One Direction real person fiction on Wattpad.com: A textual analysis of sexual consent

Data collection

This study consists of a textual analysis of the sexual scripts and rape myths prevalent in the most popular 1D RPF stories on Wattpad.com. My purpose in targeting the most popular stories is to capture the most-viewed and arguably most influential sexual scripts in the community. These stories are publicly available online; without an account on Wattpad.com, anyone can search for and read them in their entirety. Additionally, the number of “reads” for each story included in this study ranges from 2.7 million to 114 million. Since the data collected for this research is intended for public consumption, I have included direct quotes from the stories. However, in light of the sexual content in these stories, I also took measures to protect the identities of authors. I do not attribute quotes to authors’ names, usernames, or the RPF titles. Entering these quotes in online search engines or in Wattpad.com’s search bar does not yield links to the stories, and the volume of 1D stories published on Wattpad prevents deductive identification. I also removed any reference to characters’ names within direct quotes to further prevent deductive identification.

To collect the data, I used a sampling method that was stratified according to the band member designated as the “love interest.” This method compensated for potential differences in content between stories focused on different band members. I searched each band member’s name on Wattpad.com’s search bar and identified the five most-popular stories out of the first 200 search results for each band member. Out of the 25 stories identified, one story was excluded from the analysis because its narrative centered on a homosexual relationship between two band members, which fell outside the scope of this study’s focus on the portrayal of young women’s roles in sexual interactions.

Data analysis

I conducted an interpretative textual analysis of the 24 stories, using a qualitative data analysis software, Atlas.ti 8, to organize the dataset. To analyze the data, I used an inductive process characteristic of grounded theory (Straus & Corbin, 1990), in which I coded the data on a line-by-line basis, guided by close attention to scenes in which kissing or sexual activity occurs and explicit character mentions of sex or rape. I utilized several interpretive approaches to facilitate inductive coding. For example, I used value coding—which uses beliefs, attitudes, or values communicated in a text as a unit of analysis (Saldaña, 2016)—to interpret passages where characters’ thoughts and emotions during sexual interactions complicate the representation of consent or non-consent. When encountering passages focused on characters’ actions, I used in vivo coding to note the significance of different verbs and descriptors, since in vivo coding preserves the specific language used in a text (Saldaña, 2016). Given the length of the dataset (24 stories, ranging from 30 to 128 chapters), I conducted axial coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) in an iterative process, looking for connections and patterns between codes throughout the coding process rather than doing two separate rounds of coding. If I noticed a new element of a sexual script— i.e., who performs which types of actions, how these actions are performed, etc. (Beres, 2014)—or a new rape myth occur more than twice, I considered it an emergent theme and returned to the beginning of the dataset to recode for consistency.

This individual, interpretive coding process gave me the flexibility necessary to analyze the dataset’s nuanced portrayals of sexual consent and rape. I maintained systematic rigor by analyzing the data on a line-by-line basis and by utilizing several tools within the software. I tracked both the frequency with which each code occurred and the “spread” of each code across the dataset to observe whether its use was concentrated within a few stories or more evenly distributed across all the stories. I also used Atlas.ti’s code co-occurrence capabilities to determine how often codes overlapped, which enabled me to ground interpretation of any single code within the context of the documents it occurred within and the other codes that most frequently accompanied it. These tools helped me avoid inappropriately isolating the codes from their context while also avoiding anecdotalism by considering their representation throughout the dataset.

Affirmative consent

Many of the sex scenes throughout the dataset featured interactions in which consent is depicted through verbal conversation. These scenes model the affirmative consent standard, which maintains that silence or lack of resistance cannot be interpreted as consent; consent must be actively communicated (Muehlenhard et al., 2016). Many academic fields identify affirmative consent as the ideal, as well as state laws in California and New York requiring universities to include affirmative consent in campus policies (Muehlenhard et al., 2016). Therefore, I used the code “affirmative consent” when at least one partner verbally expressed desire to engage in physical or sexual activity, and the other partner communicated agreement to also engage in the activity. I interpreted nodding in affirmation as an active expression of agreement to engage in a sexual activity. However, nonverbal actions that are not explicitly communicative, like participation in the sexual activity, lack of resistance, and non-vocalized thoughts about desire, did not qualify as communicating agreement.

Affirmative consent was a frequent element of romantic encounters: among the 24 stories, I coded 91 times affirmative consent was attained. Additionally, characters negotiated not having sex 25 times, and they negotiated affirmative consent for kissing or other physical activities, like cuddling, 23 times. All 14 of the stories that described or alluded to sex included codes for affirmative consent.

