Do I Really Need to Ask for a Kiss? University Students’ Perspectives and Expressions of Sexual Consent

Abstract

The current study aims to develop a better understanding of university students’ perspectives, expressions, and use of sexual consent in various situations. A sample of 216 undergraduate students responded to a questionnaire about sexual consent. Using qualitative content analysis, the first author created categories from participants’ responses and the third author then re-coded them to ensure adequate interrater reliability. Many students reported sexual consent as always being important, but this sometimes changed in long-term relationships. Most students reported using verbal cues to indicate their own consent to engage in sexual activities and relied on verbal cues from their partners to indicate consent. However, most students reported using both verbal and non-verbal cues to indicate their own unwillingness to engage to sexual activities and relied on those cues from their partners as well. Students rarely explicitly identified the need for consent to be non-coercive and non-violent or for either themselves or their partner to be aware and conscious when providing consent. Although students usually recognize the importance of sexual consent and engage in mostly healthy practices of consent, some problematic attitudes and behaviours still exist among this population. These results can be useful for enhancing current sexual consent education and sexual violence prevention programs for post-secondary students, ensuring that students feel comfortable giving and obtaining consent in healthy ways.