1. Sexual Consent: Changing the Gender Stereotype
Maria Isabel T. Paraan and Allyson E. Yarsinske
Longwood University
Abstract
Results
Procedures Continued
6 questions from the second survey were constructed into 4 variables.
4 questions composited into 2 variables
To the test reliability of the two composited variables, a correlation was used.
Initiator 2 - r(201) = .37, p < .01
Gatekeeper 2 - r(201) = .26, p < .01
19 participants were excluded from the data for: failing the knowledge question (9), incompletion (2), and the manipulation checking failing to be graded (8). Final participant count is 201.
Manipulation check was being failed by most participants. How the manipulation check was answered (Table 1) seems to indicate the female consenter poster enforced the traditional sex script while the posters did not.
Is there gender bias influencing sexual consent and if so, can a campaign poster about sexual consent change that bias? Participants were 220 American students enrolled in psychology classes at a small mid-Atlantic liberal arts university. Surveys were given before and after campaign posters were distributed between three conditions randomly assigned to participants. There was one significant interaction between two conditions with the remaining results not being significant. This study could be used to influence sex education and understanding non-traditional sex scripts.
Table 1
Manipulation Check Participant Answers
IV Manipulation
Alcohol Poster
Female Consenter
Male Consenter
Evie 6 26
Adam 21 19
No one 59 41 28
Adam and Evie 1
Total 60 68 73
Background & Research
Sexual consent is defined by both verbal and non-verbal communication between two individuals who want sex (Hickman & Muehlenhard, 1999).
The traditional sex script describes this interaction as one between the gatekeeper (women) and the initiator (men) (Jozkowski & Peterson, 2013).
Alcohol can inhibit an individuals ability to consent to sex (Jozkowski & Wiersma, 2015), while media can influence, and enforce gender stereotypes, like that of the traditional sex script.
Research Question: Is there gender bias influencing sexual consent and if so, can a campaign poster about sexual consent change that bias?
Hypothesis: Participants who view a campaign poster focusing on a male giving consent will influence the participants’ perception on sexual consent more than a poster focusing on a female giving consent or a neutral poster.
Independent Variable: Gender of Consenter
Female consenter, male consenter, alcohol poster
Dependent Variable: Gender Stereotype
Initiator and gatekeeper stereotypes.
A one way ANOVA was used to test whether or not the gender bias on consent would change after the viewing of one of the campaign posters.
For the Initiator variable, there was a trend between all three conditions F(2, 201) = 2.78, p = .07.
A Tukey post hoc test was done and there was a significant difference between the alcohol poster (M = 2.65, SD = .52) and the female consenter poster (M = 2.44, SD = .50) at p = .05.
There were no other significant finding for the other variables.
Discussion
There was one significant difference between the participants who viewed the female consenter poster and the alcohol poster.
The female consenter poster pushed people back towards the traditional sex script while the alcohol control poster, with no sexual interaction, had no effect.
The rest of the findings were not significant. The poster did not seem to have an influence on gender stereotypes.
Limitations
Participants are students from a liberal arts college are going to be more progressive socially.
Methodology needs improvement
Future Research
Same-sex couples in consenting roles
High school students understanding consent.
Progressing towards educational use for high school and college students.
Method
Participants
220 American students enrolled in psychology classes at a small mid-Atlantic liberal arts university.
Materials & Procedures
Participants were recruited through an online experiment management system.
Participants were randomly assigned to one of 3 conditions.
Participant first completed a demographics and knowledge survey.
The participant then viewed one of the three posters, after viewing the poster, the participant filled out a 7 question survey measured on a 1(always men) to 5 (always women), excluding the manipulation check.
Sample Questions
In your poster, who was giving consent? (manipulation check)
Who do you think typically initiates sex?
Who do you think typically makes a move to initiate sex and checks their partner’s reactions?
All questions were taken and modified from the Consent to Sex Scale from Jozkowski and Peterson (2014).
References available upon request from and