Sexual Consent without Passivity

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Dougherty
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Activity ◽  
Sexual Consent ◽  
Sexual Offence ◽  
Sexual Encounter ◽  
John Gardner

Abstract In “The Opposite of Rape,” John Gardner defends two central claims. The first claim is that consent is not necessary for morally permissible sex and the second claim is that giving consent pride of place in sexual offence policy has the unwelcome consequence of reinforcing sexist ideology. Gardner’s arguments for both claims rely on what I call the “Passive Consent Thesis” which is the thesis that “if A gives consent to B in a sexual encounter, then A is passive and B is active in the encounter.” Gardner argues that if sex that is good in a key respect, then they engage in joint sexual activity that is free of this asymmetry of agency. Building on work by Karamvir Chadha, I respond that even if someone is passive with respect to the action to which they consent, they can still be active with respect to a different action that they perform themselves. Consequently, I maintain that two people can give each other consent while engaging in joint sexual activity.

Fraudulent Sex Criminalisation in Australia: Disparity, Disarray and the Underrated Procurement Offence

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianlin Chen
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Consent ◽  
Sexual Offence ◽  
Respective Treatment ◽  
Legal Outcomes ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Legislative Processes

This article critically investigates the criminalisation of fraudulent sex across Australia’s eight states and territories. Through situating the statutory definition of sexual consent alongside the respective treatment of the procurement offence (a sexual offence that punishes obtaining sex through any false representation), this article identifies the four distinct approaches of criminalising fraudulent sex and demonstrates the surprising stark divergence in legal outcomes. This article argues that the approaches adopted by half of the surveyed jurisdictions are flawed from the perspective of legislative design, and highlights the deficient legislative processes that failed to pay due regard to the procurement offence. In this regard, this article proposes statutory reform to enhance the coherency and clarity of fraudulent sex criminalisation.

A Qualitative Analysis of Sexual Consent among Heavy-drinking College Men

2020 ◽  
pp. 088626052095865
Author(s):  
Lindsay M. Orchowski ◽  
Daniel W. Oesterle ◽  
Oswaldo Moreno ◽  
Miryam Yusufov ◽  
Alan Berkowitz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Activity ◽  
Sexual Interest ◽  
Heavy Drinking ◽  
College Men ◽  
Sexual Consent ◽  
Sexual Assault Prevention ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Token Resistance ◽  
Continued Education ◽  
Assault Prevention

The current study sought to examine how heavy-drinking college men describe communication of sexual interest and sexual consent. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 12 heavy-drinking college men identified three themes. Themes included: (a) expectations about parties and sexual activity, (b) observing and communicating sexual interest, and (c) communication of sexual consent. Men reported visiting drinking environments to locate women who they assumed would be open to sexual advances. In these environments, sexual interest was inferred indirectly through shared alcohol use. Anticipating token resistance men reported “trying and trying again” to pursue escalating types of sexual activity. Consent was inferred when participants did not hear “no” from a sexual partner, highlighting the importance of continued education on verbal consent in the context of sexual assault prevention programs.

scholarly journals Snogs of innocence, snogs of experience

2009 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana Shilling
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Activity ◽  
Sexual Contact ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
Sexual Pleasure ◽  
Sexual Consent ◽  
Good Thing ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Race ◽  
Marital Commitment

The current conventional wisdom is that rape is wrong because it is contrary to the interest in bodily autonomy: human beings are entitled to decide the conditions under which they will have sex. That is, it is grounded in an assumption that sexual pleasure is a good thing, and it is wrong to subject a person to sexual contact contrary to that person's intentions. But this assumption has not entirely replaced earlier assumptions, such as that sexual activity is always wrong and can be justified only by the need to reproduce the human race, or assumptions that sexual activity is right and good in the context of a lifelong marital commitment, but not otherwise. Here, I examine a number of subplots, themes and episodes within the series Dollhouse, Firefly, Blake's 7, The 4400, and Dawson's Creek with a view to analyzing the issues of sexual consent and autonomy raised within them.

Intersex and Transgender People

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susannah Cornwall
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Activity ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Sexual Encounter ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Transgender People ◽  
Genital Surgery ◽  
And Gender

Intersex and transgender are discrete issues and should not be conflated. However, both phenomena, and the experiences of both groups of people, demonstrate the limitations of existing theologies of sexuality which assume stable and binary models of human maleness and femaleness. Sexual theologies for intersex and transgender people must take into account a range of issues, including the reality of variant sex and gender; the question of same-sex relationships; the theological significance of non-penetrative sexual activity; the challenges of unusual genital anatomy; ethical issues surrounding sought and unsought genital surgery; discourses of pathological versus variant embodiment; and questions of vulnerability and safety in sexual encounter. Drawing on liberationist theological goods, this chapter points to the necessity for non-pathologizing theological accounts of variant sex and gender.

scholarly journals On Sexual Consent in Canada

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan Birtles
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Activity ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
Sexual Consent ◽  
Sexual Autonomy ◽  
Expressive Function ◽  
Important Principle ◽  
The Law

Consent is an extremely important principle within the law—so important it is defined twice within the Criminal Code: first in s. 265, the assault provision which also governs the law of sexual assault, and again in s. 273.1, where the Code provides additional definition specifically within the context of sexual assault. The limits of consent have been further defined through case law, especially in R v Ewanchuk. Canadians would be surprised to discover that Ewanchuk determined it is illegal to initiate sexual activity via sexual touching, or to kiss a sleeping spouse. To keep people safe from inappropriate sexual touching, we have outlawed activities most intimate partners would not object to: this creates a dilemma about when protection exceeds its necessity and becomes inappropriate control of sexual autonomy. It is this dilemma this article addresses. Ultimately, this article argues that Canada’s sexual assault laws must change for two reasons: first, by criminalizing behaviour that is not morally wrong, the criminal law is overbroad and doesn’t fulfil its expressive function, and; while enacted with the noble goal of protecting the sexual autonomy of women, our consent laws serve to restrict the sexual autonomy of women in ways that are objectionable.

scholarly journals Sex, lies and disclosures: Researchers and the reporting of under-age sex

2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Strode ◽  
Catherine Slack
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Activity ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Recent Change ◽  
Mandatory Reporting ◽  
Sexual Offence ◽  
Vulnerable Group ◽  
Sexual Offences ◽  
Reproductive Services ◽  
The Law

Children are a vulnerable group and require legal protection due to their youth and inexperience. Resultantly, various provisions in the law ensure the care and protection of children through mechanisms such as the mandatory reporting of abuse. A recent change in the law has broadened the mandatory reporting obligations by requiring any person who is aware of a sexual offence having been committed against a child to report this to the police. Given that it is a sexual offence to have sex below the age of 16 researchers involved in research with teenagers in which they may become aware that that they are engaging in sex or sexual activity but are under the age4 of 16 will be obliged to inform the police of this fact. The issue of reporting under-age sex is very complex as in our view there are various categories of under-age sex. We argue that researchers should not comply with the mandatory reporting obligations for underage consensual, non-exploitative sexual activity but in all other cases there should be reporting. We argue that because the mandatory reporting of underage sex/ activity (even consensual and non-exploitative activity) may alienate children from services and “punish” them by reporting their conduct to the police, advocacy is needed for a change to the Sexual Offences Act to ensure consistency with the approach taken in the Children’s Act which enables such children to access sexual and reproductive services..

Energy cost of sexual activity

1970 ◽  
Vol 126 (3) ◽  
pp. 526a-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. N. Goldbarg
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Activity ◽  
Energy Cost
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