Elevated sexual activity in violent marriages: Hypersexuality or sexual extortion?

Couples have been observed to be more sexually active in marriages characterized by violence. Two alternative hypotheses are posed to account for this. The hypersexuality hypothesis is that a pre‐existing propensity for both aggression and violence characterizes both partners in selected marriages. The sexual extortion hypothesis is that male violence creates a climate of fear in which women are coerced into having sex more often they would otherwise assent to. Data on 2,435 couples from the National Survey of Families and Households 1987–88 are consistent only with the sexual extortion hypothesis. Holding constant other predictors of sexual frequency, only a husband's violence, but not a wife's, is associated with greater sexual activity in marriage. Moreover, when husbands have been violent, a greater frequency of sexual activity predicts greater depressive symptomatology among wives.