Attitudes about Sexual Consent: Evaluating Gender and Ethnic Differences

Event Center BC

Sexual assault is any sexual activity that occurs without consent (Jozkowski et al., 2014, U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2014; Wright & Tokunaga, 2016). Sexual assault continues to be a major problem on college campuses in the U.S. (National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 2015). Many factors contribute to sexual assault: alcohol consumption, hostile masculine attitudes, rape myth acceptance, and sexual objectification (Bernard et al., 2015; Cottingham et al., 2014; Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997; Loughnan et al., 2013; McDermott et al., 2015; Peat et al., 2011). Additionally, attitudes on sexual consent seem relevant. Although extensive research exists on sexual assault, studies of sexual consent are limited (Jozkowski & Peterson, 2013). Additionally, knowledge of multicultural views on sexual consent is lacking. The purpose of our study is to compare groups by gender and race/ethnicity to determine whether they have different views of consent. We will employ a mixed methods design in which qualitative and quantitative data are collected to develop a comprehensive understanding of sexual assault attitudes. The independent variables are gender, with two levels (e.g., male and female) and race/ethnicity, with at least three levels (e.g., Latina/o, White, and Black). The dependent variables are participants’ scores on consent measures. We hypothesize that participants will identify nonverbal cues as communicating consent more frequently than verbal cues. Additionally, gender and race/ethnicity will be related to consent attitudes. Our study can be a first step in including multicultural issues into affirmative consent education.