Lena Gunnarsson is Associate Professor of Gender Studies and Head of Gender Studies at Örebro University, Sweden. Her work explores gendered power dynamics of sexuality and intimacy and has contributed to conceptual debates on gender, sexuality, love and power as well as empirically investigated phenomena such as consent dynamics, sexual grey areas and commodified sex and intimacy. Her work also includes meta-theoretical contributions where the philosophy of critical realism is used to intervene in feminist debates on ontology and epistemology. She is the author of The Contradictions of Love: Towards a Feminist-realist Ontology of Sociosexuality (Routledge, 2014) and co-editor of Gender, Feminism and Critical Realism: Exchanges, Challenges, Synergies (Routledge, 2017), Feminism and the Power of Love: Interdisciplinary Interventions (Routledge, 2018) and Critical Realism, Feminism, and Gender: A Reader (Routledge, 2020).

"This book is an essential resource for students, researchers, practitioners, and anyone seeking to comprehend sexual violence. Gunnarsson compellingly demonstrates how the line between consensual and coercive sex is recurrently blurred as sexual encounters often involve mixed feelings and desires and are shaped by gendered perceptions of sexuality".Lucas Gottzén, Professor of Child and Youth Studies, Stockholm University, Sweden"Through close engagement with interviewees’ narratives, Gunnarsson weaves a complex analysis of the individual and collective contexts in which modern sexual desire, agency and activity are navigated. Concluding with a call for society to talk more, and more candidly, about sex, this book makes an important intervention into debates over sexual freedom".Vanessa Munro, Professor of Law, University of Warwick, UK"In this must-read book, Gunnarsson explores the intricacies of sexual consent and the social contexts that influence the 'if' and 'what' of sex. The result is a compelling account which broadens our focus to addressing a wider continuum of sexual harm, whilst not losing sight of the powerful role of positive sexual interactions to the human experience".Anastasia Powell, Professor of Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University, Australia"Sexual wanting is ambiguous, Gunnarsson recognizes in this intriguing contribution to understandings of consent. She does not provide easy answers, nor is she invested in binary understandings of gender, but rather invites us to reflect on sexual grey areas and attend to emotion and affect as key to the negotiation of consent".Mary Lou Rasmussen, Professor of Sociology, The Australian National University, Australia

• 1. Introduction 2. How does consent work? 3. Seduction or assault? 4. Giving in 5. Giving in – because you want to 6. Sexual templates 7. Knowing what you want 8. Dominance and submission 9. Beyond consent 10. Sexually invulnerable men? 11. We must – still – talk more about sex Appendix: Methodological approach

Lena Gunnarsson is Associate Professor of Gender Studies and Head of Gender Studies at Örebro University, Sweden. Her work explores gendered power dynamics of sexuality and intimacy and has contributed to conceptual debates on gender, sexuality, love and power as well as empirically investigated phenomena such as consent dynamics, sexual grey areas and commodified sex and intimacy. Her work also includes meta-theoretical contributions where the philosophy of critical realism is used to intervene in feminist debates on ontology and epistemology. She is the author of The Contradictions of Love: Towards a Feminist-realist Ontology of Sociosexuality (Routledge, 2014) and co-editor of Gender, Feminism and Critical Realism: Exchanges, Challenges, Synergies (Routledge, 2017), Feminism and the Power of Love: Interdisciplinary Interventions (Routledge, 2018) and Critical Realism, Feminism, and Gender: A Reader (Routledge, 2020).

