The problem of sexual assault has received increasing public attention over the last few years, with an increasing focus on the concept of sexual consent to solve the problem. Education efforts focus on teaching people what consent is and how to explicitly communicate about sex, constructing consent as a knowledge problem. Using the stories of queer adults, this study calls for the development of an epistemology of sexual consent. I argue that the current research and scholarship fail to recognise existing knowledge about sexual consent, relegating sexual consent to an epistemology of ignorance. Queer participants in this study demonstrated sophisticated knowledge of sexual consent through their talk on the role of verbal consent cues and articulating how they “tune in” to their partners during sex. Within their talk, verbal consent was sometimes viewed as essential to consent, while at times was not necessary, and at other times was not enough to understand a partner's sexual consent. Importantly, they described deep knowledge about partners’ comfort, discomfort or hesitation through “tuning in”. Developing an epistemology of sexual consent requires recognising and valuing what participants tell us about what they know about their partners’ willingness to engage in sex.

近年来，性侵问题越来越受到公众的关注，越来越多的关注性同意的概念来解决问题。教育工作的重点是教导人们什么是同意以及如何明确地传达有关性的信息，将同意构建为一个知识问题。本研究使用酷儿成年人的故事，呼吁发展性同意的认识论。我认为当前的研究和学术未能认识到关于性同意的现有知识，将性同意归为无知的认识论。这项研究中的酷儿参与者通过谈论口头同意提示的作用并阐明他们如何在性行为中“调整”到他们的伴侣，展示了他们对性同意的复杂知识。在他们的谈话中，口头同意有时被认为是同意的必要条件，有时不是必需的，有时还不足以理解伴侣的性同意。重要的是，他们通过“调整”描述了对伴侣的舒适、不适或犹豫的深入了解。发展性同意的认识论需要认识和重视参与者告诉我们的关于他们对伴侣进行性行为的意愿的了解。