Sexual Consent

An introduction to issues of sexual consent, covering key strands of feminist thought, how sexual consent is negotiated in practice, the influence of popular culture, and more. The #MeToo movement has focused public attention on the issue of sexual consent. People of all genders, from all walks of life, have stepped forward to tell their stories of sexual harassment and violation. In a predictable backlash, others have taken to mass media to inquire plaintively if “flirting” is now forbidden. This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers a nuanced introduction to sexual consent by a writer who is both a scholar and an activist on this issue. It has become clear from discussions of the recent high-profile cases of Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, and others that there is no clear agreement over what constitutes consent or non-consent and how they are expressed and perceived in sexual situations. This book presents key strands of feminist thought on the subject of sexual consent from across academic and activist communities and covers the history of research on consent in such fields as psychology and feminist legal studies. It discusses how sexual consent is negotiated in practice, from “No means no” to “Yes means yes,” and describes what factors might limit individual agency in such negotiations. It examines how popular culture, including pornography, romance fiction, and sex advice manuals, shapes our ideas of consent; explores the communities at the forefront of consent activism; and considers what meaningful social change in this area might look like. Going beyond the conventional cisgender, heterosexual norm, the book lists additional resources for those seeking to improve their practice of consent, survivors of sexual violence, and readers who want to understand contemporary debates on this issue in more depth

Rewriting the romance: Emotion work and consent in arranged marriage fanfiction

In this paper, I explore arranged marriage fanfiction stories as a space where marriage as an institution is challenged and alternative discourses around sexual consent in unequal intimate relationships are generated.Fanfiction is amateur fiction based on existing media. Within fanfiction, the arranged marriage trope bears significant resemblance to the marriage of convenience romance novel trope. I argue that by focusing on relationships which involve disparities of social standing, arranged marriage fanfiction stories explore marriage as an institution which reproduces and amplifies inequalities. As a result, they cast marriage consummation - and sex within marriage generally - as an at least potentially coercive practice. Furthermore, while arranged marriage fanfiction stories retain some key elements of the romance genre, notably the Happily Ever After ending and the sex scene - often the marriage consummation - which doubles as the emotional climax, they make key changes to how the relationship between the main characters develops and particularly how the emotion work necessary to make the relationship work is divided between the partners. It is these changes which allow arranged marriage fanfiction stories to challenge dominant discourses of sexual consent within marriage and propose an alternative view of how consent within unequal relationships can be made meaningful

"When the RP gets in the way of the F": Star image and intertextuality in real person(a) fiction

This paper uses a case study from the Hockey RPF community to explore textual processes in Real Person(a) Fiction, and particularly the intertextual relationship between different facets of the star image and the RPF character. I argue that the crisis in legitimacy faced by the fandom revealed a dense of web of intertextuality between the celebrity’s public and official private personas, the imagined real person behind them, and the RPF character, all involved in a “side by side” reading (Derecho 2006) of the similarities and differences between the celebrity fan object and the fan work. I build on Derecho’s (2006) concept of archontic literature as well as Stasi’s (2006) concept of “intertextuality in the second degree” to highlight the complex relationship between celebrity persona, RPF character, and other seemingly unrelated elements which may be drawn into an “archive” by RPF readers and writers and show the collectively created RPF character was overwhelmed by these other elements

"Slight dub-con but they both wanted it hardcore": Erotic fanfiction as a form of cultural activism around sexual consent

In this thesis I argue that the treatment of issues of sexual consent in erotic fanfiction can be viewed as a form of cultural activism. Using a combination of traditional, digital and autoethnography, as well as discourse analysis, I trace engagements with sexual consent among readers and writers of erotic fanfiction both in their creative output published on sites such as the Archive of Our Own and in their conversations and day-to-day interactions with each other as well as beyond the fandom community. The original contribution of this work is two-fold. Firstly, it maps in detail some of the ways in which sexual consent, particularly in the presence of power differentials, is treated in erotic fanfiction. I argue that through the use of techniques particular to fanfiction, readers and writers within this community are able to issue powerful challenges to dominant discourses about gender, romance, sexuality, and consent. Secondly, I argue that these engagements can be viewed as a distinct form of cultural activism. While cultural activism is traditionally seen as directed outwards to the general public, the production, circulation, and discussion of fanfiction allows the community to form powerful alternative imaginaries of sexuality and consent, make prefigurative gestures, and establish a praxis of consent within the community itself. The knowledges generated in these ways are then applied to community members' own day-to-day lives and engagements with sexuality, consent, and rape culture. This points to the fanfiction community as a source of a powerful discursive resistance on issues of rape and consent, and supports an expansion of the definition of cultural activism to cover activities directed at challenging internalised dominant discourses within the boundaries of a community

Stalin and the origins of mistrust

We examine current differences in trust levels within the countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU) and trace their origins back to the system of forced labor during Stalin, which was marked by high incarceration rates and harsh punishments. We explore whether those exposed to knowledge about the repressions became less trusting and transferred this social norm to future generations and communities. We argue that political repressions were more salient and visible to local communities living near forced labor camps (gulags), which symbolized the harshness of Stalin's regime. Combining contemporary survey data with the geolocation of forced labor camps, we find that living near former gulags lowers present-day social trust and civic engagement. These effects are independent of living near places where Stalin's victims were arrested. Moreover, they are above and beyond any experiences with war or civil conflict that the extant literature documents, indicating that the gulag system's repressiveness is a crucial trigger of the mistrust culture within the FSU countries today. As such, we furnish novel evidence on how past political repression matters for current socioeconomic outcomes

