Abstract
The presence or absence of sexual consent distinguishes between sexual contact that is sexual assault and sex that is not assault. While temporality is an implicit focus in studies of sexual consent, it has received relatively little attention as an object of analysis. Drawing on in-depth ethnographic research conducted as part of a mixed methods study on sexual health and sexual assault among college students, this article examines the role of time in sexual consent. Specifically, we attend to how socially- and discursively-patterned experiences of time influence college students' capacity to grant or withhold consent. We identify three important temporalities. "Calendar time" refers to how events throughout the year influence the expectation of sexual contact and the negotiation of sexual consent. "Relationship time" refers to how the temporal dimensions of a sexual relationship impact how consent is navigated. Finally, "sexual time" pushes us to think of sex itself as a temporal process that locates consent at different points in time: before, during, and after a single sexual encounter. We conclude by outlining how time-based approaches to sexual consent may contribute to more effective sexual violence prevention initiatives.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 335-344 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Human Organization |
| Volume | 78 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:Copyright © 2019 by the Society for Applied Anthropology.
Funding
This research was funded by Columbia University through generous support from multiple donors. The research benefited from infrastructural support from the Columbia Population Research Center, which is funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute Of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P2CHD058486. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The authors thank our research participants; the Undergraduate Advisory Board; Columbia University, and the entire SHIFT team who contributed to the development and implementation of this ambitious effort, particularly Gloria Diaz, Abby DiCarlo and Megan Kordenbrock.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Columbia University | |
| Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development | P2CHD058486 |
| Columbia Population Research Center |
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- Anthropology
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
- General Social Sciences
