Female sexual deviance: A theoretical and empirical analysis

Abstract

Societal analysis of sex role typing, attribution theory in social psychology, and reaction theory in the sociology of deviance provide theoretical convergences that enable us to focus on career contingencies in the drift toward deviance. In this paper we apply these concepts to a theory of sexual labeling by identifying six early sexual experiences that are empirically shown to shape deviant sexuality in adult women. The responses to a standardized protocol were obtained for two large samples of deviant adult women. The results are based on extensive analysis that controlled for race and economic status (ES) while an adolescent. The findings reinforce previous conjectures and hypotheses about the influential factors in the drift towards female sexual deviance.