Double-edged sword:persistent effects of Communist regime affiliations on well-being and preferences

During Communism, party members and their relatives were typically privileged elites in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the former Soviet Union (FSU). At the same time, secret police informants were often coerced to spy and report on their fellow citizens. After the fall of Communism, CEE countries and the Baltics underwent decommunization, unlike most FSU countries. This paper is the first to empirically distinguish between these two Communist party regime affiliations and study their long-term implications for the well-being and preferences of affiliated individuals and their relatives. In the FSU, we find that individuals connected to the former Communist party are more satisfied with their lives, but those linked to secret police informants seem to have lower life satisfaction than those without such ties. The life satisfaction benefit of having former Communist regime party connections in the FSU is, on average, equivalent to one month’s household income. Simultaneously, the psychological costs of being an informant can amount to two monthly household incomes. In CEE countries, having informant connections is not associated with life satisfaction, but having links to the former Communist party is negatively correlated with subjective well-being. Formal and informal decommunization efforts are an important mechanism behind our findings. We also show that those connected to the former regimes differ from those without such connections in their preferences for democracy and market economy, levels of optimism, and risk tolerance, which provides suggestive evidence for the mechanisms underpinning our findings. Our results underscore that the former Communist regimes produced winners and losers based on the trustee status of their collaborators that decommunization efforts further shaped and solidified. Future decommunization efforts in the FSU may thus have important welfare implications

Reading out of context: Pornographic deepfakes, celebrity and intimacy

In this article I bring together perspectives from porn studies, celebrity studies and fan studies to bear on the issue of pornographic deepfakes. I identify two key questions that the literature from these areas leads to with regards to deepfakes: to what extent are they a form of audience engagement with celebrity that seeks to access a private, intimate or authentic person behind the star image; and to what extent are deepfakes created for circulation and enjoyment within a small community of practice as opposed to being intended for release to the general public? By comparing deepfakes to other types of sexualized audience engagements with celebrity, I show that they exhibit little concern with intimacy and the private, authentic person behind the star image, and that they are created and circulated within small communities of practice, who put effort into contextualizing and containing them in those spaces. As a result, I argue that the reading of deepfakes suggested by the celebrity studies paradigm of intimacy and authenticity is insufficient, and that further work is needed to understand the kinds of meanings those who create, share and enjoy deepfakes make with them

Moroccan propolis: a natural antioxidant, antibacterial, and antibiofilm against Staphylococcus aureus with no induction of resistance after continuous exposure

This study was performed to evaluate the total phenols, flavonoids, and antioxidant activities of twenty-four propolis samples from different regions of Morocco. In addition, two samples were screened regarding the antibacterial effect against four Staphylococcus aureus strains. Gas chromatography coupled to mass spectra (GC-MS) analysis was done for propolis samples used in antibacterial tests. The minimum inhibitory and minimum bactericidal concentration (MIC, MBC) were determined. The potential to acquire the resistance after sequential exposure of bacterial strains and the impact of adaptation to propolis on virulence using the Galleria mellonella were evaluated. Additionally, the effects of propolis extract on the bacterial adherence ability and its ability to inhibit the quorum sensing activity were also examined. Among the twenty-four extracts studied, the samples from Sefrou, Outat el Haj, and the two samples marketed in Morocco were the best for scavenging DPPH, ABTS, NO, peroxyl, and superoxide radicals as well as in scavenging of hydrogen peroxide. A strong correlation was found between the amounts of phenols, flavonoids, and antioxidant activities. Propolis extract at the MIC value (0.36 mg/mL) significantly reduced (p < 0.001) the virulence potential of S. aureus ATCC 6538 and the MRSA strains without leading to the development of resistance in the sequence of continuous exposure. It was able to impair the bacterial biofilm formation. The results have revealed that sample 1 reduces violacein production in a concentration dependent manner, indicating inhibition of quorum sensing. This extract has as main group of secondary metabolites flavonoids (31.9%), diterpenes (21.5%), and phenolic acid esters (16.5%).Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) - Pest-OE/QUI/UI4023/2011info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Former Communist party membership and present-day entrepreneurship

After the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe, former party members were particularly likely to start businesses and become entrepreneurs. What remains unclear, however, is whether this entrepreneurial activity was driven by the resources, information, and opportunities provided by former party membership or because individuals with specific individual attributes were more likely to become Communist cadres (self-selection). This study is the first to separate the causal effect of former Communist party membership from self-selection. Using individual-level Life in Transition–III survey and a control function approach, we find that former Communist party membership has facilitated business set-up but not business longevity in Central and Eastern European countries. We also show that people who joined the former ruling party had fewer of the traits associated with entrepreneurship such as unobservable personality traits, ability, motivation, and entrepreneurial aptitude, and as such were negatively self-selected. We show that former Communist party membership still matters for business practices, business ethics, and the nature of doing business in transition economies