ADOLESCENT GIRLS' EXPERIENCES OF UNWANTED INTERCOURSE AND UNINTENTIONAL PREGNANCY: A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY by Anita J. Shaw B.Sc. (Hons.), University of Victoria, 1988 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN GENDER STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA August 2011 © Anita J. 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Canada ii Abstract In this study, unwanted intercourse refers to intercourse that took place with or without consent and in which a girl was neither physically harmed nor threatened with physical harm but which she engaged in due to social or interpersonal pressure, or substance use. Unwanted sexual experiences are linked to lower contraception use and higher rates of pregnancy as well as negative physical, psychological, and emotional consequences. Evidence suggests that experiencing unwanted sex in adolescence leads to a continuation of this pattern in adulthood. In this sample, 16% of adult women had experienced unwanted intercourse often or always during their adolescence. Statistical and thematic analyses identify a number of relational and contextual fectors that affect sexual compliance, providing the basis for further studies concerning relationships between gender ideologies and adolescent girls' sexual development. Frequency of unwanted intercourse is associated with experiences of childhood sexual abuse, low socioeconomic status, Aboriginal ethnicity, unintentional pregnancy, and with knowing, at the time, that the intercourse was unwanted. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Table of Contents iii List of Tables v List of Figures vi Glossary vii Acknowledgements viii Introduction 1 Chapter One A Feminist Reading of Bourdieu 23 Chapter Two A Review of the Literature 39 Chapter Three Methodology and Method 79 Chapter Four Results 89 Chapter Five Discussion and Conclusion 151 References 166 Appendix A Koss and Oros' Sexual Experiences Survey for Women 198 Appendix B The Good-Girl Life Plan and Career of an Unwed Mother 200 Appendix C Webpage Content at http://anitashaw.com/ 207 Appendix D Girls' Sexual Experiences Questionnaire 207 Appendix E Rationale for the Girls' Sexual Experiences Questionnaire 217 Appendix F Patton and Mannison's Adapted Sexual Experiences Survey for Women 224 Appendix G Email Letter: Invitation to Participate in the Study 225 Appendix H Organizations Contacted 227 Appendix I Evaluation of Internet-Based Survey Research List of Tables Table 1 Percentage of Respondents, by Selected Characteristics 89 Table 2 Girls' Sexual Experiences 92 Table 3 Contexts of Girls' Experiences of Unwanted Intercourse 94 Table 4 Pregnancy Contexts and Outcomes 98 Table 5 Unintentional Pregnancy as a Function of Frequency of Unwanted Intercourse 103 Table 6 Frequency of Unwanted Intercourse as a Function of the Partners' Age Difference 105 Table 7 Awareness of Unwantedness as a Function of Frequency of Unwanted Intercourse 106 Table 8 Frequency of Unwanted Intercourse as a Function of Childhood Sexual Abuse 108 Table 9 Frequency of Unwanted Intercourse as a Function of Socioeconomic Status 110 Table 10 Frequency of Unwanted Intercourse as a Function of Race or Ethnicity 112 Table 11 Frequency of Unwanted Intercourse as a Function of Age 113 Table 12 Frequency of Unwanted Intercourse as a Function of Completed Education 114 Table 13 Frequency of Unwanted Intercourse as a Function of Geographic Location 114 Table 14 Frequency of Unwanted Intercourse as a Function of Sexual Orientation 115 Table 15 Socioeconomic Status as a Function of Race or Ethnicity 118 Table 16 Childhood Sexual Abuse as a Function of Socioeconomic Status 119 Table 17 Childhood Sexual Abuse as a Function of Race or Ethnicity 121 VI List of Figures Figure 1 Unwanted Intercourse and Pregnancy Before Age 19 98 Figure 2 Age at First Pregnancy 100 Figure 3 Unintentional Pregnancy as a Function of Frequency of Unwanted Intercourse 104 Figure 4 Awareness of Unwantedness as a Function of Frequency of Unwanted Intercourse 107 Figure 5 Frequency of Unwanted Intercourse as a Function of Childhood Sexual Abuse 109 Figure 6 Frequency of Unwanted Intercourse as a Function of Socioeconomic Status 111 Figure 7 Frequency of Unwanted Intercourse as a Function of Race or Ethnicity 112 Figure 8 Socioeconomic Status as a Function of Race or Ethnicity 118 Figure 9 Childhood Sexual abuse as a Function of Socioeconomic Status 120 Figure 10 Childhood Sexual Abuse as a Function of Race or Ethnicity 121 Glossary of Acronyms CSA: Childhood sexual abuse. FSI: First sexual intercourse. LGB: Lesbian, gay, and bi-sexual. IPV: Intimate partner violence. SES: Sexual Experiences Survey. USE: Unwanted sexual experience. Acknowledgements I carried my dream of returning to school for such a long time that I eventually loosened my grip and let it go. A surprising series of events brought it back to me. Being reminded again and in another way where I am from and what is important to me has been such a privilege. First, and most importantly, I wish to express my profound respect and gratitude to all the women who 'clicked on the link'. I was continually amazed and humbled by your mindfulness and courage. Thank you. To Dr. Jacqueline Holler, my academic supervisor and mentor, I am deeply grateful. In our work together you expressed your deep respect for women and commitment to scholarship through your incisive questions, keen vision, and quiet strength. These sustained me and are woven through this project. I also wish to express my appreciation to my supervisory committee. Your thorough and conscientious feedback gave me a much stronger grasp on this work. I want to thank Dr. Sherry Beaumont, for asking about awareness; Dr. Fyre Jean Graveline, for showing me the connections; and Dr. Theresa Healy, for your encouragement. Sincere thanks go to Dr. Loraine Lavallee, my external examiner. Though a monumental task, you engaged this work with enthusiasm. Your questions and comments were thoughtful, interesting, and challenging - truly a pleasure. Special mention goes to Dr. Peter MacMillan who, with great generosity and dedication, taught me the art of statistics. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to my family and community; brave, outrageous women and men near and far who support and inspire me in so many ways - each one essential. This has certainly been a community effort! A special thank you goes to Maureen, for witnessing that initial spark. Heartfelt thanks to Greg for, once again, considering the impossible. And finally, I want to acknowledge my children: Nigel, for making me laugh; Bryn, for your gentle ways; Liam, for keeping me company; Elis, for your enthusiasm; and Seren, for being a bibliophile too. In order to create space for me to do this work, you each relinquished something. But you went beyond that, offering patience and flexibility and, most of all, your generous support. I am truly blessed. 1 Introduction To say that women often engage in unwanted sex with men is paradoxically both to state the obvious and to speak the unspeakable. While this assertion will not come as a surprise to many women, it embodies a subjugated knowledge which usually remains private and hidden. Unwanted and coerced sex are thus an aspect of women's experiences of oppression which have remained to a large extent unrecognized, yet implicitly condoned, and even encouraged (Gavey, 1992, p. 325). This is a study of unwanted sex; specifically, adolescent girls' experiences of unwanted heterosexual intercourse.1 Built upon a foundation that merges radical feminist theory with Bourdieu's work on masculine domination, this study privileges adult women's retrospective vantage points in an effort to learn how, as adolescent girls, they came to have intercourse that they did not want as well as some of the ways such experiences impacted them. Nicola Gavey succinctly labels these the "technologies and effects of heterosexual coercion" (1992, p.325). When investigating the technologies of unwanted intercourse, this study not only considers demographic markers and contextual issues such as alcohol consumption and heterosexual discourses but, through a nuanced exploration of wantedness, argues that sexual wantedness, as distinct from consent, is an important but complicated factor in girls' sexual autonomy.