Gender differences in the psychological consequences of torture with and without a sexual component

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study compares the psychological consequences of sexual and general torture in males and females. In addition, it aims to find out whether the outcomes of sexual torture are more severe than those of non-sexual torture. According to the theoretical framework, the types of sexual torture were expected to differ among the sexes with respect to their gender roles. In addition, due to the effects of the subordinate position of women on their psychology, women were expected to have more psychological problems after being exposed to sexual and genera! torture. In this controlled study with 55 tortured and 55 control participants (30 men and 25 women in each group) only one male and one female tortured participants were found to he not sexually tortured. So the tortured group could not be divided into sexually and non- sexually tortured sub-groups. The sexes were compared with respect to the following; the number exposed to each type of objectively defined sexual torture, the number of exposures to these types, ihs number exposed to each type of subjectively defined sexual torture, the number of exposures to these types perceived as sexual torture. The gender differences were also examined with respect to the objective and subjective severity of general and sexual torture. After comparing the sexes on the psychological problems including problematic sexual behavior, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and low self-esteem due toexposure to torture, the predictive powers of the objective and subjective intensity of general and sexual torture and sex on these problems were investigated. The number of men and women exposed to sexual torture was equal. The number of exposures to both general and sexual torture were higher among men. However, the intensity of general and sexual torture was higher among -women due to the longer duration of captivity among men. Women perceived sexual torture more than did men. The mean number of exposures to each type of perceived sexuai torture did not differ between the sexes. Problematic sexuai behavior and anxiety were higher among women, a result which partially supported the rationale of the study. Torture had a detrimental effect on anxiety, self-esteem and problematic sexual behavior. The predictive power of general torture on the psychological outcomes was higher than that of sexual torture, possibly due to the ceiling effect of general torture. The perceived intensity of sexual torture seemed to be more predictive than the objectively defined one. The importance of the definition of sexual torture which is congruent with the characteristics of each gender and the importance of perception of the sexual torture rather than the objective definitions on the consequences of sexual torture were discussed.