Situational and Dispositional Determinants of College Men’s Perception of Women’s Sexual Desire and Consent to Sex: A Factorial Vignette Analysis

Abstract

Sexual victimization of women by men on college campuses is a growing societal concern, with research identifying a host of situational and characterological factors that may predict men's likelihood to engage in sexual misconduct. In the present study, we examined the relative contribution and potential interplay of these various determinants on college men's perceptions of women's sexual desire and consent in hypothetical dating scenarios depicting a sexual interaction. We found that the men ( N = 145) in this sample (a) conflated sexual desire with consent, (b) varied their appraisals of consent and desire depending on whether and how the woman in the vignette communicated consent or refusal, (c) perceived higher levels of consent if the man in the vignette had intercourse with the woman previously and as a function of escalating sexual intimacy in the ongoing interaction, (d) endorsed higher levels of perceived desire and consent across situations if they more strongly held rape-supportive attitudes, and (e) moderated their association between situational factors and perceptions of a woman's sexual intentions based on their endorsement of rape myths and a hypermasculine ideology. We conclude that efforts to prevent sexual violence among college students may benefit from being modeled on our findings that some men are likelier to infer consent regardless of the situation, that specific situational factors can foster misperceptions of consent across men in general, and that certain individuals in particular situations may pose the greatest risk for sexual misconduct.

Exploring Definitions and Prevalence of Verbal Sexual Coercion and Its Relationship to Consent to Unwanted Sex: Implications for Affirmative Consent Standards on College Campuses

“…Echoing this, Beres [ 146 ] found that men and women both are able to ascertain their partner’s consent based on nonverbal cues and context. In fact, researchers have also found that men are able to evaluate refusal regardless of whether or not it was provided verbally or nonverbally [ 150 ]. In this way, it is not that these men do not know what is happening, but they are deliberate in their actions.…”

“…For instance, men who report misperceiving women as wanting to engage in sexual intercourse were also likely to report using sexually aggressive tactics to obtain sex [ 37 , 155 ]. Similarly, men that were more likely to endorse rape myths reported greater perceptions of consent and desire [ 150 ]. Closely related to this are feelings of entitlement [ 66 ].…”

“…Overall, this position contends that when women provide consent to unwanted sex, this may be harmful, but not necessarily equate to sexual assault [ 65 , 110 ]. After all, scholars do suggest a difference between “sexual wantedness” (i.e., desire for sex) and consent (i.e., giving permission to have sex) ([ 150 , 168 ], p. 73). For example, one may desire sex but not consent to it, while others may consent to sex but not desire it [ 114 ].…”

“…It is not a radical idea to assume that having sex in the context of a relationship is something desired by many people who decide to enter into intimate relationships and therefore could be requisite for maintaining a relationship [ 114 ]. Some people may desire emotional intimacy over physical intimacy or have a lower sex drive than their partner, but could agree to have sex in the absence of desire to please their partner [ 95 , 150 , 168 , 169 ]. As long as this happens without VSC or other perpetration tactics, then it is conceivable that this is freely given consent and simply a compromise to maintain the relationship [ 101 , 170 ].…”

“…In situations where there is freely given consent, this refers to sex that is desired and where permission is granted to engage in sex and is free of VSC, incapacitation or physical force, and external societal pressure. There is an emphasis here that freely given consent includes desire because the other outcomes in this chart refer specifically to unwanted sex which could also include the lack of desire [ 114 , 150 , 168 ]. Non-consent refers to instances in which the person does not want to have sex and does not give their partner permission and this can refer to instances where all sexual activities end or it could be maintained throughout a sexual encounter where there are perpetration tactics present.…”