Exploring the responsivity of men's perceptions of sexual interest: The impact of sexual consent communications, acute intoxication, and past perpetration of sexual aggression

Abstract

Background: Several distal and proximal processes have been implicated in sexual aggression (SA) perpetration, including sexual misperception, or the erroneous perception of a potential partner's sexual interest or consent, alcohol intoxication, and past perpetration. Little is known about how these predictors interact in the context of a sexual interaction. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate how men's perceptions of a woman's sexual interest changed over the course of a hypothetical sexual interaction and how their intoxication, past perpetration and the woman's consent cues influenced those perceptions. Methods: Single, male social drinkers aged 21–30 with a history of risky sexual behavior (N = 97) completed an alcohol administration paradigm in which they were randomly assigned to an alcohol condition (sober control vs. intoxicated [BrAC = 0.10%]). Participants read a hypothetical scenario in which a man and woman engaged in nonpenetrative sex and the woman expressed nonconsent nonverbally and verbally. At several points during the scenario, participants rated the woman's sexual interest. Participants also reported their past perpetration. Results: Men's perceptions of the woman's sexual interest significantly decreased following verbal expressions of nonconsent. There were no significant differences between intoxicated and sober participants' ratings of the woman's sexual perception following verbal expressions of nonconsent. Men with a history of perpetration rated the woman's sexual interest following multiple verbal expressions of nonconsent as higher than nonperpetrators. Conclusions: Results suggest that intoxication does not necessarily impede men's ability to adjust their perceptions of a woman's sexual interest following verbal expressions of nonconsent.