In light of the new California legal mandate for affirmative sexual consent in higher education institutions, the current sexual consent literature merits review. This review examines perceived peer norms, traditional sexual scripts, and rape myths specific to consent. In particular, we describe findings about indirect, nonverbal communication and token resistance among young adults; we also connect sexual consent to rape myths about accidental or unintentional sexual behavior, perceived miscommunication, and preexisting sexual relationships. Based on these findings, we assert that additional research and interventions are needed to address barriers that hinder young adults from establishing affirmative sexual consent. We refer to the body of literature on sexual assault prevention. This literature sheds light on potential avenues for developing affirmative sexual consent interventions and evaluating their effectiveness
