The document examines college students' perceptions of sexual consent in popular television programs through interviews and analysis. Findings reveal varied interpretations of consent related to violence, alcohol, and verbal communication, with significant disagreement on what constitutes consent. The study suggests the need for improved dialogue on sexual consent and highlights areas for future research, including exploring differences among sexual orientations and establishing campus-wide standards.

1. The “Grey Area:”
College Students’ Perceptions of
Sexual Consent in Popular Television
Programs
Nona Gronert
Occidental College

2. Outline
• Research question
• Methodology
• Results
• Contributions

3. Research Question
What role do ideas about sexual consent
play in people’s perceptions of sex scenes in
popular media?

4. Background
 Sexual violence
 College students’ difficulties with sexual
consent
 Limited experiences of sexual intercourse
 Television as a space where students learn
to think about consent

5. Methodology
 Open-ended, semi-structured interviews
using a reception analysis approach
 19 interviews with college students
 4 television scenes

6. Findings
• 3 groups
• Focus on the presence of violence, alcohol
and verbal communication of consent
• Not unified in their interpretations of
sexual consent

7. Violence
“I still think it comes down to body language, you know, they
were still, like, you know, if they hate each other, they wouldn't
be getting closer and closer to each other, you know. It’s, like,
kinda that sort of thing, like, they kinda, ummm... they both
want to be in that position, I guess. And I feel like at any point
even when they started, they initiated the, you know, when, like,
they started kissing, they could have ended it there if they
wanted it to.”
--Hal

8. Violence

9. Violence
“It’s more or less this forced action that then the
person consents to, which is not ok ‘cause like
essentially each time is like assaulting an individual
prior to the giving of their consent . . . but, like, it’s
not, it’s just not right to do it that way.”
--Jack

10. Alcohol

11. Alcohol
“The fact that they were drunk? Uh, I mean I
think it’s fine. Neither one of them looked like
they were gonna die, they both were drunk.
Ummm … so, it didn’t seem like, you know, one
was taking advantage of the other.”
--Alex

12. Alcohol
“If she was drunk, then I would say no, it was
not consensual . . . but I think that one’s
more grey area, not consensual, depending
on how drunk she was.” --Rose

13. Verbal Consent
“It wasn’t so much a verbal question like, ‘do
you want to have sex?’ but, like, the way they
were communicating verbally eventually
physically seemed to be consensual.”
--Rose

14. Verbal Consent
“I mean the third one is like the one where there’s
actually a question, like I mean he doesn’t outright say
‘do you wanna have sex’ but he says ‘do you want to get
out of here’ and she's like ‘yes.’ That’s like the only one
where there’s like an actual yes! [giggling] I mean like a
verbal yes.” --Hannah

15. Verbal Consent
“They’re not consensual because no one’s sort
Of asks another if they should have sex.”
--Tony

16. Verbal Consent
“No, I would say, there was like no talk of consent,
really . . . In the Vampire Diaries one, by him saying
like, ‘let's get out of here,’ there might be an
assumption associated with that and then her saying,
‘Okay,’ like could be consent, quote, unquote. But,
I don't really think that qualifies, either.”
--Natalie

17. Contributions
• Multiple contrasting sexual scripts
• Disagreement as to what constitutes verbal
consent

18. Acknowledgements
• Comps class
• Professor Wade
• Supportive friends
• Family

19. Thank you!
Nona Gronert
Occidental College

20. Policy Implications
• Dialogue about sexual consent
• Campus-wide standards
• Verbal consent

21. Future Research
• Public and private universities
• Homosexual and bisexual students
• Differences in sexual scripts
• Criteria for consent