College Students and Sexual Consent: Unique Insights

Abstract

Sexual assault continues to be a salient health concern, especially among college women. Because assault is often defined in terms of consent, prevention efforts hinge on promoting the definition and the obtainment of consent as a mechanism to reduce assault. Despite the focus on consent promotion, research specifically examining consent in general and among college students specifically is limited. College students (n = 185) were recruited to participate in an open-ended survey in which they were asked to report how they indicated consent and interpreted their partners' consent to engage in a range of sexual behaviors. Content analysis was utilized to qualitatively analyze responses. In the current study, data were assessed for emerging themes across all items. In examining participants' responses, four distinct themes emerged: (a) endorsement of the traditional sexual script; (b) women are responsible for performing oral sex; (c) men's consent to sex can be aggressive; and (d) men utilize deception to obtain consent to sex. Findings suggest that men are conceptualized as sexual initiators and women as sexual gatekeepers, and that men's sexual pleasure is primary whereas women's experience of pleasure is secondary. Findings articulate the need for more pointed research aimed at assessing sexual consent among college students.