DOCSLIB.ORG

1 the “Higher” Age of Consent and the Concept of Sexual Exploitation

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
1 the “Higher” Age of Consent and the Concept of Sexual Exploitation The “Higher” Age of Consent and the concept of Sexual Exploitation Professors Alisdair A. Gillespie and Suzanne Ost. Lancaster University Law School The age of consent in England is 16. Except it is not always. It is ordinarily the age of 16 but since 2000, there has been a higher age of consent (18) for certain sexual activities. Originally this was where there was thought to be a position of trust (Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000), but it then was extended to other forms of exploitation, including prostitution and child pornography. This chapter will consider the issue of the higher age of consent and consider whether it is truly protecting children or whether it is an example of a paternalistic society governing what sexual activities a 16 or 17-year-old child can engage with and/or who their sexual partner is. After a critical exploration of the age of consent, an analysis will be made of the types of situations where the higher age is engaged and why it is not engaged in other exploitative contexts (such as employment). We will also consider whether the criminal law’s restrictions can be justified or whether they may infringe the older child’s right to a sexual identity. We then engage with philosophical understandings of the concept of sexual exploitation and consider what the crux of the issue (justifying criminalisation) should be. Ultimately, we will argue that a higher age of consent can be justified in the context of exploitative relationships, with the existence of exploitation being ascertained through a consideration of the circumstances of the relationship rather than the relationship falling under a definitive statutory list. Age of Consent A useful starting point is to consider what an age of consent is and what its purpose is. It is often said that the age of consent in England & Wales is 16 but that is not strictly true. The age varies depending on the particular relationship between the parties engaging in sexual activity. Indeed it is this variance which forms the discussion of this chapter. Consent? The term ‘age of consent’ is itself controversial and it has been suggested that what is created is an ‘age of liability’ for the offender rather than an age of consent.1 The context of this comment is that the age of consent arguably has little to do with consent and is instead the establishment of an age at which the law decides that a child is allowed to have sex. This is a point that is taken up by other commentators. Consent is ordinarily considered to be a concept that relates to self-determination,2 the right to make self-governing decisions about one’s life.3 It is the capacity of an individual to give 1 K. Walsh ‘Images of Childhood, Adolescent Sexual Reality and the Age of Consent’ in H. Gavin and J. Bent Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll: Psychological, Legal and Cultural Examinations of Sex and Sexuality (2010, Inter- Disciplinary Press) 47-58 at 48. 2 In the context of medical law, see, for example, the much-quoted statement from Cardozo J. in Schloendorff v New York State Hospital (1914) 105 NE 92 that ‘… every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his own body; and a surgeon who performs an operation without his patient’s consent, commits an assault…’, at 93. 3 J. Coggon and J. Miola, ‘Autonomy, Liberty and Medical Decision-making’ (2011) 70 Cambridge Law Journal 523-547 at 524. 1 permission to do something that makes their consent valid.4 In the context of sex, this would mean that they have the capacity to understand what sex is, what it means and the ability to decide whether they want to have sexual contact with another. However, capacity is a very subjective concept. It must vary between individuals because of their developmental differences. The significance of developmental capacity is reflected in the approach taken to consent to treatment and capacity in medical law when a doctor is faced with an older ‘Gillick competent’ child. In such a case, the status-based presumption that children lack capacity is rebutted provided the child can establish that she has the requisite maturity to possess decision-making capacity.5 The age of consent cannot therefore realistically relate to the capacity of an individual. As capacity will differ between individuals, so will the age at which they are capable of making that decision. This has been considered to create problems for the law because it means that a clear statement of rule cannot be set out – “you will not have sexual contact with a child under n years of age” – because, if it were based on capacity, that would not follow. Someone (n-2) may have the capacity to consent and yet someone else (n+3) may not. Of course, not everyone would agree that this is a problem. In the context of adult sexual assaults, there is similar variance. Different people will consent to different actions and thus an individual will need to ascertain that V consents before having sexual contact with him or her. Could it be said that the same should apply to some children? Is it not more appropriate that an individual wishing sexual contact with an adolescent6 should ascertain whether the child understands the nature of the activity, any potential consequence (eg STIs, pregnancy, loss of virginity, cultural or other societal factors) and ascertain their desire to connect sexually? The current age of consent does not do this and therefore it realistically moves us away from factual consent and instead steers us towards legal consent. The age of