Abstract
In recent years, the act of nonconsensual condom removal, termed stealthing, has become commonly discussed on social and print media; yet, little to no evidence exists on the current knowledge and perception of stealthing among young adults. As such, we assessed what college students know and feel regarding stealthing. We employed an exploratory mixed-method analysis where focus groups were followed by a quantitative survey. A qualitative assessment was conducted using grounded theory analyses and questions for a quantitative survey were developed based on emergent themes from focus groups. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and bivariate analyses with alpha less than 0.05 to denote significance. Though limited knowledge exists, participants felt that stealthing was a violation of their privacy, trust, sexual consent, and their ability to make a health decision, and should be considered an assault. Participants noted stealthing may have become acceptable due to its popularity in social media and young adult culture, especially porn. We also found sex differences in the perception of stealthing being considered a sexual assault with lower rates among males as compared to females. Our results demonstrate that there is a need for health educators to assess the prevalence of such a behavior among college students and policy makers to assess the legal implications of nonconsensual condom removal.
Highlights
Sexual consent is commonly defined as freely agreeing to participate in sexual activity; though the legal definition varies by state in the U.S [1] For example, in California, consent is defined as free and voluntary agreement with knowledge of the act, while North Carolina has no specific definition of consent, threat to bodily harm is considered lack of consent
Despite being popular among the young adult population, is viewed negatively and raises questions among the population, including concerns over trust, personal health, as well as consent
These results provide evidence that stealthing—the act of nonconsensual condom removal—must become an imperative component of public health efforts to ensure appropriate sexual health literacy
Summary
Sexual consent is commonly defined as freely agreeing to participate in sexual activity; though the legal definition varies by state in the U.S [1] For example, in California, consent is defined as free and voluntary agreement with knowledge of the act, while North Carolina has no specific definition of consent, threat to bodily harm is considered lack of consent. While California requires the definition of consent to include words such as “freely given” or “affirmative,” similar requirements are not present in Texas or Arizona, making legal and consistent understanding of consent difficult across the nation [1]. The importance of sexual consent has gained further interest—often attributable to the #metoo movement—that has brought to light the importance of discussing consent and violence related to sexual health [2]. Public Health 2020, 17, 3527; doi:10.3390/ijerph17103527 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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