Girls’ kiss casts spell of pressure
Part of a series showcasing research at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences this week.
When Madonna locked lips with Britney Spears on the stage of the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, she catapulted a staple of porn into the mainstream. Soon, young, heterosexual women were making out with one another on the dance floors. But what’s played off as an expression of liberated sexuality can have the opposite effect in real life, found University of Victoria researcher Lucinda Brown, who presented her findings at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences conference in Ottawa this week. Of 451 women aged 19-40, 71 per cent said they feel young women are under pressure to engage in public sexual behaviour with other women. She spoke with the National Post’s Sarah Boesveld. Q Why did the straight women in your study say they made out with other straight women?
A A male had requested they do it, they did it because they thought it would turn men on. Things like societal demand — ‘Oh, other women were doing it in the bar and the guys were catcalling and it’s kind of the trendy thing to do, so that’s why I decided to do it.’
Q Did some of the straight women report that after feeling some pressure, they ended up liking it?
A Most of the heterosexual women who had engaged in this behaviour in my study really described the outcome in negative terms. They made comments like they were embarrassed — they felt awkward and regretful. Some of them said ‘I felt really coerced in this situation.’ One of the participants said, ‘I was really confused because men asked us to do it and then called us sluts and nymphos after.’
Q Did you see any long-term impacts for these women?
A Heterosexual women who had performed this girl-on-girl behaviour had less healthy perceptions of their sexuality. They felt more discouraged or unhappy about their sex lives. … They were more likely to say their sexual behaviours were controlled by people more powerful than them. The heterosexual women between ages of 19-25 also described themselves as being more likely to take part in sexual acts in which they weren’t comfortable.
Q That’s obviously problematic. How do you connect it to the bigger conversations we’re having about consent, sexual assault, being a bystander?
A We do need some changes in the discussions we’re having with our children and young women and also in our sexual education curriculum.