sh.sePublications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • harvard-anglia-ruskin-university
  • apa-old-doi-prefix.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-harvard.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-oxford.csl
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Sexual consent as an interactional achievement: Overcoming ambiguities and social vulnerabilities in the initiations of sexual activities
Södertörn University, School of Culture and Education, Swedish Language.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5590-5980
Tampere University, Finland.
2023 (English)In: Discourse Studies, ISSN 1461-4456, E-ISSN 1461-7080, Vol. 25, no 1, p. 68-88Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Sexual consent is advocated around the world to reduce sexual assault. The widespread affirmative consent model emphasizes a need for unambiguous consent. In this paper, we contribute to a deeper understanding of how ambiguities in the initiations of sexual activities are routinely solved to achieve consent. Drawing on conversation analytic research on joint decision-making, and a dataset of 80 cases of sexual initiation in contemporary TV-series and movies, we investigate the interactional practices by which sexual activities are presented as consensual and how consent is achieved across sequences of interaction. We found there to be social advantages of synchronous initiation, compared to sequential verbal initiations, which were associated with various social vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities could however be circumvented by two practices, each of which made use of a distinct combination of verbal and embodied resources. While ambiguities exist, our results oppose the idea of sexual consent as a practically hopeless and awkward endeavor. Instead, consent consists of joint action that is achieved through recognizable and systematic ways.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Sage Publications, 2023. Vol. 25, no 1, p. 68-88
Keywords [en]
ambiguity, conversation analysis, joint decision-making, sequentiality, sexual consent, social vulnerability, synchronicity
National Category
Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified General Language Studies and Linguistics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-49817DOI: 10.1177/14614456221119101ISI: 000841570800001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85136456069OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-49817DiVA, id: diva2:1692895
Available from: 2022-09-05 Created: 2022-09-05 Last updated: 2025-06-13Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

Magnusson, Simon

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Magnusson, Simon
By organisation
Swedish Language
In the same journal
Discourse Studies
Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specifiedGeneral Language Studies and Linguistics

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 389 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • harvard-anglia-ruskin-university
  • apa-old-doi-prefix.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-harvard.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-oxford.csl
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf