"when r u coming back to me in the way i want u?": Desire, Consent, and Dissociation in 21st-Century Literature

The aim of this project is to conduct a cultural and literary analysis of various representations of affirmative consent, dissociative feminism, and heterosexual desire in 21st-century fiction and memoir. Analyzing works by women authors such as Sally Rooney, Emma Cline, and Melissa Broder, I argue for a decentralized, messy “female” sexuality. Crucial to this analysis is Katherine Angel’s critique of affirmative consent culture in her book Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again: Women and Desire in the Age of Consent (2021) as well as modern constructs of both heterosexuality and feminism. In completing this project, I hope to highlight several of the double-binds modern heterosexual women exist within.<p></p>