A bill signed into law last month in California did more than highlight efforts to curb sexual violence among college students. It also put the focus on consent. California's "Yes Means Yes" law requires colleges and universities receiving state aid to adopt policies that include an "affirmative consent standard" for sexual activity.
The topic of consent -- what it is and attitudes about it -- has been a major research area for Kristen Jozkowski, a University of Arkansas at Fayetteville assistant professor of community health promotion.
"I don't see any downside to being more upfront about sex," Jozkowski said.
She began studying consent, particularly among college students, as a doctoral student at Indiana University, then continued her research after joining UA in the fall of 2012.
"I think that we've set up this vision that consent is something so professional and so, I don't know, legal," Jozkowski said.
But "that's not at all what consent needs to look like," she said. "It just can give the opportunity for positive discussion, and if someone is uncomfortable, give them the opportunity to say, 'No, I don't want to do this.'"
Jozkowski now works with a team of three doctoral students and five undergraduates at UA on various projects related to sexuality.
Her interest in studying consent is rooted in time she spent as a programming coordinator for a sexual assault prevention educational effort at Indiana University.
Before she enrolled to earn her doctorate there, she realized that there was a disconnect between what she was teaching students "and what college students were actually thinking about and doing when they were negotiating consent for sexual interaction," she said.
In joining a health behavior doctoral program at Indiana University, her goal was to apply her research to real-life situations.
"I thought, if I can understand better how college students are currently communicating consent, that would, in theory, help me make recommendations or redesign programs that target college students for sexual assault prevention," she said.
More public efforts, including new federal requirements effective this fall for colleges and universities, have focused recently on preventing sexual violence. New mandates call for increased outreach to prevent such crimes and the setting of standards for the way institutions respond to reports of sexual assault, stalking and dating or domestic violence.
A task force created by the White House "has the potential to hopefully shine some light on this issue through research," Jozkowski said.
The California measure isn't the only one of its type, A few private universities elsewhere have adopted similar policies. "Lack of protest or resistance does not mean consent, nor does silence mean consent," the California law states.
Jozkowski said she understood some criticism of the policy but it need not be uncomfortable for those following it.
"Even just saying to someone, 'Are you OK with this? Do you like this? Do you want to keep going?' I mean any of those things are great opportunities to have explicit dialog and are not at all a mood killer," Jozkowski said.
Her research has found differences in how women and men communicate their consent. Men, for example, use more nonverbal indicators in interpreting a partner's consent.
"I think I'm getting a better understanding of consent, but that also opens up a ton more doors for questions that I have," Jozkowski said.
She's quick to describe the influence of culture on campus life. One current research project studies how consent is portrayed in popular movies.
In the context of efforts to improve campus safety, Jozkowski said, she hopes more universities research what is referred to as "rape culture."
"What that really means is, you're talking about a cultural attitude or cultural climate that accepts sexual violence," Jozkowski said.
Her interest lies in applied behavioral research, and she said she hopes universities pay attention to the research.
She also said policies like the one in California can lead to cultural change.
"I can see it having an effect in terms of broader-scale sexuality, in improving our approaches to sexuality beyond just sexual assault prevention," Jozkowski said, describing such increased dialog as "a really positive thing."
NW News on 10/20/2014