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Sexual Assault and Intimate Partner Violence

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Synonyms

Domestic violence; Interpersonal aggression; Mate retention; Rape; Sexual abuse; Sexual coercion

Definitions

Rape can be defined as “copulation resisted” by a victim “unless such resistance would probably result in death or serious injury to the victim or in death or injury to individuals the victim commonly protects.” Sexual assault can also include “oral or anal penetration of a man or woman” (Thornhill and Palmer 2000). We use the term sexual coercion (SC) broadly to mean the use of force, intimidation, lying, or psychoactive substances to receive or perform sexual acts involving another individual without that individual’s consent and sometimes without their knowledge or explicit awareness of that act (Gladden et al. 2008). Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a broad term including acts of stalking as well as physical abuse and violence, psychological abuse, and sexual abuse and/or violence directed toward a romantic or sexual partner (Centers for Disease Control 2008).

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Correspondence to Paul R. Gladden .

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Gladden, P.R., Cleator, A.M. (2018). Sexual Assault and Intimate Partner Violence. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1722-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1722-1

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