.26). Similarly, the American Psychological Association (APA, 1992) states that psychologists do not engage in sexual intimacies with current patients or clients (Principle 4.05), and do not engage in sexual intimacies with a former therapy patient or client for at least two years after cessation or termination of professional services... [and even after two years have passed] the psychologists who engages in such activity ... bears the burden of demonstrating that there has been no exploitation (Principle 4.07). The APA code also prohibits psychologists from providing therapy to persons with whom they have engaged in sexual intimacies (Principle 4.06). The texts of both ethical codes do not specifically prohibit sexual involvement with a client receiving psychological services outside of therapy. However, prohibitions of sexual involvement after therapy ends or with clients receiving psychological services outside of therapy have been made at the regional level (e.g., Ontario(f.1).PREVALENCEAlthough the true base rate of therapist-client sexual contact is unknown, estimates based on self-report surveys of therapists are consistent. These survey results probably underestimate the prevalence of therapist-client sexual contact because some therapists who engage in this behaviour will not acknowledge it, even if they are assured of anonymity. On the other hand, it is unlikely that therapists would report sexual contact that did not actually occur. Pope (1988) reviewed eight American prevalence studies published between 1983 and 1987 and reported that, unadjusted for sample size, 8.3% of male and 1.7% of female psychologists and psychiatrists reported having sexual contact with a client. Most cases involved male therapists and female clients but other therapist-client combinations, including triads and larger groups, were also represented. …

Ontario Penitentiaries’ Program

The present chapter will describe the treatment programs for incarcerated sexual offenders sponsored by the correctional services of Canada (CSC) in the Ontario regional penitentiaries. The chapter will describe sexual offender treatment in Ontario penitentiaries in general terms and then it will focus on two programs in particular: the Warkworth Sexual Behaviour Clinic and the Bath Institution Sex Offenders’ Program.