The Role Of Sexual Consent In Pleasurable Sex

When we think about the purpose of sexual consent, especially affirmative consent, we tend to think of it as something that prevents violence. Indeed, the purpose of sexual consent — an unencumbered and uncoerced communicative expression of someone’s willingness to engage in sexual activity — is to ensure sexual activity only takes place when everyone wants to participate and is free to communicate that desire without pressure. The widespread adoption of sexual consent practices could therefore reduce sexual violence by encouraging people to communicate about what they do or do not want, rather than simply assuming a partner is willing or pressuring them to participate.

But that’s not the only benefit of consent. Different variations of consent-related messaging have been promoted over the years, including those that frame consent as an enhancement to sexual activity rather than just a measure of violence prevention. For example, the popular refrain “make consent sexy” suggests that consent communication can actually make sex better.

But does it? Despite the popularity of this idea, we know less about the specific associations between practicing sexual consent and sexual pleasure. A recent study published in The Journal of Sex Research put this idea to the test, which is what we’re going to be exploring in this post. [1]

Internal and External Consent

There are many aspects to sexual consent, which makes the concept somewhat difficult to measure from a research standpoint. One approach is to consider consent in terms of both internal experiences and external communication. In other words, consent involves not only how someone feels about engaging in a certain activity, but also how they express (or don’t express) that willingness to a sexual partner. [2]

The internal and external consent scales [2] divide each of the domains into multiples components. Internal consent includes feelings of arousal, heightened physical sensations, desire or wanting, feelings of safety, and readiness to engage in sexual activity. External consent includes explicit and implicit communication, both verbally and non-verbally. However, some individuals are more passive in their communication, allowing sexual activity to progress without saying no or expressing discomfort while following another person’s lead.

Research Overview

Using data from an online survey, the researchers analyzed 849 people’s responses to questions about their most recent sexual encounter. These questions addressed internal consent feelings, the external consent communication of an individual and that of their partner, and their overall satisfaction and pleasure. They also inquired about the gender, sexual identity, and sexual health education of each participant, as well as details about their most recent sexual encounter, including what sexual activities they engaged in what kind of relationship they had with their partner.

To analyze the associations between variables, the researchers used linear regression models, the full details of which are in the original manuscript linked at the end of this post.

How Sexual Consent Relates to Sexual Pleasure

When it came to sexual pleasure, people’s feelings of safety, heightened physical response, and arousal were all associated with greater pleasure during their most recent sexual interaction. The same associations were found for sexual satisfaction, with the addition of feelings of readiness.

Interestingly, these associations were limited to internal experiences of consent. When it came to external consent expressions, there were no significant associations between verbal or nonverbal consent communication and either sexual satisfaction or pleasure. Notably, these patterns did not differ based on gender, sexual identity, or age. In other words, the link between internal consent and better sexual experiences appears to be broadly shared: feeling safe, physically responsive, and aroused was associated with greater sexual pleasure and satisfaction across demographic groups.

Key Takeaways

It’s important to note that the findings from this study only reflect people’s consensual sexual experiences, and the majority of participants were in long-term relationships. This means that external consent, whether verbal or nonverbal, may have played a less prominent role in these established sexual relationships than it might between newer partners who have not yet developed familiar patterns of sexual communication. The authors also make clear that the presence of physical arousal and pleasure during a sexual experience does not mean that someone wanted or consented to that experience.

Rather, the findings of this study highlight the potential importance of internal consent experiences (such as feeling safe, ready, and comfortable) for pleasurable sex. Although strong desire or arousal may prompt a person to express their consent, internal feelings alone are insufficient to understand one’s own (or another person’s) consent. Consent still needs to be communicated.

That said, these findings suggest there may be value in talking about consent not only as a tool for preventing unwanted sex, but also as part of creating better sex. Framing consent as something associated with more pleasurable and satisfying sexual experiences may give people another compelling reason to practice it in their intimate lives.

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References

[1] Marcantonio, T. L., Jozkowski, K. N., van Nostrand, V., Leroux, S., & White, S. (2026). Examining how internal and external consent relate to sexual satisfaction and pleasure. The Journal of Sex Research, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2026.2696546

[2] Jozkowski, K. N., Sanders, S., Peterson, Z. D., Dennis, B., & Reece, M. (2014). Consenting to sexual activity: The development and psychometric assessment of dual measures of consent. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 43(3), 437–450. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-013-0225-7