The Kinsey Institute - Staff - Peterson [About the Institute]

Zoë Peterson

Research Fellow

The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction

Morrison Hall 313
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN 47405
Phone: (812) 855-7686
E-mail: zdpeters@indiana.edu
Download CV (PDF)

Education

Ph.D., University of Kansas, Department of Psychology, Clinical Program, 2005
M.A., University of Kansas, Department of Psychology, Clinical Program, 2000

Research Statement

Peterson’s research has focused primarily on how young women conceptualize and label their own experiences with acquaintance rape, sexual coercion, and unwanted sex. Dr. Peterson also has a developing interest in young men’s perpetration of sexual aggression.

Research Interests

Acquaintance rape on college campuses
Rape myths
Rape acknowledgement

Selected Publications

Peterson, Z.D., & Janssen, E. (2007). Ambivalent affect and sexual response: The impact of co-occurring positive and negative emotions on subjective and physiological responses to erotic stimuli. Archives of Sexual Behavior , DOI 10.1007/s10508-006-9145-0.

Peterson, Z.D., & Muehlenhard, C.L. (2007). Conceptualizing the 'wantedness' of women's consensual and nonconsensual sexual experiences: Implications for how women label their experiences with rape. Journal of Sex Research, 14 (1), 72-88.

Muehlenhard, C.L., & Peterson, Z.D. (2005). Wanting and not wanting sex: The missing discourse of ambivalence. Feminism and Psychology , 15, 15-20.

Peterson, Z.D., & Muehlenhard, C.L. (2004). Was it rape? The function of women's rape myth acceptance and definitions of sex in labeling their own experiences. Sex Roles, 51 (3/4) , 129-144.

Peterson, Z.D. (2002). More than a mirror: The ethics of therapist self-disclosure. Psychotherapy, 39, 21-31.