Melanie A. Beres

‘Spontaneous’ Sexual Consent: An Analysis of Sexual Consent Literature

Sexual consent is an understudied and undertheorized concept despite its importance to feminist researchers and activists interested in sexual violence. Literature on consent, although sparse, has been produced from a variety of disciplines, including law, psychology, and sociology. This article is a critical review of current literature and current understandings of sexual consent. Different conceptualizations of consent are analysed including implicit and explicit definitions from legal theorists and sexual violence and consent researchers. Alternatives, including communicative sexuality, are discussed and feminist understandings of the social context of consent and the social forces that produce understandings of consent are examined. Directions for future research are suggested.

Rethinking the concept of consent for anti-sexual violence activism and education

Sexual violence prevention has shifted from centering around a message of ‘no means no’ toward a message of ‘get consent.’ This paper explores how young adults conceptualise consent in relation to how they talked about expressing a willingness to participate in sex. The analysis here argues that understandings of consent are disconnected from how young people understand communication about sex. Consent is viewed as a formal minimum requirement for ‘ok’ sex. At the same time, young people were more sophisticated when discussing how they understand and communicate a willingness to have sex. Implications for sexual violence prevention education and research on sexual consent are discussed.

Sexual Ethics and Young Women’s Accounts of Heterosexual Casual Sex

Drawing on Foucault’s work on sexuality and ethics we explore young women’s accounts of heterosexual casual sex experiences in Canada and New Zealand. We focus on what Foucault calls ‘rapport à soi ’ (the relationship one has with one’s self) to explore reports of implied ethical (and less than ethical) practices of casual sex. To do this we conducted a theoretical thematic analysis of the women’s accounts to identify accounts of ‘care for the self ’, ‘ self-reflection’, and ‘care for the other’. In our analysis we draw on previous feminist theorizing on heterosexuality to demonstrate how gendered heteronormative discourses are implicated in, and at times impede, an ‘ethics of casual sex’. We argue that women’s expressions of sexual ethics are particularly constrained considering gendered power relations as they relate to heternormative sexual practices. We suggest that the cultivation of ethical sexual subjectivities offer radical potential for the subversion of dominant heterosexual discourses.

Navigating Ambivalence: How Heterosexual Young Adults Make Sense of Desire Differences

The miscommunication hypothesis is the assumption that many incidents of acquaintance rape and coercive sex follow from miscommunication between men and women. This hypothesis is entrenched in popular, academic, and judicial understandings of sexual relationships. Recently some evidence has suggested that there is little miscommunication between sexual partners and that the hypothesis does not explain acquaintance rape or other forms of sexual violence. The present study used qualitative methodology in which men and women were asked to imagine themselves in a particular heterosexual dating situation and write what they think happened between the beginning (when sex was refused by one partner) and the end (when sex happened). Thematic analysis of the data found no evidence for miscommunication between partners under conditions of differences in desire. Instead, ambivalence about sexual activity was commonly described by women and men and was most often resolved to both parties’ satisfaction. Coercion by men was present in a minority of narratives under conditions of clear understanding of womens refusals. The study thus provides a rich, experience-based representation of heterosexual sexual activity, with considerable potential for the development of effective education campaigns.

Talking About Sexual Consent: Heterosexual women and BDSM

Abstract Sexual consent is an increasingly important concept for sexual violence prevention. Practitioners of bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, sadomasochism (hereafter BDSM) advocate strong community standards of active sexual consent to ensure that their practices are clearly differentiated from abuse. In this article, we explore the ways in which heterosexual female BDSM practitioners understand the meaning of and communicate sexual consent within their relationships. Their accounts of sexual consent within their BDSM relationships present sexual consent as synonymous with safe play. Yet, even within a context that demands explicit consent, there are complexities and nuances in terms of how sexual consent is communicated during play. We explore how explicit forms of consent found in descriptions of BDSM sit uncomfortably next to feminist analyses of how heteronormativity can undermine womens autonomy during heterosex.

