ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how sexual consent is represented, negotiated, and transgressed in Michaela Coel’s 2020 semi-autobiographical comedy-drama, I May Destroy You. Coel presents an intersectional perspective on how consent is ignored in numerous situations in London’s hook-up culture. This chapter focuses on the show’s protagonists, Arabella and her close friend Kwame, detailing their sexual activities, and the way in which consent is ignored whether consciously or through a lack of understanding of the law. It argues that I May Destroy You does not titillate its viewers with eroticised depictions of rape but serves to educate audiences on the legality of consent amid the cultural context of London’s dating scene. This chapter also examines rape culture, the influence of the #MeToo movement, and how transgressions of sexual consent affect everyone regardless of race, gender, sexuality, and class. Despite the nature of its content, Coel’s storytelling attempts to widen the popular cultural understanding of consent from those derived from their media representations, providing hope for those attempting to move on from their own experience of the trauma of rape.
