Exploratory Study Finds Over Half Of Self-Reported Multi-Person Sex Experiences Among Adolescent Women To Be Coerced

Exploratory Study Finds Over Half Of Self-Reported Multi-Person Sex Experiences Among Adolescent Women To Be Coerced »

Recently published in the Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine is an article discussing disturbing statistics for multi-person sex (MPS) among adolescent women in Greater Boston. From EurekAlert:

Emily Rothman, associate professor of community health sciences at BUSPH, and colleagues surveyed 328 females who had utilized a Boston-area community or school-based health clinic, to explore whether they had ever had sex with multiple partners — either consensual or forced. The authors call this sexual experience “multi-person sex,” or MPS, in order to underscore that it refers to any group sex experience on a continuum from gang rape to sex parties.

Of the 7.3 percent who said they had group sex, more than half reported being pressured to engage in the group-sex situation. Forty-five percent reported a lack of condom use by a male participant during the most recent group-sex encounter. Participants with MPS experience also were more likely to report cigarette smoking, dating violence victimization, or ever being diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease, the study found.

In addition, those who had seen pornography in the past month were approximately five times as likely as those who had not seen pornography to report ever having had a group-sex experience.

In addition to the listed, MPS is also associated with sexual initiation prior to the age of 15 and childhood sexual abuse victimization, but the relationship between these factors and MPS is unclear. With such a limited sample, not much can be concretely deduced from the data. Any amount of non-consensual sex, however, is too much. Further research is needed to determine exact prevalence and among whom, but education on active consent—for any form of sex—needs to and can happen today.

The mainstream media mostly caught onto catchphrases such as “group sex” or “disturbing teen trend”. Tracy Clark-Flory at Salon already noted the misleading and panicked headlines. While she rightly criticizes her colleagues for sensationalizing this news, she is incorrect in making light of coerced sex and rape. Even though the absolute numbers are small, there still are adolescent women being raped. It is just as irresponsible to minimize as it is to sensationalize important issues. Rape is not just a cause for hand-wringing but also a call to action.

The best attitude is that taken by Dr. Rothman and Joanne Patterson, director of prevention and education programs at REACH, in their interview on Radio Boston. Both express concern, not about MPS itself but about the risks associated with sexual activity and what can be done to prevent non-consensual MPS. There are increased health risks with MPS, but just as with two-person sex, MPS can be enjoyable and safe with active consent and safety plans. There are still many questions to be answered about who is most at risk and how best to educate, but there is no question that preventative measures against rape need to be taken.

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