Il lato oscuro del consenso. Norme sociali, infra-diritto, contro-diritto

Highlighting the polysemy of the notion of consent and its ideological homogeneity, this article aims to problematise the meaning of consensual sex, thereby revealing the difficulties of making consent a way for women to assert autonomy and agency. Against the claims of choice feminism, sexual relations between men and women will be shown to be grounded in asymmetrical power and a means of social domination by men. Reference to processes of subjectification in the Foucauldian sense will shed light on the moral, legal and political dark sides of the lexicon of consent, showing that the penal norms built on consent and aimed at protecting women from the many forms of sexual violence fail to guarantee the autonomy and safety of their choices.