ABSTRACT
In Chapter 7, “Measuring consent: The consequences of ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ and ‘no, but…’”, sexual harassment and sexual abuse raise awareness of the right to consent to intimacy in Measure for Measure, Cinthio’s and Chappuys’ “Epitia,” and Boccaccio’s “Titus and Gisippus.” Isabella and Epitia argue for restorative justice to allow their brothers to marry women with whom they had premarital sex. Angelo and the Juriste proposition Isabella and Epitia in a quid pro quo: their maidenhoods for their brothers’ lives. Titus and Gisippus trick Sophronia into saying “yes” in bed to the wrong man without informed consent. The bed tricks seemingly right prior wrongs. Measure for Measure, “Epitia,” and “Titus and Gisippus” expose inequitable treatment of women and holler back at hypocritical powerful men who use sexual double standards to attempt to violate women. Consent-based practices should inform staged bed tricks that deny agency to persons of all identities.