Men “know” what women want

In addition to overt negotiations of consent, assumptions of consent also emerged as a prevalent theme. Men’s assumption of women’s consent for kissing and other sexual activity occurred 23 times, whereas women’s assumption of men’s consent occurred three times. Assumptions of consent occurred in 12 of the 24 total stories, nine of which either described or alluded to sex (out of the 14 stories describing or alluding to sex). Men’s assumption of consent tended to involve interpreting women’s bodies or nonverbal cues as confirmation of consent. Men interpreted women’s bodies by assuming that physiological arousal equates to desire or by believing they can see desire manifested in women’s eyes. Nonverbal cues that men interpreted as consent included moans or absence of obvious resistance.

Sometimes, the context of the story affirmed the accuracy of men's interpretations of women's nonverbal cues, like interpreting a smile as an affirmative response to a stated request for a kiss. In other instances, men’s assumptions of consent relied on women’s lack of resistance. To illustrate, during a make-out session in one story, a band member reached under his partner’s shirt, then paused “to see if she’s freaking out.” After deciding that, based on body language, she was not “freaking out,” he proceeded to touch her breasts. The couple was interrupted before any further sexual activity could occur. Later, her friend asked if she had wanted to have sex with the band member. “Well … Yeah I guess,” she said, indicating he didn’t misinterpret her lack of “freaking out,” although her response suggests ambivalence more than enthusiasm. Such circumstances are comparable to existing data about young people’s lived experiences. Research has found that young adults often consent to sex even when it is unwanted (Muehlenhard & Peterson, 2005) and that students rely on non-verbal cues for consent, such as reciprocation of or nonresistance to sexual actions, more often than verbally-negotiated affirmative consent (Muehlenhard et al., 2016).

In some situations, though, the female protagonist’s narration of the scene suggested that the band member’s assumption of consent might have been, at least initially, incorrect. The following narration of a female protagonist’s thoughts illustrates such an instance: “I unfolded my legs and stretched them out. They were starting to cramp up. [Band member’s name] must’ve interpreted it the wrong way [italics added] because he slid me down from the baseboard and hovered over me. It happened too fast that I couldn’t protest.” The band member proceeds to engage in unreciprocated “dirty talk,” then he guides her hand inside his clothing and begins rubbing his erection, although her “hand was stiff,” suggesting her reluctance. “Please … just do this baby,” he pleads. She nods in agreement and continues the action without his assistance. This conversation models the definition for “affirmative consent” that I applied to coding content, since the band member verbally expresses desire for sexual activity, and the protagonist actively communicates her agreement by nodding. However, this code fails to capture the complexity of this interaction. The band member begins the sexual activity without any expression of agreement from the protagonist, and her narration suggests that she did not intend to engage in sexual activity—the band member misinterpreted her actions and began sexual activity “too fast that [she] couldn’t protest.” Furthermore, the band member pleads for the protagonist to continue sexual activity in a way that is coercive, rather than asking about her willingness. This tension between affirmative consent and coercive behavior reflects literature describing how women and girls navigate postfeminist ideologies, which insist on women’s complete sexual agency but do not recognize the possibility of gendered power dynamics (Burkett & Hamilton, 2012; Powell, 2010). The narration in this fanfiction describes an instance of male sexual coercion but does not acknowledge the coercion, framing the protagonist’s eventual acquiescence as an unproblematic agreement of sexual consent.

One story features a band member using his assumption of a woman’s consent, based on her physiological arousal, as justification for raping her. Although the woman verbally protests sex, the band member rationalizes his actions to himself and the woman. The story reads: “He felt her wetness through her underwear, signaling her body reacting perfectly to him. [The band member said] ‘Your lips say no, but your body is saying yes.’” The rape scene is intended to contribute to the band member’s portrayal in this particular narrative as an evil character and ruler in a post-apocalyptic society. [Stories that take place in alternate universes are common in fanfiction communities.] However, as the author continues to narrate the rape scene, the band member’s incorrect assumption of consent appears to gain some validity; the woman’s protests of “Please, let me go” shift to “Please, my king, take me!” And when the band member asks, “Tell me, does your husband ever make you feel this good?,” she answers “N-no.” The third-person narration reinforces the authenticity of the woman’s shift toward desire by using the phrase “moans of pleasure” twice to describe her reactions. The story’s chronology aligns with dangerous myths that women secretly want to be raped (Ohbuchi et al., 1994) and that women do not actually mean “no” when they refuse sex (Muehlenhard & Peterson, 2005). The presence of this myth obscures the conceptual clarity of rape in the story; the narration’s emphasis on the woman’s pleasure suggests the band member was “correct” in his reading of the situation and undermines the seriousness of rape.

