Attributing sexual consent

Women are more likely to be sexually victimized by their dating partners or acquaintances than by strangers. In part, unwanted sexual intercourse resu lts from misinterpreted sexual consent. To address this problem, scholars a nd policy makers have focused on how sexual communication might be improved . This paper conceives of sexual consent as knowing and voluntary agreement to have sexual intercourse. To understand how sexual consent is attributed , we examine the relative impact of nonverbal, verbal, and contextual cues on perceptions of impaired judgment, coercion, consent, appropriateness of sexual intercourse, and rape. Our data indicate that verbal statements prod uce clearer perceptions of consent than do nonverbal actions. Rarely do con textual cues cause linguistic cues to be discounted. Males and females diff er significantly in their judgments of coercion and the appropriateness of sexual intercourse but do not differ significantly with regard to perceived consent or rape.