A new study involving college students reports that unwanted sexual attention could be lessened if men better understood women's resistance messages and if women used clearer messages. Data show that at least 62 percent of all college women find that men attempt levels of sexual intimacy that go far beyond the comfortable range of females, according to Michael T. Motley, communication professor at UC Davis and principal author of the study. He says this is the first study that links miscommunication with why so many women experience sexual aggression in a dating relationship. He surveyed 90 college students. "We found in this study that many resistance messages used by women are somewhat ambiguous to men. For example, when she says, 'I don't know you well enough,' or 'It's getting late,' she usually means 'Stop!' But most males do not hear these messages as meaning 'Stop.' The main reason that women do not use more direct messages is because they worry how it might affect their relationship with men," says Motley. "The study suggests that many episodes of male 'sexual aggression' are not so much a matter of the male willingly and intentionally ignoring his partner's threshold, rather it is a matter of his pursuing intimacy because of the absence of perceived resistance." Most men will stop escalation efforts when the message is clear and direct, says Motley.