“I Just Really Didn’t Know What I Was Walking into”: Scary Sexual Experiences in a Campus-Representative Survey of Undergraduate Students

Sexual pressure, coercion, and violence are prevalent globally and disproportionately affect girls, women, sexual minorities, and gender minorities. Using quantitative data and open-ended responses from a cross-sectional campus-representative online survey of undergraduate students, we aimed to (1) assess the percentage of students, by gender, who reported having had a scary partnered sexual experience since age 14 and (2) characterize the kinds of sexual experiences that participants described as scary. A weighted total of 721 college student participants who reported ever engaging in oral, vaginal, or anal sex during their lifetime were included in the analytic sample. Of these, 225 reported experiencing at least one scary sexual experience (31.2%). Women and gender non-conforming students were significantly more likely to have experienced a scary sexual situation (47.2% women, 13.6% men, 60.1% TGNB+ students, <i>p <</i> .001). Those who reported having experienced a scary sexual experience were also more likely to report a non-heterosexual identity and more likely to live in an off-campus apartment. In examining open-ended responses from 174 participants, the scary sexual experiences were categorized as: wouldn't stop or accept a no; lack of power/control; pressure, coercion, or manipulation; unwanted roughness; explicit sexual assault; force; drunk, drugged, or unconscious; anxiety, panic attack, or PTSD; restrained or difficulty leaving; escalated quickly; condom/contraception-related; isolated or tricked; demeaning language; incest or child abuse; miscellaneous. Findings from the study have implications for sexual violence prevention professionals, as experiences that are scary but that don't meet legal definitions of sexual assault or campus definitions of sexual misconduct may be underreported. Additionally, study findings have implications for sexuality educators, who are well-positioned to describe to college students the kinds of sexual situations that are problematic and ways to mitigate harm.