Changing attitudes toward sexual consent across generations

This project analyzes attitudes toward sexual consent, based on the debate following publication of Vanessa Springora’s book Consent among professional critics and on social media within the French-speaking world.

Consent (2020), describes how, at the age of fourteen, Springora was manipulated and exploited by Gabriel Matzneff, an author who was 35 years older than her, while the French cultural elite stood by without intervening. The book’s publication sparked intense debate, swiftly followed by amendments to France’s sexual offense laws.

A film based on Springora's book made by Vanessa Filho in 2023 resonated with a younger audience, fuelling widespread engagement on social media, with over 27 million posts and shares using the hashtag #consent. The movement reflects a shift in attitudes toward sexual consent in France and intersects with ongoing discussions about the concept of consent in feminist philosophy and law.

This research project will analyze how conversations about Consent on social media and among critics have varied and evolved over the past five years (2020–2024) in the French-speaking world.

The research team will approach the issue using theories from feminist philosophy and narrative medicine. The study combines language technology methods with analytical and hermeneutic approaches from narratology, reception studies and intermediality studies.

The project aims to deepen our understanding of how attitudes toward consent have changed across generations in France, contribute to broader discussions about consent, individual autonomy, and power dynamics, and offer new insights into how literature and film can influence societal norms and legislation surrounding consent.