"ITT: Rape Analysts": Hosting Negotiations of Consent, Kink, and Violence in Virtual Space

Abstract

This project examines the use of virtual space in navigating the meaning of consent after the fact. Recently, some individuals have begun to interrogate their own past sexual experiences through the use of online sex education forums, blogs, and subreddits. Through this process of eliciting community feedback, many have (re)framed these experiences as consensual or nonconsensual. Using data that was obtained from five distinct Reddit communities (or subreddits), comprised of 66 posts and over 4,000 comments, this thesis examines this process as both an extralegal, reflexive negotiation of consent, and a user-constructed virtual trial. This discussion posits that the use of these spaces (rather than traditional legal/institutional resolutions) is a response to the significant changes in how consent has been conceptualized within the mainstream; this is exemplified through academic literature theorizing consent and the shifts in Canadian governance of sexual assault.iii