consent means that a person under the prescribed age cannot, as a matter of law, give consent, irrespective of whether they have the capacity to make that decision and the desire to do so. The law not only fails to recognise that decision, it prohibits this decision from being acted upon. Anyone who has sexual contact with that child will commit a criminal offence.7 However, although the age of consent is supposed to render factual consent irrelevant it does not always do this. So, for example, under English law a person commits the offence of rape of a child if he has sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 13.8 The offence is one of strict liability and it is therefore irrelevant whether the offender knew the age of the child or indeed whether the child gave factual consent. Whilst there is also the offence of rape,9 which applies irrespective of the age of the victim, theoretically there should be no need to use the offence where the victim is aged under 13 because proving the offence under s.5 is simpler. For the offence of rape under s.1, it is necessary to prove an absence of factual consent10 and also the 4 ‘Law makes the power of individual choice legally contingent on competence. The right to make decisions in matters such as marriage, contractual relations, voting, testamentary disposition, and health care depends on being legally competent.’ S. Stefan, ‘Silencing the Different Voice: Competence, Feminist Theory and Law’ (1993) 47 University of Miami Law Review 763-815 at 765. 5 See Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech AHA [1986] 1 AC 112 and R (On the Application of Axon) v Secretary of State for Health (Family Planning Association intervening) [2006] EWHC 37 (Admin). 6 In this chapter we do not propose to discuss the idea that a child of any age can consent as we believe such argument is unarguable. Instead the discussion relates to children aged between 14 and 18 (14 being the youngest age often referred to as a potential age of consent). 7 See, most notably, the offences contained in ss.5-15, Sexual Offences Act 2003. 8 Sexual Offences Act 2003, s.5. 9 Sexual Offences Act 2003, s.1. 10 D.C. Ormerod and K. Laird Smith & Hogan’s Criminal Law (14th Edn, 2015: Oxford) at 852. 2 fact that D did not believe that V consented.11 Notwithstanding this fact and that the CPS charging guidance specifically states that s.1 should not be used,12 there have been occasions when the offence of s.1 has been used even when the victim is aged under 13.13 This would seem to suggest that even the law does not view the age of consent as being about consent but, rather, about the liability of the offender. By prosecuting rape, rather than the rape of a child, the law is admitting that factual consent is more important than legal consent and that the absence of factual consent is more serious than the absence of legal consent. There is logic to such a distinction but it does raise questions about whether this could create ‘classes’ of victims, especially if sentencing differs between the offences. This would be problematic where it was unclear whether a child factually consented meaning the prosecution would face a decision as to whether to accept a guilty plea in respect of the ‘lesser’ offence or to proceed to trial on the other. Identifying an age If, for simplicity, it is decided to have an age of consent (which is the pattern that most developed countries have adopted14) then the question becomes what age is chosen? And indeed how is that age chosen. The setting of the age of 16 as the (ordinary) age of consent in England & Wales occurred for reasons of political pragmatism rather than a considered societal response.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Robust Evidence for Bisexual Orientation Among Men
    Robust evidence for bisexual orientation among men Jeremy Jabboura, Luke Holmesb, David Sylvac, Kevin J. Hsud, Theodore L. Semona, A. M. Rosenthala, Adam Safrone, Erlend Slettevoldb, Tuesday M. Watts-Overallf, Ritch C. Savin-Williamsg, John Syllah,i, Gerulf Riegerb,1, and J. Michael Baileya,1,2 aDepartment of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208; bDepartment of Psychology, Essex University, Colchester CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom; cDepartment of Psychiatry, Kaiser Permanente, Los Angeles, CA 90056; dDepartment of Psychological and Social Sciences, Pennsylvania State University Abington, Abington, PA 19001; eKinsey Institute, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405; fSchool of Psychology, University of East London, Stratford E15 4LZ, United Kingdom; gDepartment of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-4401; hAmerican Institute of Bisexuality, Los Angeles, CA 90014; and iUniversity of Chicago Law School, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 Edited by Steven Pinker, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, and approved June 16, 2020 (received for review February 25, 2020) The question whether some men have a bisexual orientation— emotional biases of the questioners. Some heterosexual and ho- that is, whether they are substantially sexually aroused and mosexual men may find it relatively easy to understand each attracted to both sexes—has remained controversial among both other’s monosexuality because both have strong sexual attraction scientists and laypersons. Skeptics believe that male sexual orien- to one sex and virtually none to the other. For this reason, these tation can only be homosexual or heterosexual, and that bisexual men may have more difficulty accepting bisexuality as it challenges identification reflects nonsexual concerns, such as a desire to their binary conceptualizations of sexual orientation (7).
