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Sexual Precedent's Effect on Sexual Consent Communication
Malachi Willis1, Kristen N Jozkowski2,3
1Department of Health, Human Performance, and Recreation, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA. mw038@uark.edu.
Archives of Sexual Behavior
|April 25, 2019
Summary
Sexual precedent theory suggests past consent implies future consent. This study found consent communication decreases with sexual history, then increases, highlighting consent
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Human Sexuality
Background:
- Sexual consent is defined as voluntary, sober, and conscious willingness.
- Sexual precedent theory proposes that past consensual sex implies future consent.
- This assumption may reduce reliance on ongoing communication cues.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide quantitative evidence for sexual precedent's influence on sexual consent.
- To investigate how sexual history impacts the perception of consent in relationships.
Main Methods:
- Collected daily sexual behavior data from 84 participants over 30 days.
- Analyzed the relationship between sexual history and reported consent communication.
- Utilized piecewise regression to identify changes in communication patterns.
Main Results:
- A curvilinear relationship was found between sexual history and perceived consent (p=.003).
- Consent communication cues decreased with increased sexual precedent up to approximately 575 encounters.
- Beyond this threshold, increased sexual precedent was associated with more reported consent communication cues.
Conclusions:
- This study offers the first quantitative evidence that consent conceptualization is dynamic and context-dependent.
- Sexual precedent influences how individuals perceive and communicate consent within relationships.
- Emphasizes that sexual consent is contextual and should not be assumed based on past encounters.
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