ABSTRACT
In the past decade, feminist consciousness-raising and political action have changed the definition of sexual violence from a private event to a public issue. In bringing sexual assault to public awareness, feminist thinkers have offered not only documentation but also a social analysis in which sexual assault is intrinsic to a system of male supremacy. Feminist theorists have called attention to the social legitimacy of many forms of sexual assault, including glorification of sexual violence in the dominant culture. Feminist social theorists have generated a vast quantity of new research and have successfully predicted the salient factors associated with sexually assaultive behavior. Psychological study of sex offenders is hampered greatly by the difficulty of identifying a representative population for study. Though the majority of convicted sex offenders do not suffer from major psychiatric disorders, many do meet the diagnostic criteria for the so-called personality disorders.