    [Show full text]
  • Sacred Shame: Integrating Spirituality and Sexuality Alyssa J
    University of St. Thomas, Minnesota St. Catherine University Social Work Master’s Clinical Research Papers School of Social Work 2017 Sacred Shame: Integrating Spirituality and Sexuality Alyssa J. Haggerty University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.stthomas.edu/ssw_mstrp Part of the Clinical and Medical Social Work Commons, and the Social Work Commons Recommended Citation Haggerty, Alyssa J., "Sacred Shame: Integrating Spirituality and Sexuality" (2017). Social Work Master’s Clinical Research Papers. 740. https://ir.stthomas.edu/ssw_mstrp/740 This Clinical research paper is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Social Work at UST Research Online. It has been accepted for inclusion in Social Work Master’s Clinical Research Papers by an authorized administrator of UST Research Online. For more information, please contact [email protected]. RUNNING HEAD: SACRED SHAME: INTEGRATING SPIRITUALITY AND SEXUALITY Sacred Shame: Integrating Spirituality and Sexuality By Alyssa Haggerty, B.A. Committee Members: Rachel Murr MSW, LMSW Mary Hoffman MSW, LGSW Mari Ann Graham, PhD, LISW (Committee Chair) The Clinical Research Project is a graduation requirement for the MSW students at St. Catherine University/University of St. Thomas School of Social Work in St. Paul, Minnesota and is conducted within a nine-month time frame to demonstrate facility with basic research methods. Students must independently conceptualize a research problem, formulate a research design that is approved by a research committee and the university Institutional Review Board, implement the project, and publicly present the findings of the study. This project is neither a Master’s thesis nor a dissertation.
    [Show full text]
  • Asexuality 101
    BY THE NUMBERS Asexual people (or aces) experience little or no 28% sexual attraction. While most asexual people desire emotionally intimate relationships, they are not drawn to sex as a way to express that intimacy. of the community is 18 or younger ASEXUALITY ISN’T ACES MIGHT 32% Abstinence because of Want friendship, a bad relationship understanding, and Abstinence because of empathy religious reasons Fall in love of the community are between 19 and 21 Celibacy Experience arousal and Sexual repression, orgasm aversion, or Masturbate 19% dysfunction Have sex Loss of libido due to Not have sex age or circumstance Be of any gender, age, Fear of intimacy or background of the community are currently Inability to find a Have a spouse and/or in high school partner children 40% of the community are in college Aromantic – people who experience little or no romantic 20% attraction and are content with close friendships and other non-romantic relationships. Demisexual – people who only experience sexual attraction of the community identify as once they form a strong emotional connection with the person. transgender or are questioning Grey-A – people who identify somewhere between sexual and their gender identity asexual on the sexuality spectrum. 41% Queerplatonic – One type of non-romantic relationship where there is an intense emotional connection going beyond what is traditionally thought of as friendship. Romantic orientations – Aces commonly use hetero-, homo-, of the community identify as part of the LGBT community bi-, and pan- in front of the word romantic to describe who they experience romantic attraction to. Source: Asexy Community Census http://www.tinyurl.com/AsexyCensusResults Asexual Awareness Week Community Engagement Series – Trevor Project | Last Updated April 2012 ACE SPECIFIC Feeling e mpty, isolated, Some aces voice a fear of ISSUES and/or alone.
