Everyday Coercion

Everyday Coercion explores how men routinely use sexual coercion toward women, and how such coercion is normalised within a landscape of heteronormativity, rape culture, and binarised gender roles.

A groundswell of online activism - including the #MeToo and #TimesUp movement - has directed attention to the epidemic of sexual violence around the world. Public discourse signifies a hunger for understanding, and for change, of the normalisation of sexual violence. Women are seeking to make sense of the macro societal systems that influence their everyday experiences of sexism, misogyny, and gender-based violence. However, much literature and media discussing sexual violence focuses on the type of rape portrayed as 'real rape'. That is, rape which is perpetrated by a stranger in a dark alley, is accompanied by other crimes (such as murder or abduction), or is committed by using a weapon. In reality, rape, and all forms of sexual violence, are more likely perpetrated by known people - whether that is a partner, a date, or a friend - by use of sexual coercion and exploitation of power.

This book is an in-depth investigation of how such nuanced sexual violence occurs and has the power to validate women and accompany all people on the journey of problematising patriarchal culture and socialisation. Bringing together women's stories of sexual coercion, and insights and reflections from both men and women about coercion, masculinity, sex, and consent - the rich data collected from the research participants is presented, and unpacked, to portray the landscape of sexual coercion.