You have full access to this open access article. The main objective of this study was to understand the relationship between pornography consumption and attitudes toward sexual consent. The study included adults who answered a sociodemographic questionnaire, questions about pornography consumption, Paraphilic Pornography Consumption Scale, Sexual Consent Scale, and questions about the use of verbal and non-verbal sexual consent behaviors.
Additionally, there were no gender differences in the way of giving or asking for sexual consent. Our findings acknowledge that pornography has an impact in the attitudes and behaviors of sexual consent, which reinforces the importance of mentioning its impact in sexual education classes.
There seems to be an overall agreement that open communication is fundamental to healthy relationships, in order to avoid misunderstandings and provide emotional transparency from each partner. Understanding what a partner wants in a sexual context can be intricate and asking them directly is still perceived as a taboo, which makes asking and giving sexual consent a very complex task. The concept of sexual consent does not yet seem to have a completely clear definition, which translates into very limited research on the subject Beres et al.
Hall states that sexual consent may be any expression of agreement in having sex, however, unlike Dripps , he affirms that it is necessary to be given freely, either verbally or non-verbally. Social factors may influence the initiation of sexual activity e. Nevertheless, this argument is rebutted by conceptualizing sexual consent as something not imposed by interpersonal coercion and, therefore, excluding social influences West, Affirmative consent programs state that consent can be revoked at any time and the existence of a dating relationship between the persons involved, or past sexual relations between them, should never by itself be assumed as an indicator of consent Metz et al.
Based on the intertwinement of definitions made by previous literature, the present study considers sexual consent as any expression verbal or non-verbal of agreement in having sexual intercourse, in the absence of force, coercion, or threats. Studies have shown that permission for sexual activity is often given through behaviors such as gaze, body movement, kissing, increased physical proximity, intimate touch, and, less often, smiling Hall, ; Jozkowski, Research has also shown that non-verbal behaviors are used more often than verbal behaviors to communicate consent, both in heterosexual and homosexual couples, but that the more intimate the behavior, the greater the probability of consent being given verbally Beres et al.
