The Fundamentals of Sex

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In a survey of 721 Indiana University undergraduates, 31% reported at least one scary sexual experience.

Women made up 75% of those reporting scary sex; sexual and gender minorities were also vulnerable.

Scary experiences included coercion, unwanted roughness, intoxication, restraint, and condom removal.

In 2014, the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault found that 20 percent of college women get raped as undergraduates. The report generated controversy. That many? Really? The controversy spurred research. Three years later, a large study by investigators at many U.S. colleges and universities concluded the statistic was “reasonably accurate.” (Muehlenhard, 2017)

During the decade since that Task Force, many colleges, universities, and the military have instituted rape-prevention programs that inform young women of their risk, warn against getting drunk at parties, and encourage “designated sober” bystanders to intervene if they see trouble. Those programs have reduced women’s risk of sexual assault in higher education and the military by 50 percent.

Rape-prevention programs have also spotlighted the fact that some problematic young-adult sexual interactions don’t constitute sexual assault, but are still unwanted and scary. Recently, Indiana University researchers investigated who experiences scary sex and why.

The researchers surveyed 721 undergraduates, average age 19, at Indiana University, 49 percent women, 49 percent men, 2 percent other, divided roughly evenly among first-, second-, third-, and fourth-year students. Almost 80 percent were heterosexual, with 12 percent bisexual, 5 percent lesbian/gay, and 4 percent transgender or gender non-binary. Half were single, half in relationships. Completing the 20-minute survey entered them in a lottery for $100 gift cards. (Herbenick, 2025)

One-Third Reported Scary........

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