Online and Offline Disclosures of Unwanted Sexual Experiences: A Comparison of Reactions and Affect

TL;DR

This study compares how people feel about sharing unwanted sexual experiences online versus in person, finding that online disclosures tend to lead to more positive feelings and fewer negative reactions.

Contribution

The study is the first to compare online and offline disclosure experiences of unwanted sexual encounters.

Findings

Offline disclosures were more strongly linked to negative reactions than online disclosures.

People felt more positive about online disclosures compared to offline ones.

The relationship between factors like severity and reactions differed between online and offline contexts.

Abstract

People are increasingly turning to online settings to disclose very personal experiences, such as unwanted sexual encounters. Whilst the barriers to disclosure of such experiences and the positive effects of disclosure are well documented, little is known about the online disclosure experiences of survivors and victims of sexual violence, and no research has assessed differences between online and offline disclosures. This study assessed experiences of online and offline disclosures (N = 369; 86.4% female), focusing on people’s reasons for (non-)disclosure, the severity of people’s unwanted sexual experiences, the reactions they received to their disclosures, and how they felt about the disclosure. The results indicated differences between online and offline disclosures, with offline disclosures more strongly associated with negative responses than online disclosures. Moreover, people felt more positively about an online disclosure than they did about an offline disclosure. The interplay between these various factors and how people felt about their disclosure showed a different pattern across online and offline contexts. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.