The construction of women’s sexuality : A critical discourse analysis on consent research

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to examine how women’s sexuality is constructed in consent research, and to discuss hypothetically how this construction could come to affect practical social work. We believe that the way that sexuality is defined and discussed can have an impact on how professionals treat women who have been subjected to sexual assaults and rape, and work with adolescents in the field of social work. We wanted to explore this further. By doing a critical discourse analysis on research articles about women’s sexuality and consent, we found that traditional sexual scripts were widely reproduced and the concept of women’s own desire was nonexistent. We then problematised this by discussing how it might be affecting practical social work in a negative matter, whilst trying to formulate possible reforms. Our conclusion was that it is possible that the discourses presented in the examined articles could contribute to retrogressive perspectives on women’s sexuality, which in turn could influence the practical social work and its approach to female clients.