Consent: Concepts and particularities in three researches on sexuality and violence

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss and problematize the concept of “consent” based on three different studies that focus on issues of sexuality and violence. Carla Campos uses data from her master's research, an ethnography in a healthcare service specialized in STI-HIV/AIDS, and focuses on the account of an interlocutor who summarizes her career in the sex market with the phrase: “I chose it, but I don't accept it”. She argues that the experience of prostitution cannot be measured only by consent, even though it is relevant. Cláudia Mota problematizes the concept and context of the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, based on criminal cases judged by the Court of Justice of the Federal District and Territories - TJDFT.  Thays Brito, based on the results of qualitative research with the narratives of women who use public health services, argues that consent is directly linked to what is recognized as sexual violence, contributing to the invisibility of marital rape in the context of a colonial, sexist, and patriarchal social structure. The three studies show the complexity and fragility of the concept of consent, defined based on a modern ideal of the subject, in the face of the social realities studied. The aim is to problematize “consent” as a key concept for understanding sexual and gender-based violence, whose repercussions can be seen in the processes of the State and the production of the law, as well as in the analysis of inequalities.