Sexual consent in K–12 sex education: an analysis of current health education standards in the United States

Willis, Malachi; Jozkowski, Kristen N.; Read, Julia

doi:10.1080/14681811.2018.1510769

Cited by 69 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Because research suggests that youth rarely report sexual harassment to a teacher (Hill & Kearl, 2011), there needs to be a clearly designated teacher or administrator that youth can report to. Furthermore, sexual education needs to include discussion about sexual harassment and consent (Willis et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This lack of attention to sexual harassment also occurs at the structural level. Schools rarely cover sexual harassment, or even consent, in sexual education classes (Willis et al, 2019). In a survey conducted by Planned Parenthood and the University of Chicago in 2016, they found that less than one third of respondents were taught consent in their sexual education courses in middle or high school.…”

Section: Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Bioecological Theory of Sexual Harassment of Girls: Research Synthesis and Proposed Model

Brown

Biefeld

Elpers

2020

Review of General Psychology

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In the United States, many adolescent girls experience sexual harassment before they leave high school, and between 20% and 25% of college women are survivors of sexual assault. Despite the many negative consequences associated with these experiences, perpetrating sexual harassment and assault is often viewed as normative. Using Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theoretical framework, we propose a bioecological theory of the perpetration and tolerance of sexual harassment of girls. We propose children’s proximal and distal contexts contribute to the endorsement of sexualized gender stereotypes, which in turn impacts high rates of both perpetration and acceptance of sexual harassment. We discuss the ways that three important microsystems—parents, peers, and schools—contribute to this acceptance. We also propose that key components of media within the exosystem work to further normalize sexual harassment of girls and women. These contexts inform children’s development, creating a culture that is permissive of sexual harassment, resulting in high rates of sexual harassment and assault in adolescence and emerging adulthood. Implications of our proposed theory for policymakers, teachers, parents, and researchers are discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Bioecological Theory of Sexual Harassment of Girls: Research Synthesis and Proposed Model

Brown

Biefeld

Elpers

2020

Review of General Psychology

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“…Given how little sexual consent is openly discussed in educational settings (e.g. Willis, Jozkowski and Read, 2019) and the reliance of non-verbal cues in popular culture examples (e.g. Willis et al, 2020), it is logical to understand the complexities involved in negotiating sexual consent.…”

Section: Intricacies Of Sexual Consentmentioning

confidence: 99%

UK university students’ perceptions and negotiations of sexual consent

Wignall

Stirling

Scoats

2020

Psychology & Sexuality

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There is a growing recognition of the importance of trying to understand how sexual consent is understood and negotiated, yet research in this area is still developing. In particular, there is a need to better understand how young adults, a group significantly more likely to be victims of sexual assault, negotiate sexual consent across a range of cultural settings. Utilising semi-structured interviews, this research explores 20 British University students' perspectives and behaviours regarding sexual consent. Through thematic analysis, three key themes were identified: consent is often assumed in sexual settings; consent is understood to be important, but often taboo to discuss; and consent can be negotiated in complex ways. These findings highlight the importance of understanding the realities of how consent is being enacted and understood and have implications for campaigns which aim to reduce instances of sexual assault on campus.

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“…However, the existing research also suggests that many of these young adults spent their adolescent years immersed in institutions that failed to instruct them on the negotiation of sexual consent. To illustrate, only a small minority of U.S. states have adopted health education standards that explicitly mention sexual consent (Willis et al, 2019), and research suggests this void is unlikely to be filled at home. A recent study using a large national sample of American adolescents found that 69% of responding teens reported their mothers never talked to them about sexual consent and 81% reported their fathers never talked to them about consent (Padilla-Walker et al, 2020).…”

Section: Gender Inequality As a Barrier To The Negotiation Of Sexual Consentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Consent Is F#@king Required”: Hashtag Feminism Surrounding Sexual Consent in a Culture of Postfeminist Contradictions

Kettrey

Davis

Liberman

2021

Social Media + Society

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Hashtag feminism exists in a time of postfeminist contradictions marked by the simultaneous existence of popular feminism and popular misogyny. In one such contradiction, popular feminism has led women to expect the successful negotiation of sexual consent, while popular misogyny permits the circulation of traditional sexual scripts that disregard the necessity of consent. In this study, we analyze messages conveyed through digitized narratives of sexual consent posted on Tumblr, a social media site that is popular among feminist activists, to identify the ways that users construct meaning around the dissonance between expectations for consent and the inequalities that inhibit its negotiation. We specifically explore whether hashtag feminism navigates postfeminist contradictions in a way that simultaneously calls out misogyny and calls on feminism. We find that the Tumblr posts in our sample did both, albeit in a manner that failed to offer tangible solutions to the problem at hand. Calls on feminism were largely limited to tagging feminist allies and recirculating existing feminist campaigns. Thus, we argue that the hashtag ultimately became a handoff to a larger feminist abstraction. Future research should explore conditions under which activists link tangible issues, actors, and agendas to an otherwise abstract popular feminism.

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Sexual consent in K–12 sex education: an analysis of current health education standards in the United States

Cited by 69 publications

References 25 publications

A Bioecological Theory of Sexual Harassment of Girls: Research Synthesis and Proposed Model

A Bioecological Theory of Sexual Harassment of Girls: Research Synthesis and Proposed Model

UK university students’ perceptions and negotiations of sexual consent

“Consent Is F#@king Required”: Hashtag Feminism Surrounding Sexual Consent in a Culture of Postfeminist Contradictions

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