A study interviewing 35 Australian men aged 18-32 found they understood sexual consent in the abstract, “but struggled to apply it in practice.” Most of them “found verbal requests for consent awkward, unnecessary, or disruptive,” instead relying intuitively on their sense of mutuality (reciprocated, escalating cues), trust, timing, location, and verbal check-ins. They seldom considered alcohol use to be relevant. The authors concluded that sex education needs to go beyond teaching the definition of consent; to be effective, it must also include “the complex realities of sexual encounters.”
One new approach that may help teen boys learn those practical skills no school is likely to teach them is called Connected Dads, Healthy Teens, a 4-week, online sexual health program for fathers and their high school-aged teens. The program’s goal is to provide fathers and teens with information, tools, and practice to support health-promoting communication and decision-making about sex and relationships, including aspects of dating, romantic and sexual interactions, such as understanding healthy and unhealthy relationships and learning to talk with a partner about sexual and reproductive risk and protection practices, consent and boundaries, and readiness for sex. It is also inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity, and supports fathers’ and teens’ exploration of their own values about sex and relationships.
