The Continuum of Sexual Violence: Women’s Accounts of Victimization in Urban Nightlife

• NCJ Number: 311163
• Journal: Feminist Criminology Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Dated: 2012 Pages: 20-39
• Author(s): Philip R. Kavanaugh
• Date Published: March 2012
• Length: 20 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2008-IJ-CX-0004
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Award: The Relationship Between Individual Disposition and Social Context in Criminal Offending and Victimization: A Storyline Approach

Abstract

Despite the fact that a substantial amount of research has been conducted on sexual victimization among youth and young adults with active night lives, few of these studies have provided an analysis of the varied types of victimization that have occurred. I attempt to fill this gap with a qualitative analysis of women’s accounts of sexual victimization. Based on the substantive content of these women’s accounts, a three-part typology was generated, comprised of: (a) competing definitions of the situation, (b) opportunistic predation, and (c) involuntary incapacitation. Implications of the findings are discussed.

(Publisher abstract provided.)