Affirmative Consent Research Articles

Hell yes? Enthusiastic consent as a legal standard for sexual consent

Australian laws around sexual consent have recently begun to shift towards ‘yes mean yes’ standards of affirmative consent. This article examines whether Australian laws should go further and adopt ‘enthusiastic yes’ standards of enthusiastic consent. This article begins by explaining enthusiastic consent and highlighting its strengths as a model of consent, before outlining both the practical and conceptual objections to its use within law. Ultimately, this article finds that whilst enthusiastic consent should not be used as a legal standard for sexual consent in Australia, it nonetheless remains a valuable tool for thinking about sexual consent in non-legal areas such as ethics and education.

Change and Challenge: Constructing a New Typology for Deviance and Crime

ABSTRACT Defining crime and deviant behavior is challenging, especially in today’s rapidly changing society. Norms are frequently violated and redefined, while new ones struggle to take hold, creating a state of anomie. Technological advancements further complicate these shifts, accelerating change and presenting new challenges. This research reviews traditional models of deviance and crime, revealing their limitations in the current context. It introduces a new model that focuses on provable harm and affirmative consent as key criteria for defining deviance and crime. By using these criteria, the model seeks to reduce cultural bias and encourage consensus. The note concludes by exploring how this model helps us understand deviance and crime today, particularly in relation to the impact of technology on societal norms.

Is Affirmative Consent the Answer? Yes, Sort of, Maybe

Recently, there have been some powerful calls in the media for the law to adopt an affirmative consent model in relation to the law on rape. This article explores this proposal. It argues that while there is much that is attractive about the concept of affirmative consent, it needs considerable unpacking and explanation before it can be accepted. Indeed, if adopted at a simplistic level, it carries considerable dangers. The article presents six ambiguities around what is meant by affirmative consent but concludes with a proposal as to what an appropriate nuanced model of could look like.

An Exploration of Sexual Consent Beliefs, Attitudes, and Behaviors among Middle School Students in Canada

An essential component of healthy sexual exploration is the understanding of sexual consent. Unfortunately, sexual consent is not consistently taught in sex education programs developed for adolescents. Furthermore, although early adolescence is a critical developmental period for the formation of sexual identity, norms, attitudes, and relationships, this population is underrepresented in the sexual consent literature. To fill this important gap, this study examined the sexual consent beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of 254 middle school students from a large, urban city in the province of Ontario. Correlates and predictors of sexual consent endorsement were tested via bivariate and multiple regression analyses. Greater perceived negative sanctions of dating violence and higher endorsement of gender stereotypes emerged as variables significantly related to and predictive of sexual consent attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and affirmative consent norms. Gender was also a significant correlate, as girls were more likely than boys to endorse affirmative sexual consent beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. The findings highlight important group differences and provide guidance for the design and implementation of sexual education and prevention programs.

"It's just the joy of existing": A Photo Elicitation of LGBTQ+ Students' Healthy Intimate Relationships.

This study of LGBTQ+ college students highlights and amplifies the experiences of their healthy intimate relationships. College represents a pivotal time for personal and relationship development for many students, and seeing the positive ways students with historically minoritized gender and sexual identities navigate relationships has value for understanding how sexuality manifests within the current culture. Using a critical constructivist perspective and photo elicitation methods, the study includes students' narratives and visual presentations of their lived experiences thriving in healthy intimate relationships. The findings included three specific areas that supported students' thriving: self-work and self-awareness, fluidity and flexibility, and communication. These findings, and students' relationship images highlight the ways that they thrive through continual affirmative consent and responsibility to themselves and their relationships. Together, these findings provide possibility models to support imagining and educating about LGBTQ+ students' healthy intimate relationships. Findings have potential for informing trainings and resources for LGBTQ+ students, enhancing relationship education by challenging oppressive norms that influence all students, and for questioning the ways university regulations inhibit participants' agency for celebrating their intimacy.

Affirmative Consent is Not Enough: A Feminist Critique of the NSW Reforms and the Limits of Consent under Patriarchy

ABSTRACT On 1 June 2022, long-awaited reforms to the law of sexual consent came into force in NSW. The central feature of the amendments is the introduction of affirmative consent – a ‘yes means yes’ standard which requires positive communication for sex to be lawful. In the context of national conversation around the prevalence of sexual assault, instituting affirmative consent is an important step – but is it enough? This paper considers the NSW model and introduction of affirmative consent in the context of feminist theory, particularly the arguments raised by Catharine MacKinnon in Toward a Feminist Theory of the State. Engaging with the limits of the consent framework as a product of a liberal, patriarchal system is critical to improving the legal recognition of the spectrum of sexual assault experienced by women.

