ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to make a distinct theoretical contribution to the understanding of sexual coercion within a women and trust paradigm, incorporating a feminist lens and focusing on the dyad of heterosexual relationships. Sexual coercion and trust nuances are examined by reviewing existing studies on ever-partnered women of reproductive age (15–49 years) in Sub-Saharan Africa and married women in South and Southeast Asia. The analysis reveals that sexual coercion is a complex blend of trust, objectification, and gender-power imbalance. Women enter intimate relationships trusting their partners’ benevolent intentions but encounter trust violations when coerced into unwanted sex. Objectification of women’s sexuality and gender-imbalanced scripts promoting male dominance in intimate relationships while denying women’s sexual agency create sites and contexts for sexual coercion. Existing gender-discriminatory structural factors and norms predispose women to conform to these scripts, eliminating room for negotiation and resistance. The notion of ‘trust’ plays a critical role, as most sexually coercive acts are committed by trusted intimate partners and spouses, the men whom women entrust themselves to be safe with. The chapter concludes that when women are objectified as instruments of coercion, all other factors, such as love, faith, and trust in relationships, are deemed insignificant. Gender narratives must change to recognise women as sexual agents, and wider research on sexual coercion should discuss the interplay of trust dynamics for sexual coercion to emerge and persist.
