Full Description
The Ambiguity of Consent: Consent Puzzles in Film, Television, Public Discourse, and the Law explores the complex, often contradictory nature of consent in contemporary society.
This collection examines how consent is expressed and debated across media, legal systems, and public discourse, particularly in the height of "consent culture" in the 2020s. It interrogates the assumptions behind familiar frameworks like affirmative consent and informed consent and raises critical questions about power, communication, and interpretation. Through case studies and cultural analysis, this book addresses issues such as the blurred lines between "bad sex" and assault, the instability of consent for minors, and how normative models often fail to account for structural inequalities. It invites readers to rethink consent not as a fixed standard, but as a site of ongoing negotiation and ambiguity.
This book is ideal for students and researchers in Gender Studies, Media Studies, Law, and Politics, as well as anyone interested in the ethical, legal, and cultural dimensions of consent.
Contents
1. Introduction: The Unraveling of a Framework—The Puzzling Nature of Consent (Michele Meek) Section I: Blurred Boundaries: Highlighting the Untenability of Consent Frameworks 2. The Televisual is Political: Hermeneutical Justice, Consciousness-Raising, and Bad Sex on TV (Zoe Moss) 3. Revisiting the Age of Sexual Consent: The Impact of 'Romeo and Juliet Law' in Japan (Xiao Zhou) 4. The Changing Landscape of Consent in Film: From Not a Pretty Picture to How to Have Sex (Magda Vaz) 5. Trans Youth on Trial: The Rise of the Consent-in-Crisis Spectacle (Mia Cecily Florin-Sefton) Section II: Dominance Dynamics: Exploring Power Differentials Embedded in Consent Culture 6. Shades of Gray: Representing the Gray Area of Consent in Kristen Roupenian's "Cat Person" (Emily Rosman) 7. Stolen Kisses: Examining Bollywood's Portrayal of Consent for Kissing in Romance Films (Simran Tapaswi) 8. We Need to Talk About Banshee: Graphic Television Violence and Consent (Meghan Jordan) 9. Being "Handsy" or "Hands Off": #MeToo, COVID-19, and the Association of Hands with (Non)Consensual Touch (Michele White) 10. Consent in the Classroom: Feminist and Queer Debates around Power and Pedagogy (Avik Sarkar) Section III: Creative Disruptions: Reimagining Consent Paradigms Through Alternate Frameworks 11. Negotiating Male Anxiety and Accountability Regarding Consent in Netflix's Raising Voices (Verónica Mondragón Paredes) 12. PDF Files as Accusations: A Body Politics Perspective on Overseas Chinese Students' Nonconsensual Sexual Experience in Self-Sharing Online Archives (Edward Jiru Zeng) 13. Asexuality Inclusion as Consent Solution: Law & Order SVU as Case Study (Lynn Deboeck) 14. Consent as Plaything: Consent Practices through the Lens of Queer Game Studies (Patrick Munnelly and David Riche)