What does faking orgasms have to do with sexual consent

In recent years, sexual violence prevention has been undergoing a shift towards a consent-focused model of rape prevention. Oxford and Cambridge universities have mandated consent training for all incoming students (Weale, 2014), and California passed a law requiring all colleges to provide policies and training for students on affirmative consent (consent where it is the initiator’s responsibility to ensure consent has been granted; De Leon, 2014). Activist campaigns have also taken up the language of consent. Slogans such as ‘consent is sexy’ and ‘sex without consent is rape’ are being popularized by social media campaigns and activist efforts such as Slut Walk (see Dajee, 2014; Lam et al., 2014; Sexual Assault Voices, 2010). The recent article published by Thomas and colleagues (2017) focusing on women’s accounts of faking orgasm provides an opportunity to revisit the role of consent for sexual violence prevention and sexuality education more broadly. Thomas and colleagues present a compelling description of how women talk about their ‘bad’ sex experiences. In their analysis they call attention to the slippery slope between consensual sex and what they call ‘problem’ sex. The women they spoke with identified a range of ‘problem’ sex and talked about some instances of coerced sex in the same way others spoke about sex with an unskilled lover. To manage instances of ‘problem sex’ the women at times reported faking an orgasm. In doing so, they exercised agency and control over their sexual experiences. Yet, they also inadvertantly reinforced problematic heteronormative assumptions about sex (Thomas et al., 2017). Education efforts focusing on consent assume that teaching people the importance of obtaining consent will reduce rates of sexual harm. Yet, this assumption is called into question when we consider how many of the experiences described by women as ‘problem’ sex met standard definitions for coercion. In other words, we have examples here of ‘consensual’ sex where the women reported feeling pressured Sexualities 2018, Vol. 21(4) 702–705 ! The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1363460717708151 journals.sagepub.com/home/sex

The Proliferation of Consent-Focused Rape Prevention Social Marketing Materials

The use of sexual consent in sexual violence prevention materials is rapidly growing. This chapter explores these materials and places them in conversation with insights from feminist research on sexual violence. Beres argues that consent-focused sexual violence prevention materials are inconsistent with current feminist understandings of the role of consent in sexual-violence prevention. Three concerns are raised: (1) The materials can create confusion through simultaneously presenting definitions of consent as “fact” and go beyond legal definitions of consent; (2) they are inconsistent with feminist research and presume an ignorant subject unfamiliar with consent negotiation; and (3) the creation of gender-neutral subjects within prevention materials fails to acknowledge the gendered aspect of sexual violence curtailing the ability for this type of sexual violence prevention to foster change. Through this analysis, Beres orients the reader toward the possibilities of building on feminist theorising to strengthen consent-focused education materials.

Accounting for Men’s Refusal of Heterosex: A Story-Completion Study with Young Adults

In the present study we bring together theory regarding the construction of heterosexuality and masculinities to understand the shifting and changing terrain of heterosexual sex (heterosex). We use inductive qualitative content analysis of story completion data to discover the different ways that heterosex is constructed by the male and female respondents in scenarios where women initiate sex and men, at first, refuse. The stories represented a spectrum of responses that reify and subvert dominant understandings of heterosex. Five major themes were generated from the current data (1) men should initiate sex, (2) he wants to take it slowly, (3) it is natural for men to want sex, (4) it is men’s job to look after women, and (5) coercion. We discuss in detail the dominant narratives described by women and men and how they may be shifting. The study thus provides a rich, experience-based representation of heterosexual sexual activity and suggests subtle shifts in how masculinity is managed within heterosexual relationships.

Qualitative Evidence and the Development of Sexuality Education Materials: The Case of Family Planning New Zealand

Family Planning New Zealand is one of the main providers of sexuality education and health promotion service in New Zealand. Relying predominantly on government funding to support their services, Family Planning New Zealand (hereafter Family Planning) is expected to engage in evidence-based practice.