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Yes Means Yes But Does It Work?: An Empirical Investigation On The Performance Of Affirmative Consent Policies On Heterosexual Sexual Assault Scenarios, Kathryn Labore

Theses and Dissertations

Affirmative consent seeks to clarify when sexual assault occurs by framing consent in terms of agreement through positive verbal and non-verbal communication (Little, 2005). Affirmative consent can theoretically account for college students’ limited ability to identify sexual assault outside stereotypical rape scenarios (i.e. stranger rape) (Hammock & Richardson, 1997), thereby decreasing a common barrier to reporting confusion (Brubaker, 2009; McMahone, 2008). Fifteen states are currently considering passing a statewide mandate requiring affirmative consent (the affirmative consent project, 2015); however, universities lack agreement on whether or not affirmative consent should be required to include either verbal or behavioral affirmations, or both …