Date of Award
2010
Document Type
Thesis
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
Degree Name
Bachelor of Criminology and Justice Honours
School
School of Law and Justice
Faculty
Faculty of Business and Law
First Supervisor
Dr Karine Hamilton
Abstract
This thesis examines young heterosexual women's negotiations of sexual consent in their casual sexual encounters and intimate sexual relationships with men, and their perceptions and understandings of consent and sexual violence with regard to these different sexual contexts. It explores the nature of young women's negotiations of sexual consent with the intention of facilitating a deeper understanding of the issue of women's consensual engagement in unwanted, pressured and coerced sexual activity. This thesis fills a void in the qualitative research literature on how consent is actually negotiated in everyday (hetero) sexual encounters through analysing the interviews of eight young women aged between 18 and 24 within a postmodern feminist theoretical framework incorporating some aspects of the sociological theory of Pierre Bourdieu. It argues that negotiating consent is a complex process highly influenced by the implicit presence of gendered norms that often constrain young women's ability to freely negotiate their sexual choices without their conscious awareness. It therefore draws attention to the limitations of legal and sexual violence prevention discourses that promote a woman's sexual autonomy and responsibility for explicitly conveying her willingness or unwillingness to engage in sexual relations.
Recommended Citation
Burkett, M. (2010). Young heterosexual women's negotiations of sexual consent within casual encounters and intimate relationships. Edith Cowan University. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses_hons/1237