College students’ definition of non-consent and sexual refusals in the age of affirmative consent initiatives

ABSTRACT

Affirmative consent initiatives advocate that college students understand sexual consent and refusal. There has been an influx of research focused on students’ definitions or understanding of consent; however, research examining students’ definitions of sexual refusals is limited. Additionally, different terminology (e.g., non-consent vs. sexual refusal) may influence students’ definitions. We assessed how college students defined non-consent and sexual refusal; we also examined differences In definitions based on terminology while controlling for age and sex. College students (n = 758) from the USA and Canada completed an open-ended, web-based survey. Students were randomly assigned to either define non-consent or sexual refusal. We used an inductive coding procedure to analyse the data. We also used multinomial and logistic regression to assess differences in definitions across the two wording conditions. We found three overarching themes described both wording conditions: 1) an internal and external definition, 2) an intoxication definition, and 3) a coercion definition. Students’ age, sex, and the wording condition were related to their internal and external definition. Both coercion and intoxication were associated with the non-consent condition. Definitions of refusals were in line with messages from affirmative consent initiatives, suggesting that affirmative consent initiatives may influence how students define these constructs.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual refusal
• non-consent
• sexual consent
• sexual health education
• affirmative consent initiatives

Acknowledgments

We thank Caleb Coleman, Kelli Murray, Abigail Downey, Kacey Sanders and Alejandra Kaplan for their assistance in coding the data.

Disclosure statement

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