Sexual Violence Victimization and Substance Use among Individuals Identifying on the Asexual Spectrum: Differences between Asexuality, Graysexuality, and Demisexuality

ABSTRACT Despite the growing visibility of the asexual community across the globe, little is known about how individuals on the asexual spectrum navigate their (a)sexual experiences. Asexual individuals may be highly vulnerable to sexual violence victimization due to prejudice against their lack of sexual attraction. Perpetrators may seek to pressure asexual individuals into sexual activities by invalidating their asexuality or manipulating their need for emotional intimacy. Such non-consensual sexual acts or behaviors may have a profound impact on asexual individuals. The present study aimed to examine the prevalence of sexual violence victimization and its relationship with substance use among individuals identifying on the asexual spectrum. The data for this study were derived from a global sample of 8,752 individuals on the asexual spectrum from the Ace Community Survey. The results indicated that 67.4% of the participants had experienced at least one form of sexual violence victimization in their lifetime. Experiences of sexual violence were related to more frequent engagement in substance use over the past year. Additionally, the results showed that compared with asexual individuals, graysexual and demisexual individuals were more likely to experience sexual violence, which was linked to substance use. Given the widespread prevalence and detrimental effects of sexual violence victimization, it is important to integrate asexual perspectives into prevention and intervention efforts, while simultaneously raising public awareness about affirmative consent and boundaries. The study also offers significant implications for trauma-informed care, public education, and social policies that address the unique needs and experiences of this population.

The Ambivalence of Consent

ABSTRACT This article explores the ambivalence of consent presented by Vanessa Springora’s recent memoir, Consent (2020). It argues that current notions of affirmative consent are inadequate for understanding the role of autonomy in scenarios characterised by inequality or injustice. Building on the insights of Quill R. Kukla, Emily Owens, and Carole Pateman, the article demonstrates that current concepts of consent are insufficient to address situations of deep structural inequalities, such as those foundational to Springora’s relationship with the writer Gabriel Matzneff. It argues that Matzneff's exploitation of Springora challenges two commonplace beliefs about consent that are nonetheless in tension with one another: the first, about the efficacy and desirability of a standard of affirmative consent, and the second, the belief that adolescents cannot act agentically and do not possess sexual autonomy. Reading these two claims with and against each other points toward the need for a new framework for consent grounded in the concept of relational autonomy. Ultimately, drawing on recent feminist theory, as well as the relational autonomy literature, I suggest that relational autonomy establishes the conditions of possibility under which consent can be established, debated, and refused.

A Within-Person Examination of Alcohol-Involved and Non-Alcohol-Involved Internal and External Sexual Consent Communication.

External consent communication and internal consent feelings may be influenced by alcohol consumption. However, whether the way someone communicates sexual consent differs when alcohol is or is not involved is not well understood. The goal of this study was to assess the within- and between-person effects of alcohol use, gender, and sexual identity on internal and external consent. Young adults (n = 375) completed a 10-minute web-administered survey about their internal and external consent in a recent alcohol- and non-alcohol-involved sexual encounter. External consent included five different behaviors to communicate consent. We conducted a repeated-measures analysis of variance to assess the within- and between-person effects of alcohol use, gender, and sexual identity on internal and external consent. Internal consent did not differ across sexual experiences or identities. In alcohol-involved encounters, there was a decreased use of implicit communication. Heterosexual women used more verbal communication during alcohol encounters than during sober encounters. Compared with men, women used more nonverbal and implicit communication across encounters. Alcohol use did not influence internal consent and was associated with a reduced use of implicit communication. The disinhibiting effects of alcohol may lead people to feel more confident and open about expressing their sexual desires. Affirmative consent initiatives can use findings to encourage more clear communication and continue to educate on gender differences in sexual consent.

