Sexual consent cues among sexual minority men in the United States

ABSTRACT

Sexual consent research often focuses on how those who identify as heterosexual communicate consent, with limited research examining how sexual minority (SM) men communicate consent. Factors that influence how people communicate consent – such as the type of sexual behaviour being consented to and the relationship status of those engaged in sexual behaviour – is understudied among SM men. The purpose of this exploratory study was to assess how SM men communicate sexual consent and examine if these factors influence how men consent to sex. SM men (N = 234) were recruited from social media and Qualtrics’ panel. Participants completed an open-ended survey assessing how consent was communicated during oral and anal sex and who their partner was during this encounter. Responses were analysed using an inductive coding approach. Six overarching consent cues emerged: Explicit Verbal, Explicit Nonverbal, No-Response, Implicit Nonverbal, Virtual Consent and Implicit Verbal. Sexual consent communication appeared to vary by sexual behaviour and relationship status. Overall, SM men and people who identify as heterosexual appear to communicate sexual consent similarly; however, some new cues emerged for SM men. Consent education initiatives should consider findings from more diverse populations when discussing sexual consent to take a more inclusive approach to sexual health education.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual minority (SM) men
• sexual consent
• relationship status
• sexual behaviour
• gay and bisexual men

Acknowledgments

We want to thank Leigh-Anne Robinson for their assistance with coding this data

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. All four studies used different terminology for their sample (i.e. MSM/WSW, bisexual, same sex, and same gender or opposite gender couples). As such, to describe each study’s results we used the corresponding terminology. However, when presenting our data, we used the term SM men.

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded through the University of Arkansas’s Honor’s College Research Grant.

Notes on contributors

Tiffany L. Marcantonio

Tiffany L. Marcantonio, MA., is a doctoral candidate at the University of Arkansas in the Health, Human Performance, and Recreation Department. Her research area focuses on assessing how young adults communicate sexual consent and refusals and assessing the relationship between sexual aggression and alcohol. 

Andrew M. O’Neil

Andrew M. O’Neil, MPH is a project coordinator at Oklahoma State University – Center for Health Sciences in the Center for Rural Health. His research explores social determinants of sexual health outcomes with a specific focus on sexual minority men and the role of place. 

Kristen N. Jozkowski

Kristen N. Jozkowski, Ph.D., is the William L. Yarber Endowed Professor of Sexual Health in the Department of Applied Health Science in the School of Public Health and a senior research scientist with the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction at Indiana University. Her research focuses on sexual consent and refusal communication, event-level and socio-cultural factors that influence consent and refusal communication, sexual violence prevention and abortion attitudes.