Is it really a matter of sexual violence?
The mechanisms underlying the (non-)identification of a situation as sexual violence influence the understanding and description of the event. While researchers have estimated the prevalence of sexual violence despite its under-reporting, few have explored the description of the situation experienced by victims, whether they refer to it as sexual violence or not. Based on 247 narratives, this research proposes a qualitative analysis of the contextual cues mobilized by undergraduate university students to describe and interpret the situation, according to the perception of its unacceptability. The objectives are 1) to describe the benchmarks involved in the description of situations of sexual violence in university context experienced by undergraduate female students and 2) to explore how rape myths and rape script can influence the description of these situations. This research adopts a feminist analysis framework. The results suggest three main categories. First, the majority of narratives point to the unacceptability of the situation, based on different contextual cues such as lack of sexual consent, repetition of unwanted sexual behaviors or negative impacts as a result of the sexual violence (n = 162). Then, some narratives (n = 79) reveal qualifications that hinder the identification of the unacceptable nature of the situation, whether by terms reflecting minimization, banalization or a tolerance towards this type situation. Finally, the third category highlights ambivalence in how to describe the situation of sexual violence (n = 6). These results will be discussed with regard to the chosen theoretical concepts.