    [Show full text]
  • EMPOWERMENT a Group Therapy Curriculum
    EMPOWERMENT A Group Therapy Curriculum Treating Young Adult Women Experiencing Female Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder Ana K. Jaimes Aragón Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 Participant Criteria ................................................................................................................ 3 Treatment Format .................................................................................................................. 7 Treatment Evaluation Questionnaire ........................................................................... 11 Self of the Therapist ............................................................................................................. 14 Session 1: Meet and Greet .................................................................................................................. 15 Handout 1 .................................................................................................................................. 27 Handout 2 .................................................................................................................................. 29 Handout 3 .................................................................................................................................. 30 Session 2: What is Shame? ................................................................................................................. 32 Handout 4 .................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Download Full Text In
    The European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences EpSBS Future Academy ISSN: 2357-1330 https://dx.doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2018.12.03.40 UUMILC 2017 9TH UUM INTERNATIONAL LEGAL CONFERENCE THE ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORK ERA: ARE THE CHILDREN PROTECTED IN MALAYSIA? Zainal Amin Ayub (a)*, Zuryati Mohamed Yusoff (b) *Corresponding author (a) School of Law, College of Law, Government & International Studies, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010 Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia, [email protected], +604 928 8073 (b) School of Law, College of Law, Government & International Studies, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010 Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia, [email protected], +604 928 8089 Abstract The phenomenon of online social networking during the age of the web creates an era known as the ‘Online Social Network Era’. Whilst the advantages of the online social network are numerous, the drawbacks of online social network are also worrying. The explosion of the use of online social networks creates avenues for cybercriminals to commit crimes online, due to the rise of information technology and Internet use, which results in the growth of the Internet society which includes the children. The children, who are in need of ‘extra’ protection, are among the community in the online social network, and they are exposed to the cybercrimes which may be committed against them. This article seeks to explore and analyse the position on the protection of the children in the online society; and the focus is in Malaysia while other jurisdictions are referred as source of critique. The position in Malaysia is looked into before the introduction of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017.
    [Show full text]
  • Principles of Tort Law Rachael Mulheron Frontmatter More Information
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-72764-8 — Principles of Tort Law Rachael Mulheron Frontmatter More Information Principles of Tort Law Presenting the law of Tort as a body of principles, this authoritative textbook leads students to an incisive and clear understanding of the subject. Each tort is carefully structured and examined within a consistent analytical framework that guides students through its preconditions, elements, defences, and remedies. Clear summaries and comparisons accompany the detailed exposition, and further support is provided by numerous diagrams and tables, which clarify complex aspects of the law. Critical discussion of legal judgments encourages students to develop strong analytical and case-reading skills, while key reform pro posals and leading cases from other jurisdictions illustrate different potential solutions to conun- drums in Tort law. A rich companion website, featuring semesterly updates, and ten additional chapters and sections on more advanced areas of Tort law, completes the learning package. Written speciically for students, the text is also ideal for practitioners, litigants, policy-makers, and law reformers seeking a comprehensive and accurate understanding of the law. Rachael Mulheron is Professor of Tort Law and Civil Justice at the School of Law, Queen Mary University of London, where she has taught since 2004. Her principal ields of academic research concern Tort law and class actions jurisprudence. She publishes regularly in both areas, and has frequently assisted law reform commissions, government departments, and law irms on Tort-related and collective redress- related matters. Professor Mulheron also undertakes extensive law reform work, previously as a member of the Civil Justice Council of England and Wales, and now as Research Consultant for that body.
