Rethinking Sexual Consent Myths: Development and Validation of the Sexual Consent Myths Scale (Sex-M)

Abstract

A sexual consent myth refers to culturally embedded, stereotypical, or misleading beliefs that distort, oversimplify, or misrepresent what constitutes valid consent. Although this construct has gained some recognition, it continues to be unclearly defined and under-researched. This is likely due to the scarcity of a validated measure of sexual consent myths. Thus, the primary purpose of the current study was to create a standardized tool to assess myths about sexual consent and evaluate its initial psychometric properties across three independent samples in T & uuml;rkiye. In Study 1, which aimed to provide preliminary evidence for construct validity, an exploratory factor analysis revealed a robust two-factor structure: sexual consent behaviors (Factor 1) and safe relationships (Factor 2). We also found that men and people with stronger beliefs in sexual myths tended to perceive sexual violence as less severe. In Study 2, confirmatory factor analysis validated that a two-factor solution was acceptable. In Study 3, moderated mediation analysis indicated that sexual consent myths were associated with sexual violence victimization through sexual assertiveness for both genders. Taken together, the findings suggest that the Sex-M is a useful tool for exploring a range of research questions concerning sexual consent myths.