The Temporal Character of Sexual Consent among College Students

2019 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 335-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Chin ◽  
Alexander Wamboldt ◽  
Claude Ann Mellins ◽  
Jennifer S. Hirsch ◽  
Shamus R. Khan
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Violence Prevention ◽  
Sexual Contact ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Sexual Consent ◽  
Calendar Time ◽  
Temporal Process ◽  
Temporal Dimensions

The presence or absence of sexual consent distinguishes between sexual contact that is sexual assault and sex that is not assault. While temporality is an implicit focus in studies of sexual consent, it has received relatively little attention as an object of analysis. Drawing on in-depth ethnographic research conducted as part of a mixed methods study on sexual health and sexual assault among college students, this article examines the role of time in sexual consent. Specifically, we attend to how socially- and discursively-patterned experiences of time influence college students' capacity to grant or withhold consent. We identify three important temporalities. “Calendar time” refers to how events throughout the year influence the expectation of sexual contact and the negotiation of sexual consent. “Relationship time” refers to how the temporal dimensions of a sexual relationship impact how consent is navigated. Finally, “sexual time” pushes us to think of sex itself as a temporal process that locates consent at different points in time: before, during, and after a single sexual encounter. We conclude by outlining how time-based approaches to sexual consent may contribute to more effective sexual violence prevention initiatives.

Making the Call: College Students’ Legal Consciousness and Hypothetical Activation of Police for Sexual Assaults

2021 ◽  
pp. 107780122110211
Author(s):  
Trish Oberweis ◽  
Dayna Henry ◽  
Stacey Griner ◽  
Ekaterina Gorislavsky
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Contact ◽  
Legal Consciousness ◽  
Sexual Assault Prevention ◽  
Sexual Assaults ◽  
Assault Victims ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Willingness To Report ◽  
Assault Prevention

Research has identified the necessity of sexual assault victims to label their experience as criminal to initiate reporting. However, barriers exist in labeling uninvited sexual contact as criminal. This study examined college students’ assessments of whether eight nonconsensual behaviors met the legal definition of sexual assault, and whether such behaviors should be reported to police. Results indicated students acknowledged the nonconsensual behaviors as criminal; however, gaps were identified between awareness that the acts were criminal and willingness to report to police. Findings demonstrate a need for continued efforts for sexual assault prevention among college students.

She Left the Party: College Students’ Meanings of Sexual Consent

2020 ◽  
pp. 107780122091146
Author(s):  
Anne Groggel ◽  
Maddie Burdick ◽  
Angel Barraza
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Interest ◽  
Sexual Consent ◽  
Female Character ◽  
College Sexual Assault ◽  
Gendered Expectations

At a moment when college sexual assault is described as an epidemic, it is important to understand college students’ implicit meanings of consent. Through 83 interviews, we examine students’ interpretations of a vignette in which neither character asked nor gave consent to sex. Gendered expectations significantly shaped whether students interpreted the male or female character as giving consent. When considering how students indicate interest in kissing or having sex, students interpreted acts such as leaving a party as indications of a man’s sexual interest and a woman’s willingness. That is, college students “expected” and employed implicit, gendered readings of actions that inform their understandings of implicit consent.

College Students’ Social Reactions to the Victim in a Hypothetical Sexual Assault Scenario: The Role of Victim and Perpetrator Alcohol Use

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 957-972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy S. Untied ◽  
Lindsay M. Orchowski ◽  
Nadine Mastroleo ◽  
Christine A. Gidycz
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Emotional Support ◽  
Social Reactions ◽  
Victim Responsibility

College students’ responses to a hypothetical sexual assault scenario involving alcohol use by the victim and/or perpetrator were examined (N = 295). Participants reported on victim/perpetrator responsibility, the extent to which the scenario would be considered rape, and their likelihood of providing positive or negative responses to the victim. Compared to women, men indicated that they would provide more negative and less positive social reactions to the victim, were less likely to identify the scenario as rape, and endorsed less perpetrator responsibility. When the victim was drinking, participants endorsed greater victim responsibility and lower perpetrator responsibility for the assault. Participants indicated that they would provide the victim with less emotional support when only the perpetrator was drinking, compared to when both the individuals were drinking.

“More of a Girl Thing?” Examining the Role of Gender and Campus Context in Perceptions of Risk and the Shadow of Sexual Assault

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052110051
Author(s):  
Shannon K. Jacobsen
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Fear Of Crime ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Apparent Paradox ◽  
Perceptions Of Risk ◽  
Urban University ◽  
Shadow Of Sexual Assault

One of the most consistent predictors of fear of crime is gender, whereby women are more fearful of crime than men, despite their lower rates of victimization. An often-cited explanation for this apparent paradox is the “shadow” of sexual assault, which has received overwhelming support in studies among college students. However, this work has been largely quantitative and rarely comparative in nature. Using in-depth qualitative interviews with 70 undergraduates attending a suburban and an urban university, the focus of the current study was to understand if and how gender shapes students’ fear of crime and perceptions of risk on campus, as well as whether the influence of gender varies across contexts. Consistent with the shadow hypothesis, this study found that students attending university in the relatively affluent suburban setting were most concerned about the sexual assault and rape of their female peers, especially by non-student outsiders. Yet in the less advantaged urban context, the shadow was missing from students’ remarks. Instead, participants believed they were most likely to be robbed and generally knew someone who had been a victim of the crime, had they not been robbed themselves. The findings from this study have theoretical implications for the role of context in the shadow of sexual assault hypothesis, as well as methodological implications for how scholars examine gender and students’ fear of crime.

Recent Sexual Assault and Suicidal Behaviors in College Students: The Moderating Role of Anger

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristy M. Keefe ◽  
Shane Sizemore ◽  
Jonathan Hammersley ◽  
Naoyuki Sunami
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Suicidal Behaviors ◽  
Moderating Role

From ignorance to knowledge: Sexual consent and queer stories

2021 ◽  
pp. 095935352110590
Author(s):  
Melanie A Beres
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Consent ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Deep Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Problem ◽  
Willingness To Engage

The problem of sexual assault has received increasing public attention over the last few years, with an increasing focus on the concept of sexual consent to solve the problem. Education efforts focus on teaching people what consent is and how to explicitly communicate about sex, constructing consent as a knowledge problem. Using the stories of queer adults, this study calls for the development of an epistemology of sexual consent. I argue that the current research and scholarship fail to recognise existing knowledge about sexual consent, relegating sexual consent to an epistemology of ignorance. Queer participants in this study demonstrated sophisticated knowledge of sexual consent through their talk on the role of verbal consent cues and articulating how they “tune in” to their partners during sex. Within their talk, verbal consent was sometimes viewed as essential to consent, while at times was not necessary, and at other times was not enough to understand a partner's sexual consent. Importantly, they described deep knowledge about partners’ comfort, discomfort or hesitation through “tuning in”. Developing an epistemology of sexual consent requires recognising and valuing what participants tell us about what they know about their partners’ willingness to engage in sex.

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