• The proportion of adults who experienced sexual violence in their lifetime was 40%, with higher levels for women (52%) compared with men (28%).

• Bisexual and gay/lesbian people reported higher levels of sexual violence as an adult (55% and 40% respectively) than heterosexual/straight people (25%).

• Four times more women (21%) than men (5%) reported experiencing non-consensual sexual intercourse over their lifetime.

• One in ten women (10%) experienced non-consensual sexual intercourse as an adult when they were unable to give consent.

• Almost one in five (17%) men aged 25-34 experienced non-consensual sexual touching as an adult.

• The majority of adults (78%) who experienced sexual violence at least once in their lifetime knew the perpetrator, with very little difference between women (79%) and men (75%)

• Overall, the majority of perpetrators were male. (84%) experienced sexual violence with a male partner and (87%) with a male non-partner. 

  
  

  ^{Sexual violence as an adult is defined in this survey as a range of non-consensual experiences, from non-consensual sexual touching to non-consensual sexual intercourse.}

  (Central Statistics Office, 2023a)

“Just because someone is aroused, just because you are reading their body language, doesn’t mean that you don’t have to ask for consent…I think this is a fallacy that we have as a society that men can’t be assaulted if they were aroused" (Friedlander, 2021, para 9).

Transgender and gender non-conforming individuals have also been excluded from the conversation in Ireland as they are not represented in the Sexual Violence Survey 2022.

The legal meaning of consent varies from country to country. In 2017, Ireland introduced a legal definition of consent (Irish Statute Book, 2017, Section 48), which includes circumstances where a sexual act is considered non-consensual, such as being asleep or unconscious. Sexual acts that occur without consent constitute a sexual assault or rape. In Ireland, rape is a gendered offence which can only be committed by a male; sexual assault is considered gender-neutral (Maiorano, 2018). In recent years, multiple consent campaigns and programmes have been created supported by funding from the Irish government to help combat sexual and gender-based violence, and it remains to be seen what impact they will have on the high level of sexual violence in Ireland.

Sexual consent programmes and campaigns often view consent as a tool to prevent sexual violence and foster ethical sexual behaviour (Beres, 2020), and consent education has demonstrated the potential to enhance understanding and attitudes regarding consent (Horvick and Silver, 2019); however, “there is little to no evidence that it reduces sexual violence” (Jeffrey, 2022). Recognising various forms of consent, whether verbal or non-verbal, fails to fully address how gender inequality influences sexual decision-making and negotiation in a culture characterised by hyper-individualisation and hyper-sexualisation (Muehlenhard et al., 2016). Consent education needs to account for power dynamics and cultural influences that form the context of our sexual desires and our capacity to navigate individual experiences of un/wanted and non/consensual sex (Beres, 2020; Jeffrey, 2022). Negotiating sexual consent is more complicated and nuanced than any legal definition. When analysing sexual consent, sexual scripts play a crucial role as they delineate cultural norms and expected behaviours (Jozkowski and Peterson, 2013).

Mass media perpetuate mostly heterosexual scripts within societies. Media depictions that objectify women and present them as submissive or as objects of male desire can offer a script for women to imitate while also reinforcing men’s perceptions that such representations reflect reality (Kim et al., 2007). Depictions of female powerlessness further solidify the heterosexual script that women yield limited power or sexual agency (Kim et al., 2007). Once integrated into one’s sexual script, they shape and inform expectations around sexual behaviour and sexual consent (Simon and Gagnon, 1986). In TV, films, and pornography, explicit verbal consent is seldom depicted, perpetuating the notion that explicit verbal consent is not the norm and that sexual activity can occur without ongoing consent (Malachi et al., 2020; Willis et al., 2020). Research with US college students found that exposure to dominant heterosexual scripts in men’s magazines correlated significantly with decreased intentions to seek sexual consent and adhere to sexual consent; alternatively, reading women’s magazines correlated with stronger inclinations to decline unwelcome sexual advances (Hust et al., 2014). In many cases, gendered sexual scripts expect women to be submissive gatekeepers of sexual consent and dictate that men should initiate sex, be dominant and sexually aggressive (Hust et al., 2017; Jozkowski and Peterson, 2013). These “heteronormative sexual scripts…are employed in ways that perpetuate rape myths that absolve perpetrators and blame victims” (Cullen et al., 2023, p. 1559).

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Masculine traits that are considered ‘toxic’ include:

• Using or threatening violence

• Controlling others

• Acting aggressively

• Suppressing emotions

• Trying to appear ‘tough’

• Treating sex as a competition

• Feeling entitled to sex from others

• Using power over women, ‘weaker’ men, and marginalised groups

• Consent can be ignored.

• A lack of understanding around the right to withdraw consent.

• Inhibitions around talking about sex candidly and clearly among all age groups.

• People are unclear about their own sexual likes and dislikes and a quarter are unsure about partner preferences. 

• People lack the confidence to stop an encounter when uncomfortable. 

  (Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, 2021. Para. 4)

Email: suzanneswitzer7@gmail.com

To cite:

Switzer, S. 2024. "Sexual Consent in Ireland", SEXTANT: Masculinities, Sexualities & Decolonialities, Padlet. Vol 2, Issue 1: 13.

SEXTANT: Masculinities, Sexualities &, Decolonialities

ISSN 2990-8124

University College Dublin, Ireland

https://sextantnotes.com