In a Survey of 2,689 Young Men, 95.1% Said They’d Recently Tried to Get Sex from a Woman They Knew Hadn’t Consented
by Chrissy Stockton · Thought CatalogUpdated 5 minutes ago, October 6, 2026
A new survey paints a disturbing picture of how some young men approach sex and consent. Researchers asked thousands of men to describe, anonymously, what they do when they want sex from a woman who doesn’t — and the responses were as detailed as they were alarming.
The survey included 2,689 men ages 18–34 in the U.S. and Canada. Of those respondents, 95.1% said they’d recently used at least 1 strategy to obtain sex from a woman they knew didn’t want it and hadn’t consented. The women involved had no previous romantic or sexual relationship with the men. Men who thought of themselves as more skilled than their peers at getting sex from women were more likely to use force.
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Men in the anonymous survey reported that 65% of the occasions when they’d pursued sex with a woman they knew hadn’t consented ended in them forcing her into sex.
Researchers asked about 36 strategies identified through preliminary research. Every strategy was reported by some respondents, and the average number a respondent had ever used was 8.94.
Asked why they’d persisted, 38% cited being horny and 28% said the opportunity had presented itself. Respondents described a range of outcomes they considered positive; 70% perceived no negative consequences for themselves.
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