Encountering an Exhibitionist: The Female Victim’s Perspective

Abstract

Although exhibitionism is thought to be one of the most common sexual offenses, relatively little is known about its victims. The present study aimed to explore the correlates of encountering an exhibitionist, the course of exhibitionist acts, and their impact on the victim. An online survey was completed by 1,075 women, 58.7% of whom had encountered an exhibitionist. Previous victimization had the strongest impact on the probability of encountering an exhibitionist; victims’ habits had no impact. The most frequent type of place where the incidents occurred was green spaces. Most exhibitionists touched their genitals and a third of them talked to the victim. The perpetrators usually did not chase their victims, but those who did were more aggressive. The emotions most frequently reported by the victims as accompanying the incident were surprise, disgust and fear. Taking action to avoid further incidents was reported by 29.0% of the respondents. Few incidents were reported to the authorities (7.0%). The results suggest that the impact of encountering an exhibitionist is in some ways similar to other types of sexual victimization.