The "Missing Perpetrator" and The Sexual Coercion Playbook

Send us Fan Mail📖 Read: https://helioxpodcast.substack.com🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd5BbCEeC3Z6dp-nNjWRbBw 🎙️Available for Broadcast: https://exchange.prx.org/group_accounts/253118-heliox_where_evidence_meets_empathy For 40 years, researchers found millions of victims of sexual coercion — and almost no perpetrators willing to say so. They weren't missing. We were asking the wrong questions.A landmark 2024 study by O'Sullivan & Ronis surveyed 2,689 ordinary community-dwelling men using neutral, behavioural language — and 95.1% disclosed using at least one coercive sexual strategy. In this episode of Heliox: Where Evidence Meets Empathy, we unpack the full coercive pipeline: from a 36-strategy playbook with a 65% success rate, to the role of female "Trojan horses," to the childhood trauma that plants the seed — and the single statistic that predicts everything: prior behaviour.Sources:Isolate, Inebriate, Intimidate, Repeat: High Rates of Sexual Force Against Women Are Reported When Young Men Given Anonymous SurveysSexual Assault Perpetration and Reperpetration From Adolescence to Young AdulthoodKey findings:95.1% disclosure rate when legal language is removed36 specific coercive strategies — average man used 965% success rate for overcoming explicit non-consent43.8% used a female friend as cover (Trojan horse)Prior behaviour: 4.1× to 11.2× increased risk of college perpetrationOnly 3 men faced charges out of 2,254 incident reportsThis episode closes with a genuinely actionable message: knowledge is the friction this system currently lacks. You now have it.This is Heliox: Where Evidence Meets EmpathyIndependent, moderated, timely, deep, gentle, clinical, global, and community conversations about things that matter.  Breathe Easy, we go deep and lightly surface the big ideas. Support the showDisclosure: This podcast uses AI-generated synthetic voices for a material portion of the audio content, in line with Apple Podcasts guidelines. We make rigorous science accessible, accurate, and unforgettable.Produced by Michelle Bruecker and Scott Bleackley, it features reviews of emerging research and ideas from leading thinkers, curated under our creative direction with AI assistance for voice, imagery, and composition. Systemic voices and illustrative images of people are representative tools, not depictions of specific individuals.We dive deep into peer-reviewed research, pre-prints, and major scientific works—then bring them to life through the stories of the researchers themselves. Complex ideas become clear. Obscure discoveries become conversation starters. And you walk away understanding not just what scientists discovered, but why it matters and how they got there.Independent, moderated, timely, deep, gentle, clinical, global, and community conversations about things that matter.  Breathe Easy, we go deep and lightly surface the big ideas.Spoken word, short and sweet, with rhythm and a catchy beat.http://tinyurl.com/stonefolksongs