Friday, August 21, 2015

Study documents extent of unexpected sexual consequences for young women who drink alcohol

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-08/jhm-sde082015.php

Public Release: 20-Aug-2015
Study documents extent of unexpected sexual consequences for young women who drink alcohol
Could lead to interventions that encourage safer behaviors in young women and men
Johns Hopkins Medicine

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According to the findings, five major unexpected sexual events happened with substantial frequency as revealed by the participants: sex with new partners; alternative sexual activities, including anal sex and "rough" sex; unprotected sex; blacked-out sex or sex occurring during alcohol-related amnesia; and rape.

In addition, several themes emerged among the interview subjects when describing their encounters, primarily a sense of sexual victimization. The women's discussions included words such as "predator," "opportunist" and "vulture."

In contrast to such descriptions, literature to date has shown that women tend to think alcohol will improve their sex drive, minimize their sexual inhibition or make the sexual experience better. "Ensuring that women understand this disconnect may help them focus on the consequences more than the positive expectation," says Dinah Lewis, a medical student at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. [This kind of literature is usually created by men.]

"Experiences like those documented in our study happen everywhere -- on college campuses, in cities and small towns," says clinical psychologist Heidi Hutton, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "The more important task for us is to develop interventions that empower women and men to make decisions that keep them safe."

When asked how they might be safer when drinking in public, Hutton says, a common suggestion from the interview subjects was to watch out for each other. "Women feel safer when they travel in packs, and one way participants suggested staying safe is to never let anyone get separated from the pack," she says.

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