ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the complexities which impact on the social construction and meaning of consent, as a direct result of the structural imbalance of gender relationships. The issue of ‘consent’ and its centrality to the social construction and meaning of ‘rape’ has been highlighted and analysed by feminist theorists2 (Millett, 1970; Dworkin, 1987; MacKinnon, 1987; Kelly, 1988; Smart, 1989; Stanko, 1990; Edwards, 1996; Lees, 1997; Kelly and Regan, 2001). This chapter will highlight the ways in which issues of consent are constructed and contested within the criminal justice system, specifically in cases of rape.
