Who is afraid of consent?

Investigating consent as a legal tool to prevent and combat gender-based violence against women

Sara Dal Monico de Ca'Foscari, University of Venice & University of Zürich

Can consent be framed as a paradigmatic principle of human rights law in the context of the prevention and combating of gender-based violence against women? Despite noteworthy steps forward in recent years in legislation both at national and international levels, the legal field is still falling behind when it comes to consent and gender-based violence, with different approaches to consent emerging. According to the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO), four different approaches have developed:  the force-based model, the two-tiered model, the no-means-no and the yes-means-yes approaches. This significant divergence can have a significant impact on women's fundamental human rights. Through the use of the feminist legal method, the research project my-chOICe attempts to expand the debate on consent, which originated in the context of rape and sexual violence, to reproductive violence and information and communication technologies (ICT) facilitated violence, two areas where consent is crucial yet under investigated.