Affirmative Consent: What Do College Student Leaders Think About “Yes Means Yes” as the Standard for Sexual Behavior?

ABSTRACT

Affirmative consent (AC) is becoming the standard for sexual behavior between students. However, little is known about how college students interpret and practice AC. We conducted in-depth, semistructured interviews with a purposeful sample of 31 undergraduate students to understand students' perceptions of AC and how it was practiced in their sexual relationships.

Despite knowledge about AC, many student leaders thought that it was an unrealistic expectation for students. This suggests that college sexual health education needs to clearly articulate actions that are consistent with AC and indicate how these can be incorporated into students' sexual behavior.

KEYWORDS:

• Affirmative consent
• college sex
• qualitative research
• sexual behavior
• sexual violence