Examining internal and external consent in consensual and non-consensual contexts in Women

ABSTRACT Background/aim: The Internal and External Consent Scales (ICS and ECS) have been used to measure these constructs, primarily among college students or young adults in the United States during consensual sexual activity. The aim of this work is to examine women's internal and external consent to both consensual and nonconsensual sexual experiences. Method: Building on this research, we applied these measures to both consensual and nonconsensual contexts in a sample of 764 adult women from Spain. Then, among women who experienced nonconsensual sex (n = 252), we further analyzed situational factors associated with the encounter: setting (i.e., whether the participant was in a known vs. unknown location when the nonconsensual sex occurred), and whether the nonconsensual sex was sexual coercion or sexual assault. Results: Our results show that, with regard to external consent, when engaging in consensual sex, women indicated greater use of all cues ranging from communication/initiation behavior to nonverbal behaviors than those who experienced nonconsensual sex. Similarly, those who experienced nonconsensual reported lower physiological responses of arousal, less safety/comfort, consent/wantedness, and readiness compared with those who had consensual sex. Further, those who experienced nonconsensual sex in an unknown setting (vs. known) reported feeling less safety and readiness in term of internal consent. Finally, women who experienced sexual coercion (vs. sexual assault) indicated greater use of borderline pressure. Conclusion: Our study expands on previous conceptualization of the ICS and ECS to include both consensual and nonconsensual encounters, which provides further insight about the continuum of sexual consent.