Consensual Violence

Jill D. Weinberg

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780520290662
• eBook ISBN: 9780520964723
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Criminología

In this novel approach to understanding consent, Jill D. Weinberg presents two case studies of activities in which participants engage in violent acts: competitive mixed martial arts (MMA) and sexual sadism and masochism (BDSM). Participants in both cases assent to injury and thereby engage in a form of social decriminalization, using the language of consent to render their actions legally and socially tolerable. Yet, these activities are treated differently under criminal battery law: sports, including MMA, are generally absolved from the charge of criminal battery, whereas BDSM often represents a violation of criminal battery law. Using interviews and ethnographic observation, Weinberg argues that where law authorizes a person's consent to an activity, as in MMA, consent is not meaningfully constructed or regulated by the participants themselves. In contrast, where law prohibits a person's consent to an activity, as in BDSM, participants actively construct and regulate consent. A synthesis of criminal law and ethnography, Consensual Violence is a fascinating account of how consent is framed among participants engaged in violent acts and lays the groundwork for a sociological understanding of the process of decriminalization.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Consensual Violence
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Preamble: A Chokehold
• 1. Consensual Violence and the Politics of Injury
• 2. From Acts to Legitimacy: The Path of Social Decriminalization
• 3. Devising Rules and Norms, Creating a Culture of Consent
• 4. Enforcing and Rationalizing Rule Violations
• 5. Transforming Consensual Violence through a Legal Register
• 6. The Social Embeddedness of Consent
• 7. Conclusion: Consensual Violence Reimagined
• Notes
• References
• Index