College Men’s Conceptualization of Sexual Consent at a Large, Racially/Ethnically Diverse Southern California University

Abstract

Many sexual assault education/prevention initiatives focus on sexual consent. However, little is known about how key recipients of such endeavors (i.e. college men) understand sexual consent. Using in-depth interviews, this study examined how 40 racially/ethnically diverse heterosexual college men conceptualized sexual consent. Using inductive coding techniques, five themes emerged as the dominant ways in which participants conceptualized sexual consent. (1) Participants conceptualized consent as the communication of willingness or lack of willingness. (2) Participants’ conceptualization of consent in the context of their committed romantic relationships differed from their general understanding of consent. (3) Participants’ conceptualization of consent was partially and minimally aligned with the university’s affirmative consent policy. (4) Participants understood consent as complicated by alcohol consumption. (5) The concept of consent provoked anxiety about perceived ramifications from a sexual assault accusation, and, related to the anxiety, (5a) verbal consent was seen as decreasing the risk of a sexual assault accusation. Overall, understandings of consent were relatively limited, often contradictory with participants’ lived experiences, and reflected the contexts in which participants engaged in sexual activity. These findings have potential implications for sexual health and sexual assault prevention initiatives.

Keywords:

• College men
• consent
• education
• sexual assault

Acknowledgments

Logan Marg thanks the study participants for their time and energy and the research assistants who helped execute this study. He also thanks Dr. Tanya Nieri for insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this paper, as well as Heather Schaal-Marg for editorial assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Logan Marg would also like to thank the University of California-Riverside College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Center for Ideas and Society, Healthy Campus, and Presley Center for Crime and Justice Studies for the funding that enabled this study.