Some Women can Cope With Unwanted Sexual Advances

Some women can handle the anguish of unwanted sexual advances in a lot better way than others, reveals a new study.

In the study conducted by Dawn Szymanski and Chandra Feltman of the University of Tennessee in the US, it was deduced that resilient women are more successful at managing adverse experiences because they were able to cope and adapt. Resilience was both a style of personal functioning and a way in which people ably adapt to stressful situations.

The findings showed that young women experience increased psychological distress when they are being sexually objectified. Some women feel confused and shameful so they blame themselves, rather than the perpetrators, and this causes psychological distress.

According to the popular feminist Objectification Theory, women of most cultures are seen as sexual objects that are there for the pleasure of men's sexual desires. Examples of such conduct include men's visibly scrutinizing a woman's figure or making comments about her body parts, giving whistles or sexual assault.

Feltman suggested that psychologists could help their female clients to identify and explore various ways by which they could better cope with sexually oppressive behavior.

He further added that interventions aimed at decreasing individual and cultural practices of sexually objectifying women are also required in addition to that.

The study is published in Springer's journal Sex Roles.

Source: ANI