Adults’ understandings and experiences of the capacity to consent to substance-involved sexual activity

Most research on capacity to consent to substance-involved sex has focused exclusively on the implications of alcohol with little attention given to other or additional psychoactive drugs. This study aimed to explore people’s understanding and experiences of the capacity to consent to alcohol- and/or drug-involved sexual activity. UK adults (N = 354) completed an online mixed-methods survey on sexual consent during sober, alcohol- and/or drug-involved sex. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Themes for capacity to consent were: (1) ‘There is no normative understanding of substance-involved sexual consent’, (2) ‘Moving beyond the binary of consciousness versus incapacitation’ and (3) ‘Substance-involved sexual decisions are viewed as irresponsible’. The findings illustrated that capacity to consent is nuanced and multidimensional, and that people’s understandings and experiences of capacity to consent to substance-involved sex are not solely individual, but rather, they are also shaped by their environment. We call for a multidimensional view of capacity to consent, where a standard of ‘unimpaired’, rather than sober, is used and modeled by academics, legislators, and educators.