It wasn’t rape, it wasn’t that bad, or it wasn’t his fault

Sexual violence played a significant role in these stories, and was often identified as assault. When I used the following codes, the context of the story presented an interpretation of the event as nonconsensual. The code “rape/sexual assault” includes instances of rape or sexual assault that occur within the narrative, as well as characters’ reflections about previous rape/sexual assault, and occurred 10 times. Instances of “female initiates/continues unwanted kissing” occurred 9 times, “male initiates/continues unwanted kissing” 23 times, and “male initiates unwanted grope” 18 times. Accounting for instances in which these codes co-occurred, there were 47 unique instances of nonconsensual activity among 24 stories.

Sexually violent content often served as a tool for plot development. In one story, the band member rescues the female protagonist as another man sexually assaults her. Her relationship with her attacker is not central to the story; rather, the episode allows her to be rescued by the band member, which sparks the beginning of their romance. Three discrete stories in the dataset involve incidents in which a man initiates an unwanted kiss with the female protagonist, the band member learns of the kiss and is jealous, and the couple must resolve the misunderstanding to salvage their relationship.

In some situations, the blame for rape, assault, or nonconsensual sex was either deflected from the perpetrator or otherwise minimized. Such events occurred 10 times across three different stories. In the story that introduces this study, the female protagonist describes the band member’s groping, in spite of her refusals, as “not that bad” and redirects some of the blame to the band member’s drug-fueled high instead of the band member himself. Later in the story, both main characters blame the protagonist for requesting sex while intoxicated, and for becoming intoxicated in the first place [see section “Good men don’t take advantage of women, sometimes” for further description of this scene]. These scenes act out the myth that rape is the fault of victims if they are compromised by alcohol or drugs when it occurred (McMahon, 2007; Payne et al., 1999).

The presence of reduced blame for rape and sexual assault was more complicated throughout the previously mentioned post-apocalyptic story. The narrative portrays the band member as violent and immoral, a repeated rapist. Seven of the ten uses of the code “rape/sexual assault” and 13 uses of the other codes describing nonconsensual activity occurred within this story, accounting for a third of the times a code for nonconsensual activity was employed across the dataset. However, several moments in the story complicate a straightforward presentation of rape. As described in the previous section [see “Men ‘know’ what women want”], the band member’s interpretation of a victim’s body invokes the myth of female pleasure during rape (Ohbuchi et al., 1994). Later, the story’s third-person narration about a different rape introduces a nuanced conceptualization of rape that is not easily described by a singular script. The narration says, “As much as she hated it, she climaxed, she reached the point of pleasure under his touch, something he had not been able to force her to do.” The narrator identifies the episode generally as rape, but insists that certain elements of the rape—the “pleasure” she experienced “under his touch” and her orgasm—were not forced and therefore fall outside the construct of rape. Additionally, language throughout the story narrowly interprets rape as forced vaginal intercourse where the victim attempts to stop the interaction. Out of the seven times within this story that I used the code “rape/sexual assault,” four instances captured scenarios in which the band member forces the protagonist to perform sex acts other than vaginal intercourse, like giving or receiving oral sex. Although these scenes are depicted as nonconsensual, they are not identified as rape or even as sex, which minimizes their severity within the narrative. For example, before forcing the protagonist to perform oral sex, the band member says, “Fine I won’t force you to have sex … but I want something else in return.” In this case, forced intercourse is considered as a form of sexual violence, but forced oral sex is considered “something else.” These scenes invoke the rape myth that only penile-vaginal intercourse is a severe enough offense to be categorized as rape (Peterson & Muehlenhard, 2004) and therefore shouldn’t be considered as “that bad.”

Women should be agentic, but they should feel uneasy about it

Relevant to sexual consent, a theme that emerged during kissing and sexual activity was hesitation or unease. Any situation in which a character hesitated before or verbally or mentally expressed unease regarding kissing or sexual activity triggered the use of this code. Women hesitated or experienced unease about kissing 31 times and about sexual interactions 32 times. These hesitations rarely occurred in stories that only contained kissing, but out of the 14 stories that described or alluded to sex, all but one contained women’s hesitations for kissing or sex.

