A team of researchers, including Binghamton psychology professor Richard Mattson and graduate student Michael Shaw asked men between the ages of 18–25 to respond to hypothetical sexual hookup situations in which a woman responds passively to a sexual advance, meaning the woman does not express any overt verbal or behavioral response to indicate consent to increase the level of physical intimacy. The team then surveyed how consensual each man perceived the situation to be, as well as how he would likely behave.

The work is published in the journal Sex Roles.

“A passive response to a sexual advance is a normative indicator of consent, but also might reflect distress or fear, and whether men are able to differentiate between the two during a hookup was important to explore,” said Mattson.

The team found that men varied in their perception of passive responses in terms of consent and that the level of perceived consent was strongly linked to an increased likelihood of continuing or advancing sexual behavior.

“The biggest takeaway is that men differed in how they interpreted an ambiguous female response to their sexual advances with respect to their perception of consent, which in turn influenced their sexual decisions,” said Mattson.

“But certain types of men (e.g., those high in toxic masculine traits) tended to view situations as more consensual and reported that they would escalate the level of sexual intimacy regardless of whether or not they thought it was consensual.”

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I hate having to explain this shit to my daughter.

    We were talking about the “man vs. bear” thing and about trusting strange men and how even if a man isn’t horrific enough to try to assault her, many men who help her will expect sexual favors in return and would at the least harass her.

    This world is so ugly and I have to show her that on a daily basis.

    • masquenox@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      about trusting strange men

      Fair enough but the problem isn’t just “strange men.”

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        I agree, and we’ve talked about that issue as well more than once, but this was specifically in regards to that whole “what would you be worried about more if you’re alone in the woods, a strange man or a bear?” thing that was spreading around where lots of women said they would be more worried about the strange man.

        The reason it really happened was that my daughter said to me that she would pick the man because the man would help her get out of the woods, so I was explaining to her why many women say they wouldn’t trust the strange man.

        She’s (almost) 14. She doesn’t really understand how some men will end up preying on her yet.

        • rab@lemmy.ca
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          5 months ago

          Sounds like your daughter has good common sense to me

          • RGB3x3@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            You’re missing the point. Of course being lost in the woods with another human is preferable to a bear. The point in choosing the bear in the hypothetical scenario is that women have felt so uncomfortable around men for so long, that it’s almost preferable to risk the bear than risk the man. It’s making a statement about how women feel they’re being treated by too many men every day.

            Maybe listen to the women who say they choose the bear, they’re telling you something is wrong with how they’re treated.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              And the worst part is that some men’s reactions prove the women’s points

              In posts to social media that I have chosen not to share, men have made gleeful memes of women being savaged, ripped apart, bloodied, mauled and eaten by bears.

              They’ve shared videos of bear attacks with captions either mocking women or saying they deserve this fate for choosing the bear. “What did they expect?” these men claim, unwittingly echoing the very mindset women are protesting against.

              https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/man-vs-bear-debate-reactions/

              There have also been the men responding by saying they hope that women get F***ed by a bear or murdered for daring to feel that a bear is less of a threat than a random man.

              https://medium.com/@SpencerGall/man-vs-bear-how-are-so-many-men-missing-the-point-0345d4c2de0f

              • RGB3x3@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                The self-awareness of those guys is non-existent. How can you be so obtuse as to fall into the exact behavior you’re being called out on?

                It baffles me

            • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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              5 months ago

              The bear or man meme thing made me realize a lot of people don’t seem to have passed 10th grade English. They get so caught up in like the literal evaluation of the text and don’t even think about the subtext or deeper meaning. They probably think Dracula is just a story about a dude that bites people, and star trek is just about space ships.

            • rab@lemmy.ca
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              5 months ago

              I just find it amusing that a kid is spouting out a common sense answer but dad is like “well ackshually”

              Yes I know why women pick bear

              But I also know the actual correct answer is man, if we are taking this situation literally, lol. I grew up on the east slopes of the rockies, I’ve been charged by a grizzly, yeah no thanks on that shit

                • rab@lemmy.ca
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                  5 months ago

                  A 13 year old child doesn’t have this level of terminally online brain rot yet and hasn’t yet forgotten that bears are our natural predators

              • inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                FYI, this user was sharing the racist ass incel “men prefer the bear because it’s brown, tall and abandons their children” image in threads about man or bear.

                Food for thought if you think they are making a good point here (they aren’t).

                  • inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world
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                    5 months ago

                    LMAO

                    Some variation of all men being the same

                    You misandrists are predictable af.

                    Pick a lane, you’re pre accusing me of something you are actively doing. Beyond me how you wrote those two lines back to back without realizing the irony.

                • rab@lemmy.ca
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                  5 months ago

                  You can go read the full thread of that in the mod history, the image perfectly proves that misandry is ok on here but racism is not, if you think I literally stand by that meme then there’s nothing I can do about that lol

                  Actually I remember debating you on that, you just hate men

                  • inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world
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                    5 months ago

                    You should stop spending your time looking for threads about men as a vehicle to say inflammatory whataboutism and instead consult with a therapist why you are so inflamed by the evidence of patriarchy. You’re literally in a thread about a scientific study of how prevalent the problem is, but all you see is misandry.

                    Doing the first can’t possibly be making you happy, probably a frustrating angry way to live. However getting to the heart of your gender insecurity and defensiveness has a chance at actually producing better results for your life.

                    Edit: The fact that you think I just hate men really underlines my point.

    • willya@lemmyf.uk
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      5 months ago

      I wouldn’t say guys wanting to fuck equals an ugly world.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        “Guys wanting to fuck” because they did a woman a favor is the issue.

        How would you like it if every time someone did you a favor, they not only expected sex in return, but treated you like shit if you turned them down?

        I guarantee you plenty of women on Lemmy can tell you stories about that happening to them more than once.