    [Show full text]
  • Sexual Offences
    Sexual Offences Definitive Guideline GUIDELINE DEFINITIVE Contents Applicability of guideline 7 Rape and assault offences 9 Rape 9 Sexual Offences Act 2003 (section 1) Assault by penetration 13 Sexual Offences Act 2003 (section 2) Sexual assault 17 Sexual Offences Act 2003 (section 3) Causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent 21 Sexual Offences Act 2003 (section 4) Offences where the victim is a child 27 Rape of a child under 13 27 Sexual Offences Act 2003 (section 5) Assault of a child under 13 by penetration 33 Sexual Offences Act 2003 (section 6) Sexual assault of a child under 13 37 Sexual Offences Act 2003 (section 7) Causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity 41 Sexual Offences Act 2003 (section 8) Sexual activity with a child 45 Sexual Offences Act 2003 (section 9) Causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity 45 Sexual Offences Act 2003 (section 10) Sexual activity with a child family member 51 Sexual Offences Act 2003 (section 25) Inciting a child family member to engage in sexual activity 51 Sexual Offences Act 2003 (section 26) Engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child 57 Sexual Offences Act 2003 (section 11) Effective from 1 April 2014 2 Sexual Offences Definitive Guideline Causing a child to watch a sexual act 57 Sexual Offences Act 2003 (section 12) Arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence 61 Sexual Offences Act 2003 (section 14) Meeting a child following sexual grooming 63 Sexual Offences Act 2003 (section 15) Abuse of position of trust:
    [Show full text]
  • Report Into the Law and Procedures in Serious Sexual Offences in Northern Ireland Part 1 Sir John Gillen
    Gillen Review Report into the law and procedures in serious sexual offences in Northern Ireland Part 1 Sir John Gillen gillenreview.org Gillen Review Report into the law and procedures in serious sexual offences in Northern Ireland Part 1 Sir John Gillen Preface And if there may seem to be a weight of tradition against change, at least it is worth remembering that the apparent heresies of one generation become the orthodoxies of the next. The ultimate validity of any social measure will depend not upon its antecedents but upon its current and future utility. Sir Owen Woodhouse1 Sexual crime is one of the worst violations of human dignity. It can deeply traumatise the victims, their family and even whole communities. Serious sexual offences in general and rape in particular are crimes of alarming prevalence. They are unique in the way they strike at the bodily integrity and self-respect of the victim. All genders, children and people of all ages, classes and ethnicities can become victims. It happens across all cultures and in some cultures, including here in Northern Ireland, shame and social pressures will prevent it being reported. These crimes are a blight on our society with profound consequences for victims and for society at large. Deep concerns about how serious sexual offences are processed and determined have been expressed for several years. In the wake of recent trials of such offences both here and in England and Wales, public disquiet about the law and procedures governing serious sexual offences has clearly grown. Hence the Criminal Justice Board, which exists to oversee reform, change and openness in the criminal justice system, commissioned me on 24 April 2018 to undertake an independent review of arrangements around delivery of justice in serious sexual offences.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Child Pornography Alisdair A. Gillespie.* It Would Seem, At
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Lancaster E-Prints Child Pornography Alisdair A. Gillespie.* It would seem, at one level, to be somewhat gratuitous to include an article on child pornography in a special issue on ‘Dangerous Speech’. Child pornography would seem to obviously meet the criteria of dangerous speech, with no real discussion required. However, as will be seen in this article, this is not necessarily the case. There remain a number of controversial issues that potentially raise both under-criminalisation and over-criminalisation. This article seeks to critique the current law of child pornography using doctrinal methods, to assess its impact and reach. It will do this by breaking down the definition of child pornography into its constituent parts, identifying how the law has constructed these elements and whether they contribute to an effective legislative response to tackling the sexual exploitation of children through sexual images. The article concludes that there are some areas that require adjustment and puts forward the case for limited legislative changes to ensure that exploitative pictures are criminalised but in such a way that innocent pictures are not. DEFINING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY There is no single definition of ‘child pornography’ and indeed the term itself remains controversial.1 In order to understand the interaction between child pornography and dangerous speech, it is necessary to consider the definition of child pornography. The difficulty with this is that there are hundreds of different definitions available. Even international law cannot agree, with different definitions being used in the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography2 (hereafter ‘OPSC’) and the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse3 (hereafter ‘Lanzarote Convention’4).
