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This pre-registered study examined the prevalence and correlates of sexual aggression in a sample of 530 Iranians (322 women, 208 men) with a behaviorally specific questionnaire distinguishing between different coercive strategies, victim-perpetrator relationships, and sexual acts. Significantly more women (63.0%) than men (51.0%) experienced at least one incident of sexual aggression victimization since the age of 15 years, and significantly more men (37.0%) than women (13.4%) reported at least one incident of sexual aggression perpetration. In women and men, the experience of child sexual abuse predicted sexual victimization and sexual aggression perpetration after the age of 15 years, both directly and indirectly through higher engagement in risky sexual behavior. Greater endorsement of hostile masculinity among men explained additional variance in the prediction of sexual aggression perpetration. This research is a first step towards documenting and explaining high rates of sexual aggression victimization and perpetration among Iranian women and men, providing important information for sex education as well for the prevention of sexual aggression. However, to achieve these goals, we highlight the need for systematic actions in all educational, social, and legal sectors of Iranian society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PRACTICE IMPACT STATEMENTThis online experiment examined how Iranian women and men (N = 525; 321 women, 204 men) perceived a heterosexual rape encounter depending on the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator. Participants read a vignette describing a non-consensual sexual encounter in which the victim and the perpetrator were either married or dating. They then indicated victim blame, certainty of rape judgement, and punishment attribution to the perpetrator. Women and men blamed the married victim more and were less likely to judge the marital encounter as rape, with larger differences between conditions for men than for women in exonerating the married perpetrator. Stronger honour and religious beliefs predicted more victim blaming, lower rape certainty judgements, and lower punishment, more so in marital rape than date rape. The discussion highlights the need to recognise rape in various victim-perpetrator scenarios beyond stranger rape and to address the societal context that condones and perpetuates sexual violence against women.Understanding the social perception of non-consensual sexual intercourse beyond the insights from Western cultures has significant implications for individual, societal, and institutional responses towards date and marital rape in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]