023 The Language of Sexual Violence: Undergraduates' Understanding of Sexual Violence Labels and the Role of Previous Sexual Experiences

Abstract

Many individuals who experience nonconsensual sexual experiences (NSEs) do not identify their experiences with common sexual violence labels (e.g., sexual assault, sexual abuse, rape). Such experiences, however, meet both operational and legal definitions, and policies, protocols, and educational prevention efforts have been implemented based on these labels. Front line response organizations such as “sexual assault” crisis centers also use these labels in their titles and in their outreach initiatives. 1. To gain insights into how undergraduate students who have and have not experienced NSEs define and construe common sexual violence labels. 2. To examine how these definitions vary as a function of NSE history and NSE identification. A total of 593 undergraduates (NSE identifiers n = 87; NSE non-identifiers n = 171; no NSEs n = 335) completed an online assessment of NSE histories and then responded to open-ended questions about how they define the labels sexual assault, sexual abuse, and rape. Quantitative text analysis procedures were applied to the participants’ open-ended responses to derive word counts and themes for each of the separate labels. Between-group comparisons were conducted to assess for group differences in label definitions.