Media Portrayals of Sexual Consent and Refusal Influence Adolescents' Gender-Related Attitudes

The current study explored the extent to which exposure to television messages results in a shift in adolescent viewers' behavioral intentions regarding sexual consent and beliefs about gender. Using television clips of adolescent-directed programming, we conducted a 2 (type of sexual initiation: verbal vs. nonverbal) x 2 (gatekeeper's response: consent vs. refusal), plus a control condition, between-subjects experiment. Results indicated that gender influenced participants' responses to the various depictions of consent. Exposure to nonverbal sexual initiation resulted in greater perceptions of women's sexual agency and women as sexual objects, compared to the control condition. In addition, participants reported stronger endorsement in men as sex-driven following exposure to all sexual consent conditions compared to the control except verbal sexual initiation.