    [Show full text]
  • Issues Paper on Cyber-Crime Affecting Personal Safety, Privacy and Reputation Including Cyber-Bullying (LRC IP 6-2014)
    Issues Paper on Cyber-crime affecting personal safety, privacy and reputation including cyber-bullying (LRC IP 6-2014) BACKGROUND TO THIS ISSUES PAPER AND THE QUESTIONS RAISED This Issues Paper forms part of the Commission’s Fourth Programme of Law Reform,1 which includes a project to review the law on cyber-crime affecting personal safety, privacy and reputation including cyber-bullying. The criminal law is important in this area, particularly as a deterrent, but civil remedies, including “take-down” orders, are also significant because victims of cyber-harassment need fast remedies once material has been posted online.2 The Commission seeks the views of interested parties on the following 5 issues. 1. Whether the harassment offence in section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 should be amended to incorporate a specific reference to cyber-harassment, including indirect cyber-harassment (the questions for which are on page 13); 2. Whether there should be an offence that involves a single serious interference, through cyber technology, with another person’s privacy (the questions for which are on page 23); 3. Whether current law on hate crime adequately addresses activity that uses cyber technology and social media (the questions for which are on page 26); 4. Whether current penalties for offences which can apply to cyber-harassment and related behaviour are adequate (the questions for which are on page 28); 5. The adequacy of civil law remedies to protect against cyber-harassment and to safeguard the right to privacy (the questions for which are on page 35); Cyber-harassment and other harmful cyber communications The emergence of cyber technology has transformed how we communicate with others.
    [Show full text]
  • Image-Based Sexual Abuse
    Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, (2017), pp. 1–28 doi:10.1093/ojls/gqw033 Image-Based Sexual Abuse Clare McGlynn* and Erika Rackley** Abstract—Advances in technology have transformed and expanded the ways in which sexual violence can be perpetrated. One new manifestation of such violence is the non-consensual creation and/or distribution of private sexual images: what we conceptualise as ‘image-based sexual abuse’. This article delineates the scope of this new concept and identifies the individual and collective harms it engenders. We argue that the individual harms of physical and mental illness, together with the loss of dignity, privacy and sexual autonomy, combine to constitute a form of cultural harm that impacts directly on individuals, as well as on society as a whole. While recognising the limits of law, we conclude by considering the options for redress and the role of law, seeking to justify the deployment of the expressive and coercive powers of criminal and civil law as a means of encouraging cultural change. Keywords: image-based sexual abuse, revenge porn, non-consensual pornography, cultural harm, cyber harassment, online abuse 1. Introduction Advances in technology have transformed and expanded the ways in which sexual violence can be perpetrated. One of these new manifestations of violence and abuse is the non-consensual creation and/or distribution of private sexual images: a phenomenon we have conceptualised as image-based sexual abuse.1 While the misuse of such images is not itself a new * Professor of Law, Durham University. Email: [email protected] ** Professor of Law, University of Birmingham.
    [Show full text]
  • Sexual Fantasy and Masturbation Among Asexual Individuals: an In-Depth Exploration
    Arch Sex Behav (2017) 46:311–328 DOI 10.1007/s10508-016-0870-8 SPECIAL SECTION: THE PUZZLE OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION Sexual Fantasy and Masturbation Among Asexual Individuals: An In-Depth Exploration 1 1 2 Morag A. Yule • Lori A. Brotto • Boris B. Gorzalka Received: 4 January 2016 / Revised: 8 August 2016 / Accepted: 20 September 2016 / Published online: 23 November 2016 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016 Abstract Human asexuality is generally defined as a lack of pants(bothmenandwomen)wereequallylikelytofantasizeabout sexual attraction. We used online questionnaires to investigate topics such as fetishes and BDSM. reasons for masturbation, and explored and compared the con- tentsofsexualfantasiesofasexualindividuals(identifiedusing Keywords Asexuality Á Sexual orientation Á Masturbation Á the Asexual Identification Scale) with those of sexual individ- Sexual fantasy uals. A total of 351 asexual participants (292 women, 59 men) and 388sexualparticipants(221women,167men)participated.Asex- ual women were significantly less likely to masturbate than sexual Introduction women, sexual men, and asexual men. Asexual women were less likely to report masturbating for sexual pleasure or fun than their Although the definition of asexuality varies somewhat, the gen- sexualcounterparts, and asexualmen were less likely to reportmas- erallyaccepteddefinitionisthedefinitionforwardedbythelargest turbating forsexualpleasure than sexualmen. Both asexualwomen online web-community of asexual individuals (Asexuality Visi- andmen weresignificantlymorelikelythansexualwomenand
    [Show full text]