For women in these narratives, emotions were the source of hesitance or unease for kissing or sex: worry about disagreements; anxiety about the risks associated with sex; confusion from overwhelming emotions; discomfort with inappropriate times and places for kissing or sex; insecurities about their own bodies; and confusion stemming from sexual inexperience. Often, these feelings went unvoiced by women and ignored by men, suggesting that women’s apprehension and anxiety are a “natural” part of sexual interactions.

The relationship between hesitance and unease for sexual activity and several of the themes mentioned above is especially striking during one female protagonist’s initiation to sex. In this story, the band member’s effort to obtain consent prompts an emotional inventory by the protagonist:

‘Do you want this?’ [band member’s name] whispered against my cheek, prompting the flush in it. The question made my head pound. My thoughts were all over the place. I wasn’t in the state to return a rational answer … I loved him, I wanted him close. That was all I knew. I acted before my mind could process the wholeness of this situation. I returned a nod and he dipped to kiss me again.

The next day, the protagonist tells the band member that she is in pain. His response minimizes her pain and blames her for not telling the band member sooner. The narration from his point of view reads: “‘I’m sorry…’ I apologised even though I wasn’t so sure what she was talking about. ‘I didn’t know. You could’ve said something and I would’ve- .’” Although this sexual interaction is not treated as nonconsensual in the story, a combination of elements of this scene nevertheless echo the myth that rape is a result of miscommunication (O’Byrne et al., 2008; Payne et al., 1999). Neither character acknowledges that the protagonist’s inexperience caused her to not fully understand what the band member meant when he asked, “Do you want this?,” making the initiation of intercourse a painful surprise to her. Additionally, the band member blames the protagonist’s failure to communicate as the cause of her pain.

Good men don’t take advantage of women, sometimes

Men hesitated or expressed unease about kissing five times and about sexual activity 12 times. Narratives in which men’s hesitation/unease for sex involved women’s intoxication are revealing of tensions between different stories’ conceptualizations of sexual consent. In one story, the featured band member considers accepting the female protagonist’s invitation for sex, although she is inebriated. He decides that doing so would be “taking advantage of her” and declines sex. However, another story in the dataset evaluates consent under the influence differently. The band member hesitates to accept his drunk partner’s invitation for sex, but eventually decides that sex in this situation is permissible as long as the female initiates and leads the interaction. When the couple discusses it the next day, the band member apologizes, admitting that the protagonist was “too wasted” and “it wasn’t right.” The author included the protagonist’s internal dialogue about the incident:

I’m not gonna be all mad and dramatic about it - because I’m not, I’m just embarrassed of myself - and he seems genuinely sorry and I guess it’s all my own fault anyways since I apparently decided to go all in with the shots. Yes he maybe should have stopped, but as far as I remember I didn’t really take no for an answer.

Men love aggressively

While coding inductively, a theme regarding aggressive and assaultive language to describe kissing and sex also emerged. This language contributes to the dominant sexual scripts in the dataset by depicting how characters perform sexual actions. This code was employed 123 times to identify phrases like “assault on his neck,” “attack on her lips,” “slammed into her” and “crashed onto his lips” that described actions performed by men and women during kissing or sex. This language only co-occurred with aforementioned codes for sexual assault and nonconsensual physical activity 11 times, highlighting its frequent accompaniment of normal physical and sexual interactions. To illustrate the use of this language, one author narrated a kissing scene with the following description: “His not so gentle assault on my lips surely did leave my neck giving off a tingling sensation … His lips slammed against mine and I felt my whole body literally move back slightly from the force.” This language described females’ actions 13 times, yet the framing of sexual activity through assaultive language was nonetheless more common for male-initiated activity and therefore seems to prioritize male aggression as a frame for physical interactions.

Men act fast

Additionally, I noted the frequency with which characters surprised or startled a romantic partner with an unexpected kiss or other sexual action, such that the partner had no time to react. The following excerpt exemplifies this type of action. Although the band member and the protagonist hastily establish verbal consent to engage in foreplay, the band member’s subsequent actions come as a surprise. The protagonist narrates:

He unbuckled and unbuttoned his belt and jeans in a matter of seconds. Before I could even process what was about to happen, I felt his erection push all the way inside of me as he roughly thrust his hips, causing my back to hit the wall with full force.