Sexual Corruption and Political (Dis)trust

The debate about how corruption is linked to political trust is ongoing. The recent conceptualization of sexual corruption calls for the exploration of how gendered experiences of corruption affect trust levels. This study proposes that the sex in sexual corruption, compared to monetary bribes, changes the dynamics of the relationship between service-seeker and provider. The lock-in effects and feelings of betrayal break political trust in a more pronounced way than conventional corruption does. The cross-sectional analyses of individuals in 27 European countries show that both women and men exposed to sexual corruption have less trust in their government compared to non-victims and compared to service-seekers in conventional corruption. These findings enhance our understanding of the corruption-trust nexus and suggest that the magnitude of sexual corruption cases hitherto overlooked, more than causing individual suffering, might have far-reaching and negative consequences for the quality of democracy.