Coercion in Sex and Relationships: History, Power, and Consent

When we talk about coercion, the use of pressure, manipulation, or threat to force someone into sexual activity. Also known as sexual pressure, it’s not always a fist or a weapon—it’s often a glance, a silence, a promise, or a threat that makes saying no feel impossible. Coercion doesn’t need violence to work. It thrives in the spaces between what’s said and what’s meant, in the gaps where culture tells women to be polite, men to be persistent, and everyone to stay quiet.

Look at the history: Victorian doctors called female refusal "hysteria" and treated it with vibrators. Medieval marriages were legal contracts where a woman’s body became part of a dowry exchange. Police raided gay bars not because of illegal acts, but because the very act of existing was seen as a threat. These weren’t just laws—they were systems designed to control who could say yes, and who was never allowed to say no. consent, a voluntary, informed, and ongoing agreement to engage in sexual activity. Also known as affirmative consent, it only has meaning when power isn’t stacked against one person. Without real power equality, consent is just a word on paper. That’s why feminist thinkers like Anne Koedt didn’t just talk about orgasms—they exposed how medical and social systems made women’s pleasure invisible, and their refusal meaningless. And when bisexual erasure or lesbian history gets wiped from archives, that’s not just omission—it’s a form of coercion through silence.

power dynamics, the imbalance of control, influence, or authority between people in relationships. Also known as social hierarchy in intimacy, it’s the invisible hand that shapes who gets to set boundaries and who pays the price for breaking them. It’s in the boss who hints at promotion in exchange for favors. It’s in the partner who says, "If you really loved me, you’d..." It’s in the law that once treated prostitution as a moral failing instead of an economic survival strategy. Coercion isn’t rare. It’s built into centuries of gender roles, economic dependence, and legal silence. The posts below don’t just describe it—they trace its roots from Etruscan tombs to modern AI porn, from Victorian hysteria treatments to the legal battles that finally started calling it what it is: abuse dressed as tradition.

What you’ll find here isn’t theory. It’s proof. Stories of how people fought back. How language was weaponized. How silence was broken. And how understanding coercion isn’t about blame—it’s about building something better.