Experiences with Rough Sex Among Autistic University Students: Descriptive Findings from a Campus Probability-Based Survey

There is little research on autistic adults' rough sex experiences - even though rough sex has become prevalent among young adults. We aimed to explore lifetime sexual experiences, including consensual and non-consensual rough sex, among autistic university students in the U.S. and their perceptions and subjective experiences of rough sex. The study sample consisted of 46 autistic undergraduate and graduate students from a large public Midwestern U.S. university. Participants had engaged in a broad range of solo and consensual partnered sexual experiences, including rough sex, such as having their hair pulled (54.7%), being spanked lightly (51.3%), being choked by a partner (42.5%), consensual non-consent (12.5%) and having choked themselves while masturbating (19.6%) Most indicated their rough sex experiences had felt pleasurable, joyful, exciting, intimate, loving, or liberating; however, some reported they had felt them to be upsetting (60.0%), scary (30.0%), or traumatic (15.0%). About one-fifth had experienced non-consensual rough sex. Study findings underscore the need for sexuality education curricula to address diverse sexual practices for all students, including autistic university students. As autistic students in this sample reported some higher-risk practices (e.g. choking) and non-consensual rough sex, the timely and proactive integration of autism-specific findings on rough sex into sexuality education curricula is critical.