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Sexual Want and Consent

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Encyclopedia of Sexuality and Gender

Synonyms

Consent; Date rape; Dating violence; Sexual want; Sexual communication; Sexual assault; Unwanted sexual contact

Definition

The freely given verbal or nonverbal communication of a feeling of willingness to engage in sexual acts.

Introduction

Within the literature on date/acquaintance rape, there have been numerous studies which have found that large numbers of women and men report unwanted sexual contact in both dating and acquaintance situations, highlighting the importance of understanding sexual consent. Sexual consent has been difficult to define. This is in part due to the fact that scholars differ on whether they define consent as a physical (e.g., external) and/or mental (e.g., internal) action. Consent definitions also vary by state, as some states lack clear definitions of consent (e.g., Mississippi) while others have explicit legal codes that define consent (e.g., California). Broadly speaking, sexual consent refers to “the freely given verbal or nonverbal...

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References

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Correspondence to Alan M. Gross .

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Ho, L.Y., Ehman, A.C., Gross, A.M. (2020). Sexual Want and Consent. In: Lykins, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sexuality and Gender. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59531-3_32-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59531-3_32-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-59531-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-59531-3

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