Running head: DEFINING SEXUAL CONSENT 1 Defining Sexual Consent: the Role of Rape Myth Acceptance and Identification of Nonconsensual Sexual Experiences

The complexities surrounding real-life sexual consent negotiations make it difficult for undergraduate college students to have a clear understanding of how to conceptualize, communicate, and interpret sexual consent. Certain factors may play a role in how individuals understand consent, such as the endorsement of rape myths (e.g., it is not rape if the victim does not fight back), and how individuals identify previous sexual experiences. This study examined how undergraduate college students define sexual consent and the role of rape myth acceptance, nonconsensual sexual experience (NSE) history, and NSE identification. A total of 1081 undergraduates completed online measures of NSE history and rape myth acceptance, then defined “sexual consent” in their own words. Text analysis revealed eight themes of consent definitions: Substances, Sexual Violence, Nonverbal Communication, Freely Given, Ongoing, Comfort, Permission, and Sexual Activity. Multiple linear regression models with gender covariates found that higher rape myth acceptance was significantly associated with less prominent discussion of the Freely Given theme and more prominent discussion of the Permission theme in consent definitions. College students who did not identity their NSEs with sexual violence labels also had significantly higher rates of rape myth acceptance than identifiers. Students with a narrow understanding of what sexual violence entails (i.e., higher rape myth acceptance) may be less likely to understand the nuances of consent, such that it should be “freely given.” Targeting rape myth acceptance may be a critical component in the development of sexual violence prevention and consent education programs. DEFINING SEXUAL CONSENT 5 Nonconsensual sexual experiences (NSEs) are a major public health concern on college campuses, given that approximately one in five women experience sexual assault or attempted sexual assault (Muehlenhard, Peterson, Humphreys, & Jozkowski, 2017). NSEs have been defined as any form of sexual activity that involves a lack of consent and/or the use of coercion, manipulation, abuse of power, incapacitation, threats, force, and/or violence (Koss et al., 2007). High rates of NSEs have prompted universities to reexamine their sexual assault prevention policies and educational efforts. In response, many colleges and universities have adopted policies focusing on affirmative consent (Johnson & Hoover, 2015). The concept of affirmative consent first appeared in 1990, when students at Antioch College developed a mutual sexual consent policy. This policy required, among other things, that all Antioch students obtain consent from their partners prior to engaging in any sexual contact and before proceeding to the next level of sexual intimacy, unless the sexual activity was mutually initiated (Antioch College, 1990). In 2014, California lawmakers were among the first to pass legislation that established that, for a sexual encounter to be considered consensual, it must be “voluntary, affirmative, conscious, agreement to engage in sexual activity, that it can be revoked at any time, that a previous relationship does not constitute consent, and that coercion or threat of force can also not be used to establish consent” (California Legislative Information, 2014). These policies provided a framework for how to educate students about the importance of communicating sexual consent. Affirmative consent policies, however, fail to elaborate on what counts as consent and how individuals may establish sexual consent (Muehlenhard, Humphreys, Jozkowski, & Peterson,