A team of researchers, including Binghamton psychology professor Richard Mattson and graduate student Michael Shaw asked men between the ages of 18–25 to respond to hypothetical sexual hookup situations in which a woman responds passively to a sexual advance, meaning the woman does not express any overt verbal or behavioral response to indicate consent to increase the level of physical intimacy. The team then surveyed how consensual each man perceived the situation to be, as well as how he would likely behave.

The work is published in the journal Sex Roles.

“A passive response to a sexual advance is a normative indicator of consent, but also might reflect distress or fear, and whether men are able to differentiate between the two during a hookup was important to explore,” said Mattson.

The team found that men varied in their perception of passive responses in terms of consent and that the level of perceived consent was strongly linked to an increased likelihood of continuing or advancing sexual behavior.

“The biggest takeaway is that men differed in how they interpreted an ambiguous female response to their sexual advances with respect to their perception of consent, which in turn influenced their sexual decisions,” said Mattson.

“But certain types of men (e.g., those high in toxic masculine traits) tended to view situations as more consensual and reported that they would escalate the level of sexual intimacy regardless of whether or not they thought it was consensual.”

  • quindraco@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    Or, you know, give women what they are literally telling me they want, which is what I did.

      • quindraco@lemm.ee
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        7 months ago

        Of course not. It was only three times where the problem was asking for consent to kiss, not only three times for consent period. My consent rejection list is considerably longer than 3.

        Didn’t I see you in those threads about the women choosing bears over men supporting the idea of men listening when women tell men they need to change their behaviour? Why are you now attacking me for doing it?

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Believe it or not, suggesting you need to try harder when your post suggests you’ve only tried three times is not an attack.