Definition and expression of sexual consent in University: an explorative qualitative study among French students
Type de matériel :
TexteLangue : français Détails de publication : 2025.
Ressources en ligne : Abrégé : Sexual violence constitutes a major social issue which is increasingly being addressed by Universities. The French Ministry of Higher Education and Research (2023) opted for a communication campaign in the fight against gender-based and sexual violence. To effectively contribute to sexual violence prevention, gaining a deeper understanding of the various dimensions of sexual consent, including its definition and expression, is crucial. To this end, focus groups were conducted on a French sample of undergraduate students in order to allow the free and spontaneous collection of participants’ beliefs and norms on the topic of sexual consent. Twenty participants, including eleven women averaging 20,5 years and nine men averaging 22 years, were divided by gender. Thus, three groups of women and two groups of men between three and five participants each were created and recorded on their exchanges on the subject. Thematic analysis highlighted several results. Students define sexual consent as a verbal agreement to participate in a sexual relationship, and they do not use the same cues to express sexual consent and non-consent. Women tend to use nonverbal cues unlike men who are more likely to use verbal cues. In addition, the expression of sexual consent differs depending on the location, the nature of the behavior, the consumption of alcohol or even the gender of the individual. These results highlight how French students define and express their sexual consent, and the differences that may exist according to gender. Thus, this study allows a better understanding of the thematic with the final goal of helping developing prevention programs fighting to reduce sexual violence in university settings.
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Sexual violence constitutes a major social issue which is increasingly being addressed by Universities. The French Ministry of Higher Education and Research (2023) opted for a communication campaign in the fight against gender-based and sexual violence. To effectively contribute to sexual violence prevention, gaining a deeper understanding of the various dimensions of sexual consent, including its definition and expression, is crucial. To this end, focus groups were conducted on a French sample of undergraduate students in order to allow the free and spontaneous collection of participants’ beliefs and norms on the topic of sexual consent. Twenty participants, including eleven women averaging 20,5 years and nine men averaging 22 years, were divided by gender. Thus, three groups of women and two groups of men between three and five participants each were created and recorded on their exchanges on the subject. Thematic analysis highlighted several results. Students define sexual consent as a verbal agreement to participate in a sexual relationship, and they do not use the same cues to express sexual consent and non-consent. Women tend to use nonverbal cues unlike men who are more likely to use verbal cues. In addition, the expression of sexual consent differs depending on the location, the nature of the behavior, the consumption of alcohol or even the gender of the individual. These results highlight how French students define and express their sexual consent, and the differences that may exist according to gender. Thus, this study allows a better understanding of the thematic with the final goal of helping developing prevention programs fighting to reduce sexual violence in university settings.




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