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If college students are intrepreting sexual consent from social media profiles, what does that mean for affirmative consent policies?
Affirmative consent (“yes means yes”) policies encourage students to be more explicit while negotiating sexual activity. However, preliminary research suggests college students believe they can make assumptions about another person’s consent from social media profiles. The perception that consent could be determined from social media would be in stark contrast to affirmative consent policies and is a call for concern. As such, we aimed to better understand whether college students perceived they could utilize social media to assess consent.
Methods
We examined data from two studies. Study 1 consisted of one-on-one interviews with college students (N=30) in which themes regarding social media and consent emerged. In Study 2, we surveyed students (N=218) explicitly asking whether they believed consent could be communicated via social media such as Facebook.
Results
Emerging themes from Study 1 suggested college students believed they could assess willingness to engage in sexual activity from people’s Facebook profiles. According to Study 2, 68% of students perceived they could assess willingness to engage in sexual activity from a person’s Facebook profile. Students indicated they could interpret a person’s consent from their pictures, posts, and clothing. Themes embodying the sexual double standard and rape myths emerged across both studies.
Discussion
College students perceived they could assess sexual consent via social media profiles such as Facebook. This perception is problematic and does not align with affirmative-consent policy ideals. We will discuss the impact of these findings on affirmative consent policies and provide recommendations for improving sexual assault prevention programs.
Learning Areas:
Social and behavioral sciencesLearning Objectives:
Explain affirmative consent policies
Describe perceptions of sexual consent based on social media profiles
Discuss the implication of these findings on sexual assault prevention programs
Keyword(s): Sexual Assault, College Students
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the principal or co-investigator on studies relevant to sexual and reproductive health, sexual health education, and sexual consent. In addition to being a Project Coordinator with the Sexual Health Research Lab at my university, I have instructed courses inclusive of sexuality topics.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.