Communicating Interest in Sex: Verbal and Nonverbal Initiation of Sexual Activity in Young Adults’ Romantic Dating Relationships

Abstract

Relatively little is known about the day-to-day initiation of sexual activity between young adults in committed relationships, notably the ways in which young people communicate interest in sexual activity. Sexual script theory (Simon and Gagnon, Society 22:53-60, 1984) posits that men are traditionally the initiators and women the restrictors of sexual activity early in relationships. However, research suggests that these patterns may be different for individuals in committed relationships. The current study used a diary method to examine verbal/nonverbal and indirect/direct initiation strategies, responses to initiations, and patterns between initiations and responses. Participants included 31 men and 32 women between the ages of 18 and 24 years who were involved in committed heterosexual relationships. Men initiated more frequently than did women and most initiations were nonverbal initiation (91%) rather than verbal (65%). Responses to initiations tended to match the initiators' choice of strategies, suggesting that synchrony plays an important role in initiation patterns. The findings have implications for understanding sexual communication as well as relationship and sexual satisfaction among young adults.

Predictors of Sexual Scripts Among Young, Sexually-Active, Substance- Using African American Women

“…face-to-face meetings. Codes were collapsed into themes informed by Wingood's focus of Connell's TGP on the powerless of AA women in sexual decision making [44][45][46]66] and Stephen and Phillip focus on female's sexual script development research of AA women [36,[50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60]. The research team then conducted a frequency analysis on emerging themes using NVIVO11 and Microsoft Excel software.…”

“…Stephens and Phillips' focus of females' sexual script development research with AA women explores ways culture shapes perception, expression of appropriate and socially acceptable sexual behavior, individual level expectations, and experiences of behaviors that occur in series [49] within a population at high risk for HIV [36,[50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60]. The SST articulates the way sexual scripts provide instructions (i.e., a roadmap) for clarifying the intention and meaning of sexual cues and responding to them, which in turn informs how men and women behave in sexual situations [50,51,[60][61][62][63].…”

A Critique of Carceral Feminist Arguments on Rape Myths and Sexual Scripts

“…An accused man might contend that since he and the complainant had become accustomed to silent, passive, or indirect consent cues, he reasonably failed to realize on a particular occasion that this response (or lack of response) actually constituted a lack of consent on her part. One theme that comes through a number of the sex research studies in terms of both beliefs and practise is that the perceived need for explicit consent is inversely proportional to the degree of intimacy and familiarity between the parties (Humphreys, 2007;Muehlenhard & Hickman, 1999;Vannier & O'Sullivan, 2011). However, since the real rape myth anticipates a rapist to be the opposite of a committed sexual partner (i.e., a stranger), does crediting such beliefs and practises with legitimacy and lawfulness amount to endorsing the myth?…”

“…But on the other side, to exclude contextual matters that would indicate the possibility of consent or a belief in consent and hence an absence of mens rea, transforms a perfectly legitimate concern for highlighting victimization and where it happens (i.e., in relationships) into an immutable and necessary Truth (Khan, 2014). The fact that we know from sex research studies that in established sexual relationships consent-talk does become more dependent on nonverbal and indirect cues (Humphreys, 2007;Vannier & O'Sullivan, 2011;Hickman & Muehlenhard, 1999) is certainly a cause for concern about an apparent lack of awareness about the dangers of coercion within sexual relationships. However, this same research must also be relevant for reflecting on whether to categorize miscommunication as a false belief (Hansen, O'Byrne, & Rapely, 2010;O'Byrne, Rapely, & Hansen, 2006) or in fact a realistic possibility (Tadros, 2006, pp.…”

“…That individuals feel that reliance on nonverbal initiations and consent cues are both sufficient and preferable is reported by, for example, Humphreys (2007) (69% of male respondents in a Canadian university and 44% of females) and by Vannier and O'Sullivan (2011), and that ''no response'' as a way to signal consent is used by both men and women is reported by Hickman and Muehlenhard (1999). Lim and Roloff's (1999) research on the responses of American undergraduate students to various impairments to consent, reports a fairly widespread acceptance that both verbal and nonverbal cues may constitute consent in the absence of coercion or manipulation.…”