Consent Laid Bare: Sex, Entitlement, and the Distortion of Desire

The game-changing book about sex, consent, and the distortion of desire, a battle cry from a generation no longer prepared to stay silent.

When activist and internationally renowned philanthropist, Chanel Contos asked her followers to share their stories of sexual assault, her post went viral. Almost 7,000 people provided testimonies of surviving sexual violence by people they knew, but virtually none of these incidents had been reported to authorities. The testimonies proved that sexual assault is widespread and Chanel was on a quest to understand why. In an era of growing inequality, Contos argues that when it comes to sex, we are all still working with an outdated social contract that privileges cisgender men’s pleasure at the expense of humanity.

In Consent Laid Bare, Chanel challenges the rampant inequality that reinforces violent behavior and questions whether consent is possible in a world where female sexuality has been hijacked. She offers girls and women the tools and encouragement to seek sex that is truly enjoyable which involves:

Redefining consentChallenging gender normsLanguage’s influence on rape discourseUnderstanding fawning responses Equipping teens to combat toxic masculinity

Chanel’s message of fostering empathy is especially urgent in the face of rising rates of toxic messages about masculinity and manhood that are targeting our young men.