Dr. Peterson researches sexual consent, sexual assault, sexual coercion, and unwanted sex. She has studied men’s and women’s experiences as both victims and perpetrators of sexual aggression. Dr. Peterson’s most recent research has focused on sexual assault victims’ cognitive appraisals of their nonconsensual sexual experiences, on improving self-report measurement of sexual aggression, and on developing and evaluating a sex-positive sexual assault prevention intervention.
My research interests are in the areas of gender and human sexuality, with a particular focus on investigating experiences of unwanted, coerced, and nonconsensual sex from the perspectives of both victims and perpetrators.