It’s more complicated than it seems

Understanding nonverbal indicators of sexual consent among college students

Datos Bibliográficos

ID15748824
AutoresKristen Harrell (Texas A&M University, autor de correspondencia), Vicente M Lechuga (0000-0002-2315-2942, Texas A&M University), Marigold M Hudock (0000-0002-1572-2343, Texas A&M University)
Año2022
Volumen7
Número2
Páginas235-251
Fecha de publicación2022-12-16
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Gender-Based Violence (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2398-6808 • E-ISSN: 2398-6816
EditorialPolicy Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1332/239868021x16681902642295
OpenAlexW4311661063
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas10

A movement in higher education policy within the United States is being made to require affirmative consent: a verbal ‘yes’ or some form of clear nonverbal communication that means yes. As a means to address nonverbal communication in sexual situations, the authors focused this study around the question of what do traditionally-aged college students believe constitutes nonverbal consent? Participants included 27 undergraduate students, ages ranging from 18 to 24 years. Findings revealed a series of 12 nonverbal behaviours that exhibited different forms of what the participants saw as constituting affirmative sexual consent. These behaviours included sex noises and/or heavy breathing, nodding, display or use of a contraceptive, arousal, and removing another individual’s clothing, among others. The authors utilise Sexual Scripts Theory and previous literature to analyse the findings. The main key implication from this study is that without a contextual setting, nonverbal indicators of sexual consent are difficult to interpret and highly conditional

Arousal · Clothing · Developmental psychology · Nonverbal communication · Political science · Sexual arousal · Child Abuse and Trauma · Law · Psychology · Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies · Social Psychology · Workplace Violence and Bullying