“The Only Thing I Want is for People to Stop Seeing Me Naked”: Consent, Contracts, and Sexual Media

AbstractIn pornography, standard modeling contracts often require a performer to surrender rights over their public image and sexual media in perpetuity and across media. Under these contracts, performers are unable to determine who accesses, for what duration, and under what conditions, their sexual media. As a result, pornography has been described by some performers as a “life sentence”—a phrase which, if true, violates some strong intuitions we share about the importance of autonomy in sexual activity. Using the framework of “affirmative consent,” I argue that these contracts violate performers’ rights to sexual autonomy, and ought therefore to be considered objectionable. Overall, I argue that the legal regimes we create have a strong impact on people's lives, and more important than legislating individual outcomes, the type of infrastructure we build around people's decisions has the potential to radically empower—or disempower—those engaged in sex work.

When “Yes Means Yes”: Short-Term Effects of an Educational Video on Acceptance of Ideals Related to Affirmative Sexual Consent Among Young Adults

Sexual violence is a prevalent problem impacting college students across the United States. One of the prevention efforts suggested to deal with this concern is to better educate young adults about the ideals of sexual consent. Specifically, many colleges and universities have focused their attention to promote the practice of an affirmative sexual consent standard. Using the theory of planned behavior as the theoretical framework, an experimental study was conducted to test the effectiveness of a short educational video on increasing participants’ acceptance of an affirmative consent standard related to sexual consent, as reflected in more positive attitudes, norms, and greater perceptions of behavioral control related to the enactment of affirmative consent within sexual interactions. Participants were also asked about their endorsement of an indirect approach to sexual consent following viewing of the educational video. Overall results found support for most of the hypotheses, as the findings have practical implications for college health practitioners interested in promoting healthier sexual beliefs, specifically the acceptance of an affirmative consent standard for sexual consent.

Diverse Research Teams and Underrepresented Groups in Clinical Studies

Several ophthalmic diseases disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minority patients, yet most clinical trials struggle to enroll cohorts that are demographically representative of disease burden; some barriers to recruitment include time and transportation, language and cultural differences, and fear and mistrust of research due to historical abuses. Incorporating diversity within the research team has been proposed as a method to increase trust and improve engagement among potential study participants. To examine how demographic factors of potential research participants and personnel may be associated with patient consent rates to participate in prospective ophthalmic clinical studies. This retrospective cohort study included patients from an urban, academic hospital who were approached for consent to participate in prospective ophthalmic clinical studies conducted between January 2015 and December 2021. Multivariable logistic regression assessing associations between patient and research personnel demographics and rates of affirmative consent to participate was used. In total, 1380 patients (mean [SD] age, 58.6 [14.9] years; 50.3% male) who were approached for consent to participate in 10 prospective ophthalmic clinical studies were included. Of prospective patients, 566 (43.5%) were Black; 327 (25.1%), Hispanic or Latino; 373 (28.6%), White; 36 (2.8%), other race and ethnicity; and 78 (5.8%) declined to answer. Black patients (odds ratio [OR], 0.32; 95% CI, 0.24-0.44; P < .001) and Hispanic or Latino patients (OR, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.20-0.47; P < .001) were less likely to consent compared with White patients. Patients with lower socioeconomic status were less likely to consent than patients with higher socioeconomic status (OR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.33-0.53; P < .001). Concordance between patient and research staff race and ethnicity was associated with increased odds of affirmative consent (OR, 2.72; 95% CI, 1.99-3.73; P < .001). In this cohort study, patients from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups and those with lower socioeconomic status were less likely to participate in ophthalmic clinical studies. Concordance of race and ethnicity between patients and research staff was associated with improved participant enrollment. These findings underscore the importance of increasing diversity in clinical research teams to improve racial and ethnic representation in clinical studies.

Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to Longitudinally Predict College Students’ Communication of Affirmative Sexual Consent

This study longitudinally explored antecedents to college students’ affirmative sexual consent behaviors. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), hypotheses predicted that time one (T1) attitudes, norms, and perceived behavioral control (PBC) would predict students’ T1 intentions to communicate affirmative consent to their partner. Also, this study predicted that at time two, intentions to communicate consent from T1 would predict college students’ communication of affirmative consent to their partner during their most recent sexual encounter. Results support hypotheses for all affirmative consent behaviors, and demonstrate that subjective norms and PBC are strong determinants of students’ affirmative sexual consent.

