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Towards voluntariness in Swedish rape law : Hyper-medialised group rape cases and the shift in the legal discourse

Nilsson, Gabriella LU orcid (2020) In Routledge Research in Gender and Society 84. p.101-119
Abstract
On 1 July 2018, a new consent-based legislation entered in force in Sweden, making it illegal to perform sexual intercourse with a person who was not participating voluntarily. The main argument in this chapter is that in Sweden, this legal shift was the result of a discursive process that since the mid-1990s, in particular, was taking place in news reports and debate about the legal handling of a number of hyper-medialised Swedish group rape cases. Through an analysis of newspaper articles, the aim is to highlight how a gradual change towards voluntariness was reflected in, and largely pushed by, news reports and debate about these cases. The chapter describes how the terms ‘consent’ and ‘negligence’ were gradually introduced, heavily... (More)
On 1 July 2018, a new consent-based legislation entered in force in Sweden, making it illegal to perform sexual intercourse with a person who was not participating voluntarily. The main argument in this chapter is that in Sweden, this legal shift was the result of a discursive process that since the mid-1990s, in particular, was taking place in news reports and debate about the legal handling of a number of hyper-medialised Swedish group rape cases. Through an analysis of newspaper articles, the aim is to highlight how a gradual change towards voluntariness was reflected in, and largely pushed by, news reports and debate about these cases. The chapter describes how the terms ‘consent’ and ‘negligence’ were gradually introduced, heavily debated and slowly implemented in the legal discourse over a period of more than twenty years. Theoretically, it is shown how the legal shift from a force-based legislation to a consent based-construction was the result of an ongoing interplay between challenging articulations on the discursive field and attempts to fixate the meaning of terms on the legal discourse. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
Rape in the Nordic countries : Continuity and Changer - Continuity and Changer
series title
Routledge Research in Gender and Society
editor
Bruvik Heinskou, Marie ; Skilbrei, May-Len and Stefansen, Kari
volume
84
pages
19 pages
publisher
Routledge
external identifiers
  • scopus:85118372415
ISBN
978-1-138-60651-7
978-0-429-46760-8
DOI
10.4324/9780429467608
project
Rape in Sweden 1990-2013. Historical and intersectional perspectives on rape in different genres
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ccaa2dcf-093f-48a2-855c-ff7a00cf9c67
date added to LUP
2019-05-17 11:33:15
date last changed
2024-04-16 06:07:53
@inbook{ccaa2dcf-093f-48a2-855c-ff7a00cf9c67,
  abstract     = {{On 1 July 2018, a new consent-based legislation entered in force in Sweden, making it illegal to perform sexual intercourse with a person who was not participating voluntarily. The main argument in this chapter is that in Sweden, this legal shift was the result of a discursive process that since the mid-1990s, in particular, was taking place in news reports and debate about the legal handling of a number of hyper-medialised Swedish group rape cases. Through an analysis of newspaper articles, the aim is to highlight how a gradual change towards voluntariness was reflected in, and largely pushed by, news reports and debate about these cases. The chapter describes how the terms ‘consent’ and ‘negligence’ were gradually introduced, heavily debated and slowly implemented in the legal discourse over a period of more than twenty years. Theoretically, it is shown how the legal shift from a force-based legislation to a consent based-construction was the result of an ongoing interplay between challenging articulations on the discursive field and attempts to fixate the meaning of terms on the legal discourse.}},
  author       = {{Nilsson, Gabriella}},
  booktitle    = {{Rape in the Nordic countries : Continuity and Changer}},
  editor       = {{Bruvik Heinskou, Marie and Skilbrei, May-Len and Stefansen, Kari}},
  isbn         = {{978-1-138-60651-7}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{101--119}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  series       = {{Routledge Research in Gender and Society}},
  title        = {{Towards voluntariness in Swedish rape law : Hyper-medialised group rape cases and the shift in the legal discourse}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/98345341/Towards_voluntariness_GN_2020.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.4324/9780429467608}},
  volume       = {{84}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}