Economic Power and Sexual Violence: Unwanted Sex in Female Breadwinner Relationships

• In Event: 512 - Section on Sex and Gender Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 13. Negotiating Relationships

Abstract

This project examines the phenomenon of sex that is unwanted but not forced in heterosexual couples where the woman is the only breadwinner. Little research has been conducted analyzing the impact of economic power on the incidence or dynamics of unwanted sex, and this family form provides the opportunity to examine how flipping paradigm of economic power in relationship affects violence and power. I pay special attention to differences in the relationships and attitudes of men who leave the labor force willingly to focus on reproductive labor and men who would like to work for pay outside the home but are marginalized by the labor market. Using related literature, I theorize how unwanted sex may occur in these relationships and discuss the implications for broader issues of women's power and (in)equality in long-term heterosexual relationships.

Author

• Paige Gabriel, University of Texas-Austin