What Exactly Means Yes? The Difference Between Women’s and Men’s Perceptions of Sexual Consent

• In Event: 2323 - Student Forum Refereed Roundtable
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: 3. Identity, Institutions and Personhood in the Study of Sexuality and Gender

Abstract

The recent surge of high-profile men being fired amidst sexual misconduct accusations has sparked a national dialogue about what behaviors constitute assault and what behaviors indicate consent. While there has been an increase in surveys measuring attitudes about sexual consent, most of this existing literature is focused exclusively on college students. It makes sense to target this population as they are a demographic with high rates of non-monogamous coupling, where hookup culture and alcohol often go hand-in-hand. It may be fair to assume that after college, people are more likely to be married and/or monogamous, and therefore no longer navigating the boundaries of consent with new partners. But these married and monogamous adults are the parents, teachers, and fellow community members of the college students about whom we are so focused, and their opinions about consent are being overlooked. This research attempts to fill that void.
Drawing on original survey data, I examine attitudinal differences in the perception of whether certain behaviors indicate consent for sex. The survey shows that women have more strict attitudes towards which behaviors indicate consent (i.e. indicating that a behavior Definitely Does NOT or Probably Does NOT indicate consent) than men. Additionally, younger respondents have more strict attitudes than respondents over 65. These findings highlight a need for sex education to include conversations about consent. The sheer fact that not one of the behavioral questions yielded any unanimous response means that there is no agreement whatsoever as to which behaviors are indicative of consent.

Author

• Courtney Alison Bell, American University