A team of researchers, including Binghamton psychology professor Richard Mattson and graduate student Michael Shaw asked men between the ages of 18–25 to respond to hypothetical sexual hookup situations in which a woman responds passively to a sexual advance, meaning the woman does not express any overt verbal or behavioral response to indicate consent to increase the level of physical intimacy. The team then surveyed how consensual each man perceived the situation to be, as well as how he would likely behave.

The work is published in the journal Sex Roles.

“A passive response to a sexual advance is a normative indicator of consent, but also might reflect distress or fear, and whether men are able to differentiate between the two during a hookup was important to explore,” said Mattson.

The team found that men varied in their perception of passive responses in terms of consent and that the level of perceived consent was strongly linked to an increased likelihood of continuing or advancing sexual behavior.

“The biggest takeaway is that men differed in how they interpreted an ambiguous female response to their sexual advances with respect to their perception of consent, which in turn influenced their sexual decisions,” said Mattson.

“But certain types of men (e.g., those high in toxic masculine traits) tended to view situations as more consensual and reported that they would escalate the level of sexual intimacy regardless of whether or not they thought it was consensual.”

    • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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      5 months ago

      Are you saying that they would have kissed you if you had just gone for it, but because you asked they said no?

      I’ve met two people like that that I can remember, and I’m pretty sure not dating them was dodging some bullets.

      But it’s also very likely that if you had just gone for it, they would have awkwardly moved out of the way.

      • quindraco@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        I am saying they claimed that. I have no more knowledge than you do if they were telling the truth.

        • Crashumbc@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Humans lie, constantly. Especially in a situation like that. People will almost always say what ever they think will get them out of the situation with least conflict.

          There is always going to be"that" person that has weird issues. But I would find it difficult to believe if they wanted to kiss you, asking would be a “show stopper” in most cases.