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.”

  • StaySquared@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Reported that they would escalate the level of sexual intimacy regardless of whether or not they thought it was consensual.

    Gentlemen, the moment you’re questioning in your head if the girl is consenting, you use your voice and ask something along the lines of, “do you trust me?” or, “keep going?”, or “do you like this/it?”

    Fkin no brainer. smh

    • TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      until she says ‘no’. you stop and take her home.

      then she messages you the next morning ‘i don’t date pussies who take no for an answer’.

      plenty of women have the toxic idea that their consent should and must be violated to prove your worth as a man, or equally, her desirability.

      • Glytch@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Then you congratulate yourself for dodging a bullet and focus your efforts on people who don’t play those kinds of games.

        Someone who sends a text like that is also the sort of person to “forget” their birth control or lie about std test results. So yeah maybe you got your dick wet, but now you’re paying for child support and syphilis medication.

      • sparkle@lemm.ee
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        Cymraeg
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        6 months ago

        It’s a lot better not to participate in rape culture and risk committing sexual assault, rather than submit to a woman perpetuating toxic masculinity, ngl. I wouldn’t want to be the person to get raped just because other people think that accepting “no” for an answer is for pussies.