Sexual consent behaviors in same-sex relationships

Consent is a key issue in defining sexual coercion yet few researchers have analyzed sexual consent attitudes and behaviors and, to date, there has been no published research examining sexual consent within same-sex relationships. The main objective of this study was to identify which behaviors people use to ask for and to indicate sexual consent to their same-sex partner(s). A Same-Sex Sexual Consent Scale was developed to measure both initiating and responding consent behaviors in same-sex relationships. Data were collected using an on-line survey from 257 participants (127 men, 130 women). The participants reported using nonverbal behaviors significantly more frequently than verbal behaviors to indicate consent. Exploratory factor analysis for the Initiating and Responding subscales resulted in four factors for each subscale. The four factors for the Initiating Subscale were nonverbal behaviors involving touch, no resistance behaviors, verbal behaviors, and nonverbal behaviors without touch. The factors for the Responding Subscale were no resistance behaviors, verbal behaviors, nonverbal behaviors, and undressing behaviors. There were no significant differences in the initiating behaviors used by men who have sex with men (MSM) and women who have sex with women (WSW); however, when responding to initiating behavior, MSM reported using significantly more nonverbal signals than did WSW. The scale that was developed in this study should be useful for other researchers who wish to study the topic of sexual consent.