"The holiday season has begun. This is the time of year when people mix and mingle, share a cup of good cheer, and let off steam in social gatherings. Christmas songs and movies stir the embers of holiday romance. Firelight is flickering. Lights are twinkling. Mistletoe is hung. Glasses are clinking. How can you resist snuggling together like two birds of a feather? Intimacy is calling your name."
"One of the unintended consequences of sexual liberation is the freedom for heterosexual women to be casually exploited by men who deny doing anything wrong. In traditional patriarchal societies, when women are raped, it is by force and because the men who are supposed to be protecting them cannot do so. Rape has always been a weapon of war, a tool of misogyny, and a terror for women."
Holiday social settings with music, firelight, mistletoe, and alcohol foster close physical contact and increased intimacy. Communication about intimacy is frequently misread, with both verbal and nonverbal cues creating ambiguous consent. Ambiguous consent produces a dangerous grey area that fuels and normalizes coercive sexual behavior and sexual assault. One unintended consequence of sexual liberation is that heterosexual women can be casually exploited by men who deny wrongdoing. In traditional patriarchal societies sexual assault was often overt, recognized as immoral and illegal, but modern interactions introduce ambiguity. Empirical data from college students indicate coercive sexual intimacy persists despite affirmative consent campaigns, a risk across ages and life stages, especially during the holidays.
Read at Psychology Today
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