Sex Communication: The New Consent Education

To address sexual assault on college campuses, many universities have adopted affirmative consent. Despite the adoption of these policies, there has been little research understanding the nuances of sexual consent. Drawing from sexual script theory, this study uses qualitative methodology to explore how college students understand sexual consent. Constant comparison analysis of focus groups revealed six themes relating to students’ attitudes and behaviors pertaining to sexual consent. Study implications are discussed.

It’s more complicated than it seems: understanding nonverbal indicators of sexual consent among college students

A movement in higher education policy within the United States is being made to require affirmative consent: a verbal ‘yes’ or some form of clear nonverbal communication that means yes. As a means to address nonverbal communication in sexual situations, the authors focused this study around the question of what do traditionally-aged college students believe constitutes nonverbal consent? Participants included 27 undergraduate students, ages ranging from 18 to 24 years. Findings revealed a series of 12 nonverbal behaviours that exhibited different forms of what the participants saw as constituting affirmative sexual consent. These behaviours included sex noises and/or heavy breathing, nodding, display or use of a contraceptive, arousal, and removing another individual’s clothing, among others. The authors utilise Sexual Scripts Theory and previous literature to analyse the findings. The main key implication from this study is that without a contextual setting, nonverbal indicators of sexual consent are difficult to interpret and highly conditional.

PACT: Developing and Evaluating a Digital Sexual Consent Program for Youth

ABSTRACT Understanding affirmative sexual consent is crucial for violence prevention and health promotion, yet few adolescents receive adequate consent education. The current study aimed to evaluate the acceptability and preliminary efficacy of a brief online program designed to teach adolescents information and skills about communicating and interpreting affirmative sexual consent (PACT: Promoting Affirmative Consent among Teens) in a randomized controlled trial with a national sample of 833 U.S. adolescents (ages 14–16; 42% White, 17% Asian, 17% Black, 13% Latinx; 53% girls, 31% boys, 12% non-binary; 45% heterosexual; 29% sexually active). PACT, grounded in health behavior change and persuasion theories, was developed using feedback from youth advisors and usability testers. Participants considered the program generally acceptable. Compared to youth who completed a control program, PACT was efficacious at shifting three measures of affirmative consent cognitions (i.e., knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy) from baseline to immediate posttest. Youth who completed PACT also demonstrated more accurate affirmative consent knowledge at 3 months post-baseline. PACT’s effects on consent cognitions were generally similar among youth with various gender, racial/ethnic, and sexual identities. We discuss next steps for this program, including the possibilities of expanding to include additional concepts and tailoring to address the unique needs of specific youth.

Coding the Dead: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation for Organ Preservation

Background There is lack of consensus in the bioethics literature regarding the use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for organ-preserving purposes. In this study, we assessed the perspectives of clinicians in critical care settings to better inform donor management policy and practice. Methods An online anonymous survey of members of the Society of Critical Care Medicine that presented various scenarios about CPR for organ preservation. Results The email was sent to 10,340 members. It was opened by 5,416 (52%) of members and 405 members (4%) completed the survey with few missing data. A majority of respondents (81%) answered that donation status should not influence whether CPR is performed on an imminently dying patient. There was very strong agreement (>85%) that 1) CPR should be performed on a registered donor who experiences a cardiac arrest with an unknown code status before death by neurological criteria (DNC) and 2) CPR should be performed if the patient is not a registered donor and experiences cardiac arrest but the surrogate/power of attorney (POA) has not yet been approached regarding code status and donation. When a registered donor with a DNR order experiences cardiac arrest before DNC, 98% of respondents would not perform CPR. However, after DNC, respondents were evenly divided on whether they would (49%) or would not (51%) perform CPR on a registered donor with an undocumented code status. When asked whether consent should be required for CPR for organ-preserving purposes, 39% answered “Yes” when a patient arrests before DNC and 48% answered “Yes” when a patient arrests after DNC (P = 0.2). Conclusions The majority of respondents did not consider donor status relevant to CPR decisions before DNC, and virtually all would respect a DNR order in a registered donor before DNC. Respondents were divided about the need for an affirmative consent for CPR for organ-preserving purposes both before and after DNC.