"This book is an essential resource for students, researchers, practitioners, and anyone seeking to comprehend sexual violence. Gunnarsson compellingly demonstrates how the line between consensual and coercive sex is recurrently blurred as sexual encounters often involve mixed feelings and desires and are shaped by gendered perceptions of sexuality".Lucas Gottzén, Professor of Child and Youth Studies, Stockholm University, Sweden"Through close engagement with interviewees’ narratives, Gunnarsson weaves a complex analysis of the individual and collective contexts in which modern sexual desire, agency and activity are navigated. Concluding with a call for society to talk more, and more candidly, about sex, this book makes an important intervention into debates over sexual freedom".Vanessa Munro, Professor of Law, University of Warwick, UK"In this must-read book, Gunnarsson explores the intricacies of sexual consent and the social contexts that influence the 'if' and 'what' of sex. The result is a compelling account which broadens our focus to addressing a wider continuum of sexual harm, whilst not losing sight of the powerful role of positive sexual interactions to the human experience".Anastasia Powell, Professor of Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University, Australia"Sexual wanting is ambiguous, Gunnarsson recognizes in this intriguing contribution to understandings of consent. She does not provide easy answers, nor is she invested in binary understandings of gender, but rather invites us to reflect on sexual grey areas and attend to emotion and affect as key to the negotiation of consent".Mary Lou Rasmussen, Professor of Sociology, The Australian National University, Australia

• 1. Introduction 2. How does consent work? 3. Seduction or assault? 4. Giving in 5. Giving in – because you want to 6. Sexual templates 7. Knowing what you want 8. Dominance and submission 9. Beyond consent 10. Sexually invulnerable men? 11. We must – still – talk more about sex Appendix: Methodological approach

Lena Gunnarsson is Associate Professor of Gender Studies and Head of Gender Studies at Örebro University, Sweden. Her work explores gendered power dynamics of sexuality and intimacy and has contributed to conceptual debates on gender, sexuality, love and power as well as empirically investigated phenomena such as consent dynamics, sexual grey areas and commodified sex and intimacy. Her work also includes meta-theoretical contributions where the philosophy of critical realism is used to intervene in feminist debates on ontology and epistemology. She is the author of The Contradictions of Love: Towards a Feminist-realist Ontology of Sociosexuality (Routledge, 2014) and co-editor of Gender, Feminism and Critical Realism: Exchanges, Challenges, Synergies (Routledge, 2017), Feminism and the Power of Love: Interdisciplinary Interventions (Routledge, 2018) and Critical Realism, Feminism, and Gender: A Reader (Routledge, 2020).

"This book is an essential resource for students, researchers, practitioners, and anyone seeking to comprehend sexual violence. Gunnarsson compellingly demonstrates how the line between consensual and coercive sex is recurrently blurred as sexual encounters often involve mixed feelings and desires and are shaped by gendered perceptions of sexuality".Lucas Gottzén, Professor of Child and Youth Studies, Stockholm University, Sweden"Through close engagement with interviewees’ narratives, Gunnarsson weaves a complex analysis of the individual and collective contexts in which modern sexual desire, agency and activity are navigated. Concluding with a call for society to talk more, and more candidly, about sex, this book makes an important intervention into debates over sexual freedom".Vanessa Munro, Professor of Law, University of Warwick, UK"In this must-read book, Gunnarsson explores the intricacies of sexual consent and the social contexts that influence the 'if' and 'what' of sex. The result is a compelling account which broadens our focus to addressing a wider continuum of sexual harm, whilst not losing sight of the powerful role of positive sexual interactions to the human experience".Anastasia Powell, Professor of Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University, Australia"Sexual wanting is ambiguous, Gunnarsson recognizes in this intriguing contribution to understandings of consent. She does not provide easy answers, nor is she invested in binary understandings of gender, but rather invites us to reflect on sexual grey areas and attend to emotion and affect as key to the negotiation of consent".Mary Lou Rasmussen, Professor of Sociology, The Australian National University, Australia

• 1. Introduction 2. How does consent work? 3. Seduction or assault? 4. Giving in 5. Giving in – because you want to 6. Sexual templates 7. Knowing what you want 8. Dominance and submission 9. Beyond consent 10. Sexually invulnerable men? 11. We must – still – talk more about sex Appendix: Methodological approach