Abstract B033: Increasing sexual transmitted diseases and promoting condom use among youth: Evaluation of year 2 data from the Proud Teens of Philly (PTOP) program

Abstract Background: Rates of sexually transmitted disease (STD) and teen pregnancy are much higher in Philadelphia than the national average. Proud Teens of Philly (PTOP) is a sexual health program aimed at reducing the high teen birth rate and STD cases in Philadelphia. The program provides sexual health education to high-risk youth ages 12-19 in the Greater Philadelphia area. The materials used to implement the PTOP program, “Making Proud Choices”, is an evidence-based curriculum that was reviewed and tailored for its cultural and age appropriateness, and medical accuracy. Methods: During the second year of the program, PTOP was implemented virtually and in-person to 411 youth in Philadelphia schools and community-based organizations. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) strategies and systems thinking approach were used in site and participant recruitment, program implementation, and evaluation. The educational content consisted of 8 modules of the “Making Proud Choices” curriculum. Pre and post surveys were administered to participants at the first and last implementation sessions, respectively. During Year 2, 391 pre-surveys and 208 post-surveys were collected. Results: There were significant increases in knowledge about fluids that transmit HIV (pre=23.47 post=25.07 t=4.65 p=&amp;lt;.0001), behaviors that transmit HIV (pre=10.86 post= 19.05 t=9.37 p=&amp;lt;.0001), condoms preventing pregnancy (pre=59.57 post=76.41 t=2.8 p=0.0057) and condoms preventing HIV (pre=46.29 post=68.92 t=2.98 p=0.0035). There was also significant increase in knowledge about affirmative consent before sexual behaviors (pre=20.05 post= 0.42 t=3.71 p=0.0003) and preparedness to use condoms (pre=39.34 post=59.19 t=2.43 p=0.0169) Conclusion: PTOP, a sexual health program was effective in increasing knowledge of STD and condom use among high-risk teens in Philadelphia. We will discuss the use of CBPR strategies and systems thinking in the design and implementation of this program. Citation Format: Jade A. Truehart, Ra'Ann Merceir, Aisha Bhimla, Yin Tan, Sabrina Liao, Min Qi Wang, Jane Sileo, Maya Allen, Grace X. Ma. Increasing sexual transmitted diseases and promoting condom use among youth: Evaluation of year 2 data from the Proud Teens of Philly (PTOP) program [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 15th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2022 Sep 16-19; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022;31(1 Suppl):Abstract nr B033.

Does the affirmative consent standard increase the accuracy of sexual assault perceptions? It depends on how you learn about the standard.

Colleges and universities are increasingly adopting affirmative consent standards of sexual assault, in which consent is defined as conscious and voluntary "yeses" given throughout a sexual interaction. We examined the impact of affirmative consent standards on perceptions of assault and consent. We hypothesized that in sexual assault scenarios involving physical force or verbal coercion, exposure to the consent standard would increase perceptions of assault and decrease perceptions of consent relative to not being exposed to the standard. We then explored whether dehumanization of the perpetrator or the victim mediates the association between assault type and sexual assault perceptions and how this relation changes on the basis of exposure to the affirmative consent standard. We exposed 909 participants (predominantly women: n = 574; predominantly White: n = 677; age: M = 28.61 years, SD = 11.10; students: n = 363, Mechanical Turk workers: n = 546) to an affirmative consent standard in a written policy, a video using a "cup-of-tea" metaphor to describe the consent standard, or no information on the standard. Participants rated perceptions of assault, consent, and dehumanization of a man and woman involved in a sexual interaction involving physical force, verbal coercion, or a consensual agreement. Participants who saw the affirmative consent video were more likely to perceive physical assault as assault compared with participants in the no-exposure control condition. Participants who read the affirmative consent definition were no more or less likely to perceive physical assault as sexual assault compared with participants in the control condition. Participants exposed to the text definition perceived the consensual interaction as more assaultive than did participants in the video and control conditions. Perpetrator dehumanization also emerged as a mediator of the relation between assault type and assault perceptions. These results suggest that exposure to consent standards sometimes aids sexual assault decision-making but also leads to confusion, even in scenarios in which consent is normally discernable. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Legislating consent in sexual relations: How significant is the move to affirmative consent?

There are significant problems with how the justice system responds to sexual violence. This essay discusses some of the Victorian Law Reform Commission’s recent reform recommendations, focusing on affirmative consent. It considers the history of consent reform, beginning with the introduction some 30 years ago of a communicative consent model. It explains why further reform is needed and what affirmative consent is designed to achieve.